1
00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:04,120
Speaker 1: Welcome to River Cafe Table four, a production of iHeartRadio

2
00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:05,960
Speaker 1: and Adam I's studios.

3
00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,680
Speaker 2: As an American living in Britain. A visit to London

4
00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,080
Speaker 2: by Congressman Adam Schiff is a big deal. That we

5
00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:15,920
Speaker 2: gave dinner for him and our house was a great honor.

6
00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,360
Speaker 2: Adam was on the way back from Ukraine meeting with Zulansky,

7
00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,560
Speaker 2: and over past and winter vegetables, he talked to us

8
00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,680
Speaker 2: about world we are living in, food shortages, child poverty,

9
00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,600
Speaker 2: and food insecurity. Today we'll continue, but also talk about

10
00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,120
Speaker 2: the food he grew up with, the food he cooks

11
00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:39,360
Speaker 2: for his family, the food he personally finds comforting. Adam,

12
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,760
Speaker 2: will you begin by reading a recipe you've chosen from

13
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:45,520
Speaker 2: River Cafe Cookbook thirty.

14
00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:52,600
Speaker 3: So I've got a wonderful recipe for spaghetti. I have

15
00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,640
Speaker 3: to love pasa and my favorite is spaghetti or angel hair.

16
00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,480
Speaker 3: So this is a perfect recipe for me to share

17
00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:02,680
Speaker 3: with you. Spaghetti brought tomato and arugula, or as you

18
00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:07,440
Speaker 3: you would say in Britain rocket rocket, So spaghetti three

19
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 3: and twenty grams plum tomatoes. You'll need four of those.

20
00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:17,360
Speaker 3: You'll need two garlic clothes dried chili. Just one dried

21
00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,200
Speaker 3: chili unless you like it really spicy, capers, two tablespoons

22
00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,360
Speaker 3: black olives three tablespoons. Now I'm in a huge olive fan,

23
00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:29,600
Speaker 3: but it does work great in spaghetti arugula. You'll have

24
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:34,839
Speaker 3: three leaves and three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

25
00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,679
Speaker 3: So you will cut the tomatoes in half, squeeze out

26
00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 3: the excess juice and seeds, and chop the flesh coarse thing.

27
00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,360
Speaker 3: Peel the garlic and squash with one teaspoon of sea salt.

28
00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:52,640
Speaker 3: Then you'll crumble the chili, rinse the capers, and stone

29
00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:57,760
Speaker 3: the olives. Then you'll roughly chop the arugula. Finally, combine

30
00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,040
Speaker 3: the tomatoes with all the ingredients except the rugula, seasoned generously,

31
00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,680
Speaker 3: add the olive oil and put aside for thirty minutes.

32
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,359
Speaker 3: You cook the spaghetti and boiling salted water until all dante.

33
00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,399
Speaker 3: Then drain and stir the pasta into the tomatoes. Add

34
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,680
Speaker 3: the rugula and toss to coat each strand season with

35
00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 3: black pepper. Served with olive oil, and.

36
00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:28,400
Speaker 2: Delicious, beautifully read. Always think your recipe is half science

37
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,680
Speaker 2: and half poetry, So there you go. You read it

38
00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:32,040
Speaker 2: as a poem. It was beautiful.

39
00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,320
Speaker 3: Thank you glad I didn't read it as a scientist.

40
00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:38,960
Speaker 2: Beautiful. One of the things that I really love about

41
00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:40,920
Speaker 2: you is that I think you're a really good eater.

42
00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,440
Speaker 3: I wish I was not a good eater, but I

43
00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:45,440
Speaker 3: do love food.

44
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:47,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I mean.

45
00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,040
Speaker 3: I meet people from time to time that can kind

46
00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,920
Speaker 3: of take or leave eating. I don't understand them. I

47
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,000
Speaker 3: think I think they're from another planet.

48
00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,360
Speaker 2: Tell me about growing up in the Schiff household. What

49
00:02:58,440 --> 00:02:59,919
Speaker 2: was it like food wise?

50
00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,280
Speaker 3: Yes, I think this is why I love to go

51
00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,360
Speaker 3: out to eat, because when I was a kid, it

52
00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,160
Speaker 3: was such a rarity. And I always liked to claim

53
00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,640
Speaker 3: to my wife because you know, only a husband can

54
00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,720
Speaker 3: make this claim that I'm the ideal husband because I

55
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,640
Speaker 3: don't want a homecook meal. I really love going out.

