1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:04,840 Speaker 1: Ruthie's Table four is now a book. Paul McCartney, Michael Kay, 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: Kamala Harris, David Beckham, Tina fey Elton John and many more. 3 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: It's full of stories, beautifully designed, and a celebration of 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: the way food connects us all. It's available now wherever 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: you buy your books. Ruthie's Table four brought to you 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 1: by Sky and Montclair. 7 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:37,880 Speaker 2: This is so weird. I'm supposed to ask the questions. 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: Okay, actually why we switched last minute? I have to 9 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: say hello, I'm Ruthie, and I should stay from the 10 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: very beginning, from the start that I feel a little 11 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: bit threatened sitting next to Zanny because not because of 12 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: you know, she's the editor of the great magazine of 13 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: all she's done in journal her brilliant interviews. But I 14 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: found out actually from her the other day that she'd 15 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: been to cookery school, and I just don't think that's fair. 16 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: I didn't go to journalism school to become, you know, 17 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: a great editor, and you went to cookery school. But 18 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: having said that, you know you are a great cook, 19 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: and I know that food is important to you, and 20 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: the economists probably done more or as much as all 21 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: of us in the food world in terms of our 22 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: concerns for food, poverty, sustainability, politics, how we move forward 23 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: and deliveries and eating at home in the future of restaurants. 24 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: The Economist explores the world through words and we explore 25 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: the world through ingredients. We have a common purpose and 26 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: on the podcast we really use food to look at memories, 27 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: and so I'd like to talk to you about that today. 28 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 2: Thank you. 29 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: Starting with your father. Was your father who actually told 30 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: you to go? 31 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 2: Who insisted that I go to cookery school? 32 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: Yes? Yeah, And why do you think that was so? I? 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 3: After I left school, I took a year off and 34 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 3: I wanted to travel around the world and I wanted 35 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 3: to go by myself. And my dad was always very 36 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 3: encouraging him everything. But he is for several of you 37 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 3: here know him. He's extremely old fashioned, and he felt 38 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 3: that it was very important that a young woman going 39 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 3: around the world needed to find a way to earn 40 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 3: a living. And he had a very clear idea of 41 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 3: how I learned a living. You had to learn to 42 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 3: cook and you had to learn to type. 43 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 2: So I was sent off. 44 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 3: I did a four week typing course in London and 45 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 3: to become what in those days was a temporary secretary, 46 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 3: and I did the test. 47 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 2: You had to do sixty. 48 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 3: Words a minute for five minutes with no fewer no 49 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 3: more than five mistakes. 50 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: And after about one hundred tests, I got that. And 51 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 2: then he sent me off to cookery school, to a. 52 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 3: Place in Wiltshire, where I learned, you know, things like 53 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 3: how to make shoe pastry and all kinds of Actually 54 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,399 Speaker 3: what was I'd grown up food was really important at home, 55 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 3: and my mum is a fantastic cook, so I've sort 56 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 3: of grown up loving cooking. But what I learned from 57 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 3: that month was actually just some kind of useful. I 58 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 3: learned how to make a soufle. You learned how to 59 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 3: make shoe pastry. 60 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 2: I learned how to make some English classics. 61 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 3: And then I when I was at Oxford, I used 62 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 3: to earn money by cooking dinner parties for friends of 63 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 3: mine who wanted to kind of sit around, usually men, 64 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,959 Speaker 3: and have a pompous dinner party. And so I would 65 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 3: cook the job as a job, I meant they paid 66 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 3: me to do it. And then I set up a 67 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 3: little business making cookies and flat jacks and refreshments during 68 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 3: the college productions of plays, and I made a lot 69 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 3: of money doing it, which paid for all of my 70 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 3: holidays in the summer. 71 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 2: So it was never anything like yours. 72 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: Don't worry no school, So I don't you know. I 73 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: learned to make a shoe pastry by following Julia Child 74 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: if anybody was a fan of her books. But I 75 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: think so. Do you think he was right? Would you 76 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: tell that to one of your children to do? 77 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't tell them to go school. 