56
00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,760
Speaker 3: You're not distracted by the phone ringing, you're not distracted

57
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,000
Speaker 3: by the TV or this kid wants to run off

58
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,200
Speaker 3: to do homework instead of finishing the meal, and so

59
00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,520
Speaker 3: you're at a table. You're just focused on each other

60
00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,920
Speaker 3: and the food. But I think part of it is

61
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:37,800
Speaker 3: that it was a rarity when I was growing up.

62
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,360
Speaker 3: My mother was a good cook. But didn't like to cook.

63
00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,080
Speaker 3: But nonetheless, we ate at home all the time, and

64
00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,520
Speaker 3: my father was a traveling salesman in the shmata business

65
00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,720
Speaker 3: and helping business, and it was a big deal when

66
00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,080
Speaker 3: we could go out to one of our favorite restaurants.

67
00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,240
Speaker 2: I think that it's changed so much because I also

68
00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,680
Speaker 2: grew up where you went out to dinner if somebody

69
00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,080
Speaker 2: graduated from high school or there was a birthday or

70
00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,960
Speaker 2: an anniversary. Now having a restaurant, I just see people

71
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,920
Speaker 2: eating all the time. They come with their children, they

72
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,920
Speaker 2: come on a Friday night with their parents. They use

73
00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,920
Speaker 2: a restaurant in a very different way than we did.

74
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:19,400
Speaker 2: I think.

75
00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,120
Speaker 3: I think that's right. And because my mother didn't like

76
00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:28,360
Speaker 3: to cook, a lot of our meals were very kind

77
00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:29,000
Speaker 3: of standard.

78
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,160
Speaker 2: Fair tell me about them. What did she cook?

79
00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,560
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of canned food, to be honest.

80
00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,880
Speaker 3: But my favorite meal that my mother used to make

81
00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:43,520
Speaker 3: was something that she made using these little boneless chicken

82
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,040
Speaker 3: pieces that she breaded. You made it with a sign

83
00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,720
Speaker 3: of spaghetti and they were breaded with cheese on them,

84
00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:52,880
Speaker 3: so it was kind of like a mini chicken permeshan

85
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,600
Speaker 3: with spaghetti. But I guess my strongest memories in childhood

86
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,159
Speaker 3: of food were of the high holidays. When we get

87
00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,359
Speaker 3: together my grandparents and they would make a great, big meal.

88
00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:07,920
Speaker 2: Were they born in the United States or were they

89
00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:09,800
Speaker 2: immigrants from another country.

90
00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,000
Speaker 3: My father was an immigrant from London. His parents immigrated

91
00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,520
Speaker 3: from Eastern Europe. My other grandparents were born in the

92
00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:22,200
Speaker 3: United States, but their parents, my great grandparents, all came

93
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:26,960
Speaker 3: from Eastern Europe. But when we get together for the holidays,

94
00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:30,000
Speaker 3: it would be a lot of manzibol soup and holly,

95
00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 3: bread and brisket, and it was quite a feast. Telling

96
00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:37,920
Speaker 3: a lot of that. I didn't want to go near

97
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,640
Speaker 3: like chocol ever, Yeah, that'll do it. There is an

98
00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:47,479
Speaker 3: eternal debate in Jewish households about whether manzibal should be

99
00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,120
Speaker 3: light and fluffy or should be the kind that when

100
00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,560
Speaker 3: you drop them they go through the floor. I just

101
00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:58,479
Speaker 3: want to state, unequivocally, without hesitation, they need to be

102
00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:00,440
Speaker 3: the kind that fall through the floor.

103
00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,560
Speaker 2: That suspense was killing me as you were telling this,

104
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:05,000
Speaker 2: I was going to think, what is he going to

105
00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,799
Speaker 2: go for falling through the floor or light and fluffy.

106
00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,160
Speaker 2: I did think you might choose light and fluffy, but

107
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:15,080
Speaker 2: I will it has to be that really heavy sinking feeling. Yeah.

108
00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,080
Speaker 3: As a politician, sometimes we have to make difficult decisions. Yes,

109
00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,640
Speaker 3: I know, and I am firmly in the camp of

110
00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:27,800
Speaker 3: the very very heavy monster ball that you know, when

111
00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,120
Speaker 3: you've eaten it and it doesn't get lost in the broth.

112
00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,440
Speaker 2: You interested in eating? Were you interested in cooking?

113
00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,000
Speaker 3: When I did cook, it was frankly as a kid

114
00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,040
Speaker 3: and through adulthood at the barbecue.

115
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,400
Speaker 2: Ah, that's very male. That's that's kind of I always

116
00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:48,000
Speaker 2: think when men feel that they can cook, is the barbecue. Yes,

117
00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:50,320
Speaker 2: funny barbecued. What did you do?

118
00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:56,240
Speaker 3: You know? My cooking pre pandemic was pretty basic.

119
00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,360
Speaker 2: Fair, And what happened in the pandemic, well.

120
00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,680
Speaker 3: You know, we not going out to eat, and it

121
00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:06,000
Speaker 3: was a huge lifestyle change, among other things. So I

122
00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:09,880
Speaker 3: got myself a few gadgets. You know, I think this

123
00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,320
Speaker 3: is also a male thing. You like to cook with gadgets?

124
00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:14,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, gadget. Yeah.

125
00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,240
Speaker 3: I got an air fryer, and I got a pressure cooker.

126
00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:23,240
Speaker 3: I started making curry tofu and the pressure cooker with

127
00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:28,480
Speaker 3: vegetables and potatoes, and it seemed to be a pretty

128
00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:33,040
Speaker 3: fail safe device in terms of coming out well and

129
00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,720
Speaker 3: likewise the air fryer. I have to tell you a

130
00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,280
Speaker 3: funny story. I had a political event in Los Angeles

131
00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,800
Speaker 3: and I gave my speech, and then a brand new

132
00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:48,200
Speaker 3: assembly member went up to the microphone, real sharp up

133
00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,400
Speaker 3: and comer. He was saying some nice things about me,

134
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,280
Speaker 3: and then he said, and I got some of the

135
00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:58,160
Speaker 3: most important advice from Congressman Shift when I was getting started.

136
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:00,920
Speaker 3: So the most important advice I've forgotten. And I was

137
00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:03,760
Speaker 3: waiting to hear what sage political advice I'd given him,

138
00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:05,920
Speaker 3: and he said, he told me to get an air fryer.

139
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,680
Speaker 2: You've just come back from Ukraine. Did you experience the

140
00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,760
Speaker 2: food shortage challenges we did.

141
00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,200
Speaker 3: We discussed this with the President Zelenski when we sat

142
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,440
Speaker 3: down with him. This was a congressional delegation that Speaker

143
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,160
Speaker 3: Pelosi led, as it turned out, the first congressional delegation

144
00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:35,200
Speaker 3: to Ukraine since the war. And one of the things

145
00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,040
Speaker 3: that was apparent to us before we left, but became

146
00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:41,280
Speaker 3: much more apparent as we discussed the issue is that

147
00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,040
Speaker 3: when the Russians blockaded Odessa, they were not only trying

148
00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:49,040
Speaker 3: to cripple Ukraine's economy, but as Ukraine has been the

149
00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,960
Speaker 3: bread basket of Europe, a lot of the grain to

150
00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,080
Speaker 3: Africa and other places as well. The Russians were also

151
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,120
Speaker 3: blockading food that a lot of people will need it

152
00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:06,800
Speaker 3: to survive, and it caused not only a great increase

153
00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:11,640
Speaker 3: in food prices, but also risks starvation in many places

154
00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:15,160
Speaker 3: that really have relied on Ukraine for their grain. And

155
00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,480
Speaker 3: so part of the appeal that Zelensky was making for

156
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:21,920
Speaker 3: the weapons that he needs to sink that Black Sea

157
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,880
Speaker 3: fleet and the equipment he needs to do de mining

158
00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:30,480
Speaker 3: was this is important to Ukraine, it's important to our economy,

159
00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,160
Speaker 3: but it's also important to the rest of the world

160
00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,200
Speaker 3: because the real food shortage.