78 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 3: But I think the instinct was right, which was have 79 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 3: a skill that you can use to earn some money 80 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 3: if you're going to go off by yourself. 81 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 2: And he's you know, he was. 82 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 3: It was whatever nineteen eighty five. He was incredibly supportive 83 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 3: and he just said, but you need to earn some money, 84 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 3: and he was, you know, it was quite a big deal. 85 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 3: He agreed to pay for my ticket, which was not 86 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 3: a small thing to do. I went, I bought one 87 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 3: of those used to be able to buy those around 88 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 3: the world, and I went from London to Hong Kong, 89 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 3: from Hong Kong to Perth, from Perth to Sydney, from 90 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 3: Sydney to New Zealand, from New Zealand to La and 91 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 3: from la back to London. It took seven months and 92 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 3: I worked in Sydney. I worked as a housekeeper for 93 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 3: some rich old lady and I had to make her 94 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 3: a soft boiled egg every morning and that was it. 95 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: Did you learn that at cookery school? 96 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 2: I did not. 97 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 3: I did actually hard to make it. I love a softball. 98 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 3: I have software egg this morning's do. 99 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: You put it in cold water, heat it up for 100 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: boiling water and put it down. 101 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 2: I put it in boiled water and leave it in there. 102 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: You go. We knew everything about this woman, and she's 103 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: now taught us how to boil an egg. 104 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 3: There are many ways, but getting it stuff and then 105 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 3: you have to have it with which I had this 106 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:15,679 Speaker 3: morning for breakfast. 107 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:17,160 Speaker 2: Haven't had this in a while. You have it with 108 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 2: soldiers with marmite, on with marmite. Very good. 109 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: I want to do a project. When I first came 110 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: to London, I went to art school and I wanted 111 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: to do a project of finding Americans and giving them 112 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: marmite and taking a photograph of them to see what 113 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,160 Speaker 1: their reaction, because it's something for I think. I think 114 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: it is a very it's totally British day. 115 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 2: But I grew up with marmie. 116 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: I tell us more about what you grew up with 117 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: because your father, your mother was German, my. 118 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 2: Mother's German and my father's English. 119 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 3: And I grew up on a farm in the countryside 120 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 3: in Shropshire, and so kind of farm was a mixed farm. 121 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 2: We had over the sort of whole course of my childhood. 122 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 3: We had cattle, we had sheep, we had pigs, we 123 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 3: had cereals, much everything, and so we had our own meat. 124 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,160 Speaker 3: I mean it was sent it was killed at the 125 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 3: abatwarl But then we used to get whole lambs and 126 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 3: whole whole pigs. 127 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 2: We had used to have a pig that we fared outside. 128 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 3: And then poor old pig would see the end of 129 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 3: its days and it would arrive a little later. 130 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 2: We had a big vegetable garden, lots of fruit trees, 131 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 2: and so the. 132 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 3: Whole they grew in the vegetable garden, all the kinds 133 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 3: of things you would expect, red cabbage, potato with hilariat 134 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,119 Speaker 3: I remember that, sweet, lots of beans, French beans, runner beans, 135 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 3: the whole. My kind of late summer as a child 136 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 3: was really very much about going and being sent off 137 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 3: to pit beans. And my mum would make she would 138 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 3: freeze everything she had three freezers, still has three freezers 139 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 3: and enough kind. 140 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 2: Of bottling space. 141 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 3: I mean, we could have survived, you know, an absolute 142 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 3: seege for months and months and the whole the kind 143 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:55,840 Speaker 3: of the tenor of the seasons were very clear there 144 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 3: because you were always doing something, making chutney, making jam. 145 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 3: And she's a fantastic, fabulous cook, still is and she 146 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 3: but she was very German. She grew up in was 147 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 3: born in what is now East Prussia, was it was 148 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 3: East Plushia what's now Poland in the far East, and 149 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 3: grew up on the south of Germany on Lake Constance. 150 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 2: And as a result, the kind. 151 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 3: Of cuisine from my grandmother, who I spent a lot 152 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 3: of time with as a child, and my mother was 153 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 3: a sort of Central European cuisine, so all of the 154 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 3: stuff that I really associate with being a child, it was, 155 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 3: you know, it was hernez bager Klopsa, which is like 156 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 3: meat balls with caper sauce, schnitzel of course, lots of 157 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 3: sauer kraut, lots of sausage, boer essen, which is kind 158 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 3: of boiled potato sliced up with bits of bacon and 159 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 3: egg all over it. I'm a real kind of Central 160 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 3: European comfort food in Shropshire. 161 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 2: It was a sort of strange duxtaposition. 162 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: Because she brought the food with she kept brought the. 163 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 3: Food and she brought the traditions and it was a 164 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 3: very There were a lot of kind of food related 165 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 3: traditions in our house. I not holidays, but Christmas we 166 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 3: was completely choreographed. We ate exactly the same thing Christmas 167 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 3: Eve we had exactly the same Christmas Day. 168 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 2: Sundays we would have. 169 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 3: Boiled eggs, we'd have my mother would bring out a 170 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 3: different set of china for Sundays. 171 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 2: Every Sunday we'd have Sunday lunch was a big part 172 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 2: of my childhood, but it was a kind of. 173 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: There was a conversation around the table apart from the 174 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: did you did you have your siblings? 175 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, I have three younger sisters and when I was younger, 176 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 3: the conversations at kind of lunch, and lunch was the 177 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 3: big meal of the day was always whether whether my 178 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 3: dad was in a good mood or not. 179 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 2: It was a big question. 180 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 3: My father would come in from being out farming and 181 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 3: was he in a good mood or was in a 182 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 3: bad mood? And if it was in a bad mood. 183 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 3: It kind of dominated the whole table. We were all quaking. 184 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 3: And then as we grow older, we would have huge debates, 185 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 3: and I famously would have huge arguments in my dad, 186 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 3: but they were sort of, I guess, wonky policy debates. 187 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,079 Speaker 3: As a sort of teenager, I took it upon myself 188 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 3: to say that I thought agricultural subsidies were a really 189 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:01,680 Speaker 3: bad idea. 190 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 2: He did not think this was terribly sensible, and we didn't. 191 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: He wouldn't listen. 192 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 3: He listened, I mean, he was We're quite similar, and 193 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 3: so we would sort of talk loudly at each other 194 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 3: for a while, but we. 195 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: Always more of the one. The adventurous side to him. 196 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: Was he more conservative? 197 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 2: No, he was very adventurous. 198 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: He was he. 199 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 3: I mean, where I grew up, my family or my 200 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 3: dad's family has lived for hundreds of years, and he 201 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:29,719 Speaker 3: always knew that he was going to go back and 202 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 3: farm that. 203 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 2: But he went off as. 204 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 3: A young man and was in the army and then 205 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 3: lived abroad for a while and absolutely loved that, but 206 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 3: always felt this kind of admirable sense of duty that 207 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 3: he was going to come back and to the farm, 208 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 3: and he did, and that's been his life's work, and 209 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 3: he even now we're trying to persuade him that pushing 210 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 3: eighty seven, maybe he should perhaps scale back a bit. 211 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 2: He's absolutely not. And he was the sort of. 212 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 3: Dominant person in the household. And my muther is she 213 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 3: sort of held the whole thing together. She was she 214 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 3: was an incredible is an incredible cook, and it was 215 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:09,559 Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of life in the countryside. 216 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:11,439 Speaker 3: It's very and I look back now and it's kind 217 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 3: of it's very simple. I mean, it was very simple, 218 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 3: but it was great. 219 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,440 Speaker 2: And I had horses. I used to be outside all 220 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,959 Speaker 2: the time. We'd, you know, we would. 221 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 3: We didn't lots of things like I had pastor for 222 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 3: the first time I was quite old, fresh pastor, and 223 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 3: not until I was a teenager. 224 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 2: It was very It was. 225 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: A travel Would they take you on holidays? 226 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 2: We went, We went on. 227 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 3: I went to Germany every year because my grandmother lived there, 228 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,439 Speaker 3: and when I was between the ages of seven and eleven, 229 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 3: four times I spent between Christmas and Easter living with 230 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 3: my grandmother and going to the local school in Germany. 231 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 3: And my grandmother was also a fantastic cook. But she was, 232 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 3: you know, she was. 233 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 2: She went through the second World War. 234 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 3: She lived through some some quite tough times, so she 235 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 3: was both extremely opinionated, quite frugal, and very dominant. 