161
00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,960
Speaker 2: Issue, Well do you think it will be like in Egypt,

162
00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,520
Speaker 2: in North Africa? What is going to happen when they

163
00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:43,720
Speaker 2: can't get their food?

164
00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:48,960
Speaker 3: You know, it certainly risks great instability, and just in

165
00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:53,520
Speaker 3: its own right, of course, it risks starvation. And I

166
00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:55,720
Speaker 3: think it's one of the reasons we have to do

167
00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:58,280
Speaker 3: everything we can to try to bring this war in

168
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:02,000
Speaker 3: Ukraine to an end. You know, sadly it's hard to

169
00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,800
Speaker 3: see that path. I think it does require us to

170
00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:10,080
Speaker 3: give Ukraine what needs to defend itself. To increase the

171
00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:13,640
Speaker 3: costs on Russia, so the Russian people see the folly

172
00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,560
Speaker 3: of what their dictator has done. But this tragic war

173
00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,200
Speaker 3: has had a lot of repercussions, and one of those

174
00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:26,840
Speaker 3: I think the world at least understands is the impact

175
00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,520
Speaker 3: it has on people's ability to get enough to eat

176
00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:31,000
Speaker 3: in many parts of the world.

177
00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:35,040
Speaker 2: What do we do now? What are your major concerns

178
00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,000
Speaker 2: in terms of poverty and equality?

179
00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,040
Speaker 3: You know, I think that we have experienced the revolution

180
00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:45,560
Speaker 3: in the economy and the global economy as a function

181
00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:50,079
Speaker 3: of globalization but also automation, and the result is that,

182
00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,120
Speaker 3: you know, millions of people in a million in the

183
00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,959
Speaker 3: middle class are at risk of falling out. A lot

184
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,120
Speaker 3: of working families have to work harder than ever to

185
00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,839
Speaker 3: try to get in the middle class. At the same time,

186
00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,679
Speaker 3: these structural changes in the economy have produced very great

187
00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,520
Speaker 3: concentrated wealth. So while we have students in our colleges

188
00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,160
Speaker 3: who can't get enough to eat, we have captains of

189
00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,000
Speaker 3: Jutury literally flying into space on tourist trips.

190
00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:20,679
Speaker 2: I agree, you are very vocal and very concerned and

191
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 2: very politically engaged in food inequality. When I think it's

192
00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,400
Speaker 2: seventeen million of our children in the United States faced

193
00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:32,480
Speaker 2: with hunger every day.

194
00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:36,920
Speaker 3: It really is extraordinary. And I had a meeting some

195
00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,360
Speaker 3: years ago, this before the pandemic, with a group of

196
00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:44,160
Speaker 3: community college students for my district, and they were talking

197
00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:46,440
Speaker 3: to me about and it came up in a kind

198
00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:50,400
Speaker 3: of an offhanded way about the food banks they had

199
00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,760
Speaker 3: on campus for students, and I was astonished that each

200
00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:57,520
Speaker 3: of them, and they were going to three different community colleges,

201
00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:01,840
Speaker 3: all had food banks on campus. This was still before

202
00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:06,320
Speaker 3: the pandemic. So the economy was strong, far stronger than

203
00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,640
Speaker 3: during the recession and fully recovered, and yet the hunger

204
00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:12,880
Speaker 3: was greater than ever. And it really pointed to me

205
00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,680
Speaker 3: of some strong structural problems in the economy that even

206
00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,400
Speaker 3: when it was doing well, it wasn't doing well for

207
00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:25,640
Speaker 3: millions and millions of people, to the point that college kids,

208
00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,199
Speaker 3: you know, not only at community college, but the state

209
00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:34,559
Speaker 3: colleges of the private universities, were going hungry. So I

210
00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:38,080
Speaker 3: introduced a bill to try to expand the free and

211
00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,600
Speaker 3: reduced lunch program that we have in K twelve up

212
00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,000
Speaker 3: through community college, and that was the genesis of the

213
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,640
Speaker 3: Food for Thought Act, and we've been working to get

214
00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:52,079
Speaker 3: that passed ever since and trying to address broader issues

215
00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,240
Speaker 3: of hunger and homelessness as well.

216
00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,880
Speaker 2: In Britain in the pandemic, what became very clear was

217
00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,920
Speaker 2: that when schools were c there are enormous a number

218
00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,920
Speaker 2: of children who not having lunch and therefore had depended

219
00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:09,080
Speaker 2: on lunch as their meal for the day. Did you

220
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,040
Speaker 2: find that in the United States as well?

221
00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:17,479
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And what we discovered is that schools, these kindergarten

222
00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 3: through high schools, were one of the major providers of food,

223
00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,880
Speaker 3: as it turned out, to low income families. And when

224
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,319
Speaker 3: those schools closed and people went to remote learning, suddenly

225
00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,160
Speaker 3: these families didn't have meals. Yeah, these didn't have meals.

226
00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:34,120
Speaker 3: So what a lot of our schools did. And I

227
00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,360
Speaker 3: visited so many of these sites in my own district

228
00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:41,760
Speaker 3: and participated is they would prepare meals and families would

229
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,600
Speaker 3: drive up in their car. We would ask how many

230
00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,000
Speaker 3: kids did they have, and we would give them the

231
00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,160
Speaker 3: number of meals for the kids and their family that

232
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:50,520
Speaker 3: they would have had if they were in school.

233
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,520
Speaker 2: About the road from being a barbecue of meat and

234
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,359
Speaker 2: fish to being vegan, what is your vegan story.

235
00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:11,480
Speaker 3: Well, my cholesterol has been high and I tried medication

236
00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:14,120
Speaker 3: like Satin's, but they didn't sit well with me. I

237
00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,080
Speaker 3: couldn't tolerate them very well. So my wife, was a

238
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:21,520
Speaker 3: very healthy eater, suggests that I tried being vegan. And

239
00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,000
Speaker 3: I've been vegan for about three days. When I was

240
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,200
Speaker 3: in my district and I was at an event, and

241
00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,560
Speaker 3: of course, at any event in Los Angeles, you talk

242
00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,520
Speaker 3: about food. I was talking about a great restaurant i'd

243
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,560
Speaker 3: been to, called Crossroads, and the person I was talking

244
00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,400
Speaker 3: to recognize it was a vegan restaurant, and she said

245
00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,480
Speaker 3: to me, can I tell people here you're vegan? And

246
00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,800
Speaker 3: I thought that was kind of a strange question. Why

247
00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:49,560
Speaker 3: would people be interested in that? Then I realized where

248
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,360
Speaker 3: I was. I was in West Hollywood at an animal

249
00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,440
Speaker 3: welfare event. Oh oh, yes, I guess that is a

250
00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,280
Speaker 3: big deal at an animal welfare event. And I said, well,

251
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:01,680
Speaker 3: I've only been vegan, to be honest for three days,

252
00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:03,240
Speaker 3: and if you tell people, I'm going to be pretty

253
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:06,520
Speaker 3: locked in. But you know I need the incentive go

254
00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,160
Speaker 3: ahead and tell people. So that was six years ago,

255
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,040
Speaker 3: and you know, I do allow myself to cheat from

256
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:13,680
Speaker 3: time to time.

257
00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,040
Speaker 2: The truth be told when you cheat, what do you

258
00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:16,440
Speaker 2: go for.

259
00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:20,000
Speaker 3: Usually cheat when I'm traveling because it's hard for me

260
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:24,200
Speaker 3: to always find vegan food, so I try not to

261
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,960
Speaker 3: be too tough on myself. I also cheat during Thanksgiving

262
00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:30,480
Speaker 3: because I had my first Thanksgiving as a vegan and

263
00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:31,840
Speaker 3: it was just an awful experience.

264
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,520
Speaker 2: You had just cranberry sauce and vegetables and no turkey.

265
00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:40,120
Speaker 3: We were actually out at a place in Pennsylvania, nice

266
00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,880
Speaker 3: little place for the weekend. Our kids were with us,

267
00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,760
Speaker 3: and we had ordered in advance two vegan meals and

268
00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:51,440
Speaker 3: then two traditional turkey dinners. You know, our family is

269
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,160
Speaker 3: kind of isolated in DC. We don't have other family there,

270
00:15:54,200 --> 00:16:00,200
Speaker 3: so we often have Thanksgiving out or at friends. And

271
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,960
Speaker 3: they brought these two beautiful plates for our kids, and

272
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,160
Speaker 3: then they got our own plates and it looked like

273
00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,280
Speaker 3: someone had opened the Gerber's baby food jar and poured

274
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,560
Speaker 3: it on the plate, and it was not at all satisfying.