236 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 2: And so but she loved good food. She absolutely loved it. 237 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 3: So she would she would wake up in the morning 238 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 3: very early and go to the bakery that opened it 239 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 3: I think like seven or something in the small village. 240 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 3: You know, it was more it was a sort of 241 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 3: satellite village of a little of a town. I mean, 242 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 3: I took my family there for my mum's seventieth and 243 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 3: they said, well, are you so excited about this place? 244 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 3: It looks Subourban, But to me it was it was. 245 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 3: It was a sort of satellite town. But we went 246 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 3: to the she went to the baker, and she would 247 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:34,479 Speaker 3: get fresh rolls and we'd have fresh delicious and German. 248 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:35,960 Speaker 2: Bread is really, really really good. 249 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 3: German rolls are delicious with amazingly good butter and jam. 250 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 3: And then you know, then she'd make me a packed 251 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,439 Speaker 3: lunch for school, and then I'd come back in the 252 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:47,839 Speaker 3: evening and there'd be some incredible meal. 253 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 2: And I remember I put on so much way. 254 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:51,199 Speaker 3: The first time I went to Germany, I kind of 255 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 3: came back waddling into seeing my mother had Oh you 256 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 3: have had a good time, but it was it was 257 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 3: that sort of mixed. So I did spend quite a 258 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 3: long time abroad. And I going from my primary school 259 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 3: in Shropshire, which had I think sixty students, was very 260 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:12,719 Speaker 3: It was very small and being even you couldn't do 261 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 3: this nowadays take a kid out of primary school for 262 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 3: three months and just go to a different country. 263 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:18,559 Speaker 2: But then it was fine. 264 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 3: And so I had this sort of interestingly bifurcated time. 265 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 3: You know, I were one bit very rural in Shropshire, 266 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 3: one bit in Germany, which I suspect kind of was 267 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 3: quite formative and who I became. 268 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,680 Speaker 1: Do you know that you wanted to be a journalist? 269 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:38,680 Speaker 1: Did you know that the issues when you were in 270 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: your travels, when you were going to than that round 271 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 1: of world ticket, did that ground you and the idea 272 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: of being communicating that through words. 273 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 3: Through I didn't. I think I knew that I wanted 274 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:57,320 Speaker 3: to live and work abroad before I knew I wanted 275 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 3: to be a journalist. I think when I was very young, 276 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 3: like a bajillion people of my age, I wanted to 277 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 3: be a air stewardess flight attendant as they're called now, 278 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 3: because that seemed to be the way to travel. I 279 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 3: knew I wanted to spend a lot of time traveling. 280 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 3: And then I really got I did quite a lot 281 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 3: of student journalism as an undergraduate, and that's when I 282 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 3: got that yeah, and that's when I got the kind 283 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 3: of I thought, this is what I really what I 284 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 3: liked doing. And then the sort of real aha moment 285 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 3: was actually when I was at graduate school in the 286 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 3: US after the Berlin Wall came down, and I went 287 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 3: with a small group of students from Harvard to work 288 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 3: for the finance ministry in Poland. And that's when I saw, 289 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 3: you know, I saw what happened when you have economic reform, 290 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 3: when you free prices, when you free up an economy, 291 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 3: and I suddenly thought, that's actually I really want to 292 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 3: understand how economies function. I want to understand how what 293 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,599 Speaker 3: happens when you bring you know, you move from communism 294 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 3: to capitalism, when you bring freedom to a country. 295 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 2: And that was the sort of that was the kind 296 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 2: of a life changing moment. 297 00:13:57,480 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: And you're working for the finance ministry. 298 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 2: I worked for Ministry of Finance. Yeah, in the part. 299 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: I'm looking out and then you wanted to be more 300 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: of the outside look. 301 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,960 Speaker 2: It was the Yeah. I went from there. Then I 302 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 2: worked in Ukraine for a bit. 303 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 3: Then I worked for the IMF, which was the International 304 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 3: Monetary Fund, the kind of macroeconomic policeman. 305 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 2: And then I realized that I wasn't. 306 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 3: Actually cut out for big bureaucracies, and so then I 307 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 3: became a jaalist. 308 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: I joined the Economist and I was with Ruth this morning. 