275
00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:16,880
Speaker 3: And so I thought, Okay, on Thanksgiving, I'm going to

276
00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:17,480
Speaker 3: make an exception.

277
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,560
Speaker 2: Do you know when I talked to Paul McCartney who

278
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:25,200
Speaker 2: about being a vegetarian. When he and Linda, his late wife,

279
00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,360
Speaker 2: became vegetarians, they said that the first Christmas they had

280
00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,120
Speaker 2: they made a macaroni and cheese, but they shaped it

281
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:34,960
Speaker 2: into a turkey and carved.

282
00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,480
Speaker 3: I have a challenge for your listeners if I can,

283
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,560
Speaker 3: okay on behalf of vegans the world over, and that

284
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,280
Speaker 3: is how to make a good vegan pizza. I really

285
00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,600
Speaker 3: have yet to find one that I really like because

286
00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,000
Speaker 3: most of the places you go to use a kind

287
00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,360
Speaker 3: of a dyet cheese which is made of coconut oil.

288
00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,920
Speaker 3: It doesn't taste anything like the real thing. So I

289
00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:00,960
Speaker 3: put this up there with the Heart Lung Machine. If

290
00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:02,000
Speaker 3: somebody can invent.

291
00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:07,240
Speaker 2: Pizza, we do just beauty, you know, cooked tomato sauce

292
00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,439
Speaker 2: with a pizza. You don't have to have a cheesy pizza.

293
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,760
Speaker 2: I don't know how you substitute cheese for cheese. I

294
00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,120
Speaker 2: think substitutes are tricky, aren't they. One of the things

295
00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,640
Speaker 2: about this restaurant is we're really good for vegetarians and

296
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,679
Speaker 2: for vegans because the Italian diet that we serve is

297
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,600
Speaker 2: so vegetable based. So when you come in there are

298
00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:32,280
Speaker 2: big huge plates of you know, braised artichokes or charred

299
00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,440
Speaker 2: or pumpkins, whatever the season is. And so if somebody

300
00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:39,680
Speaker 2: says I'm vegan. It's actually that sounds wonderful, so we'll

301
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,520
Speaker 2: do that. And so I suppose my last question to

302
00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,879
Speaker 2: you is that if food is love, and food is sharing,

303
00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,439
Speaker 2: and food is alleviating hunger, it also is comfort. What

304
00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:52,280
Speaker 2: would be your comfort food?

305
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,960
Speaker 3: I think my comfort food, to go back where we

306
00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:01,800
Speaker 3: started with the original recipe, is pasta. I think pasta

307
00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:06,800
Speaker 3: is hard to beat. I have so many fond memories

308
00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:10,719
Speaker 3: of it as a kid, through adulthood, having pasta when

309
00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:14,520
Speaker 3: I travel, and there's nothing more comfortable than a great

310
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:21,879
Speaker 3: Italian meal with some wine and some bread and worrying

311
00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:23,000
Speaker 3: about the carbs tomorrow.

312
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,560
Speaker 2: Okay, And so when you come to London in September,

313
00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:30,600
Speaker 2: we'll have pasta together. N lots of love to you,

314
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:40,680
Speaker 2: Thank you, Adam, Thanks such lots of love. But tell

315
00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,920
Speaker 2: me about what an air frier is, because actually I'm

316
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,520
Speaker 2: not sure I know this gadget.

317
00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:51,960
Speaker 3: Well, an air fryer has a pot that circulates air.

318
00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,720
Speaker 3: The device circulates air around the basket or the pot,

319
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,560
Speaker 3: and it is like deep frying, but you're using air,

320
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,879
Speaker 3: so there's boy. So it's kind of a healthy version

321
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:06,240
Speaker 3: of fry.

322
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,720
Speaker 2: To visit the online shop of the River cafe go

323
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:14,160
Speaker 2: to shop Therivercafe dot co dot.

324
00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:23,240
Speaker 1: UK, River Cafe Table four is a production of iHeartRadio

325
00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,480
Speaker 1: and Adami Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

326
00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,000
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

327
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:31,919
Speaker 1: favorite shows.