309 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: Ruth Port and we were talking so much about food 310 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: in the digital age, and so for me as as 311 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: just in a personal way, I think is that the end, 312 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 1: will we still be going to restaurants? Will we still 313 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: be going We don't know if we'll be going to work, 314 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 1: whether we go to the theater or theater will come 315 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 1: to us, movies will come to us. But I was 316 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: wondering how you feel in terms of your work at 317 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: the you know, doing what you do and food and 318 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: meeting people, How does it work in the world of journalism. 319 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,560 Speaker 3: So I think food is for me, food is actually 320 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 3: about connection with people. We've talked about my family, it 321 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 3: was about connection. Then it was all of us together 322 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 3: with my kids. 323 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 2: We were we. 324 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 3: Didn't always manage it every single night, but it was 325 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 3: a really big deal that we would have dinner together. 326 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 3: And we still and my kids love cooking and we 327 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 3: love nothing more than. 328 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 2: To actually all get together and cook. 329 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 3: And I now don't cook during the week that much 330 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,440 Speaker 3: because I'm not either not at home or I get 331 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 3: home late. But for me, it's very relaxing. But I 332 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 3: would never ever ever cook just for myself. 333 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: I just never. 334 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 2: I haven't never cooked me for myself. 335 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 3: I mean, I'll maybe an omelet if you ast, Yeah, 336 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 3: I'll go. If I'm traveling, I will go to a 337 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 3: restaurant myself and I'll sit and have a nice something 338 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 3: to eat in a glass of wine. And I love that, 339 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 3: and I love it with a book, and I love 340 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 3: it if nobody comes to talk to me, and it's fantastic. 341 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: Okay, notice that we won't talk to you. But do 342 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: you do you read? So you take but you do 343 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: take a book? You read. 344 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 3: I do take a bok because if you don't take 345 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 3: a book, people come and talk to you. 346 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 2: Okay, it's really what we have to have a book. 347 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 3: But but but food is about being together, right, the people. 348 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 3: And so when I'm traveling and now I get to 349 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 3: travel with you know, my amazing colleagues and lots of 350 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 3: different countries. You know, I get to see incredibly interesting people. 351 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 3: I've learned that food In almost every place I go to, 352 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 3: food is an extremely important way that the people you 353 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 3: are talking to show you their country. 354 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 2: But in China, I haven't make an annual trip to China. 355 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 3: And I come back unable to eat another kind of 356 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 3: Chinese meal because I have huge lunches and huge dinners 357 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 3: and you have those tables that you know, those those 358 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 3: Chinese tables, and you sit there for hours and hours 359 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 3: and it's all very formal, and some of it's delicious, 360 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 3: some of us less so. 361 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 2: But you know, it's incredibly. 362 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 3: Important part In Japan, which I don't know very well, 363 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 3: but again, immensely important around them, the. 364 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 2: Rituals around food, The rituals, My god. 365 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 3: I once most you would never do this. I put 366 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 3: my chopsticks into the rice. 367 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, you only do that when someone's died. Apparently 368 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 2: it was a complete sort of sob. Yeah, absolutely don't 369 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 2: do that. 370 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 3: But in most almost everywhere, you you get a sense 371 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:08,919 Speaker 3: of a place when you go out, when you are 372 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 3: with people, you're out to dinner. 373 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 2: Like I would never would you interview? 374 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: Do you ever give do interviews with food. 375 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:18,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, not like you, I mean not not. 376 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: Kind of sitting there and y I often learned about somebody, 377 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: don't I always think that. A friend of mine said 378 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: that he likes an interview candidates for a job of 379 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,159 Speaker 1: a food because what's like dating. You know, if you 380 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: go out a date and you go to a restaurants, 381 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:36,920 Speaker 1: see do they talk to the waiter? Do they share 382 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: their food? Do they in a way? Do you find? Yeah? 383 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 2: You get an insight into what people are like. 384 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 3: And it's not you know, I don't give two hoods 385 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:45,199 Speaker 3: about how people hold their fook or anything like that. 386 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 3: It's not that, it's it's you definitely get an insight 387 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 3: into what a person is like. 388 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:52,680 Speaker 1: And what have you found that you found? You ever 389 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 1: thought you this person could be good than been with 390 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: them in a restaurant? Thought? 391 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 3: No, Yeah, it's more than I've when i've people, I've 392 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 3: been not less than people I've been interviewing for jobs 393 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 3: and more people I've been trying to get to know. 394 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 2: And you the relationship changes with. 395 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 3: Someone who I don't know, someone whether it's someone important 396 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 3: or not important that you're trying to get to know better, 397 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 3: you really get to know them. 398 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 2: Much better over. 399 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: Me being on the other side. I always think it's 400 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: interesting that people do very private things in a very 401 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,360 Speaker 1: public space. You know, Why do people, you know, announce 402 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 1: they're having an affair in a restaurant or people get 403 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: fired in a restaurant? No, actually people cry. I've often 404 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: called up I want to call a restaurant, said would 405 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:38,680 Speaker 1: you go bring a glass of champagne to my friends 406 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,000 Speaker 1: it's their anniversary, And they said, we can't because she 407 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:45,119 Speaker 1: hasn't stopped crying, you know, And so I think. You know, 408 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 1: we had somebody who once wanted to propose to their 409 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,439 Speaker 1: girlfriend and he said, would you write a cake and 410 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,360 Speaker 1: write will you marry me? On the cake? And then 411 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 1: we did. We made a beautiful cake, and halfway through 412 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,679 Speaker 1: he came up and said, cancel the cake. So we 413 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: always wonder what happened. So, so you do go to restaurant. 414 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 2: I do. I love going to restaurants. I go out 415 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 2: a lot. But I also. 416 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:15,199 Speaker 3: Really like, particularly my family, you know, cooking or really 417 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:15,880 Speaker 3: cooking at home. 418 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 2: That's my sense. That's relaxation. 419 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:20,359 Speaker 3: It's what we do at weekends is what we do, 420 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 3: and the kind of families together, it's there's something sort 421 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,200 Speaker 3: of just as I would never cook just for myself. 422 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 3: There's something that the whole, the whole kind of process 423 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 3: of cooking together, putting bad music on that we have 424 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 3: playlists of bad music that we listened to when we're 425 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 3: cooking and then having a you know, a big meal 426 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 3: all around it, bringing friends. 427 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,600 Speaker 2: It's it's absolutely ye, my complete favorites. 428 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: So I don't have to worry too much about bringing 429 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:48,920 Speaker 1: food to people. You think people will stop them, and. 430 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:50,120 Speaker 2: I think people will store. 431 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 3: In fact, I think in the world that you know, 432 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,400 Speaker 3: Ruth and others are creating in the AI world, I'm 433 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 3: convinced that there will be things. We will all still 434 00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 3: want to do things with other humans. There may be 435 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 3: a intelligent AIS that can do everything better than us, 436 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 3: including perhaps cooking, but I will still want to have 437 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:05,439 Speaker 3: food that you've cooked. 438 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,160 Speaker 1: And if you I think we're looking at a clock 439 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: which is saying we need to stop and maybe now 440 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:18,160 Speaker 1: but zero. If you were ru the table for which 441 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,639 Speaker 1: we're going to do and have more time together, we 442 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,919 Speaker 1: always and with the question if you you know food 443 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: eating leading it's hunger and it is a performance and 444 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:33,000 Speaker 1: it's a connection. It is also comfort and so I 445 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,560 Speaker 1: hope you don't need comfort very often, but if you 446 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 1: do think about comfort, eating for comfort, is there a 447 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:41,439 Speaker 1: food that you would go for? 448 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:45,359 Speaker 2: I think. 449 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,680 Speaker 3: I think a food that reminds me of home, which 450 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 3: is the kind of food I've just been talking about. 451 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,679 Speaker 3: I wouldn't go and cook it, but I like nothing 452 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 3: more than going home and having something that my mom 453 00:20:58,520 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 3: has cooked. 454 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 2: So or going to. 455 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:03,959 Speaker 1: Can you choose one? 456 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 3: I think I think koenigsburger Klops are right up there. 457 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: Delicious. 458 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,160 Speaker 3: Who nicksburger Klops it? But you know what, your brand, 459 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 3: Zino is pretty damn. 460 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: Good, So thank you. I think that I don't feel 461 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: threatened anymore. She could go to cukery school. I'm not 462 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 1: going to journalism school. But I've loved every minute of 463 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: being with you, and thank you so much