1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Ruthie's Table four, a production of iHeartRadio and 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: Adamized Studios. 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:11,319 Speaker 2: Last week I spelled on a paddle with Vanessa king 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 2: Or celebrating International Women's Day. Listening to Vanessa that evening, 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,639 Speaker 2: it became apparent that it really wasn't necessary for the 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,600 Speaker 2: rest of us to be there. It was her views 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 2: on social justice, women in business, creativity and leadership that 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 2: everybody wanted to hear, most of all me. Her path 9 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 2: towards Chief Business Officer of Conde Nasty International is a 10 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 2: story of a young girl from Kenya a chieving remarkable 11 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 2: amount in a British world through sheer, intelligence, motivation and determination. 12 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 2: This we all know, but for me, the revelation was 13 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 2: when Vanessa began talking about the food of her family, 14 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 2: her culture, especially the cooking of her grandmother. Today we're 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 2: here together to hear more about memory and food, change 16 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 2: and connectivity. As always, I will listen with awe, with 17 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 2: love and deep admiration the recipe that you chose. Yes, 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 2: you love artichokes. 19 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 3: I love artichokes and I love that you can only 20 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 3: have them for a certain time in the year properly, 21 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 3: and Italians do them incredibly well. I hope I pronounced 22 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 3: this correctly, but it's for Carchoffi ala Piperno. You wanted 23 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 3: to explain a little bit about the Piperno element. 24 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 2: Well, first of all, carcioffi. They're also called karchoffi, which 25 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 2: is a word for artichoke in Italian ala Judea. And 26 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 2: there's an area of Rome which is called the Jewish Quarter, 27 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 2: which I suppose, like in many Italian cities, was a ghetto, 28 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 2: and it's right near the Colisseum. And there's a restaurant 29 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 2: there called piper Now and Richard and I used to 30 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 2: go there. It's on the top of a little hill 31 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 2: and you actually can overlook the cabin Ilia and it's 32 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 2: just a great little restaurant. And like a lot of 33 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 2: Italian restaurants, you go there for one reason and yeah, 34 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 2: one dish. And so there it's the artichokes dala Judea. 35 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,839 Speaker 2: And we call them for the cookbook artichokes al Peperna, 36 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 2: because that's the name of the restaurant. Yeah it's good. 37 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:18,119 Speaker 3: Well, I mean, get ready to be absolutely swarmed with exactly. 38 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 2: It might not be there anymore. 39 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 4: Okay, So this recipe serves six. 40 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 3: You need twelve reminiscent art chokes, sunflower oil, sea salt, 41 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 3: and black pepper, and three large lemons. Right, so, you 42 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 3: heat the oil to one hundred degrees in your deep fryer. 43 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 4: You need to have a deep fryer. 44 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 2: First of all, well, you can use a large saucepan 45 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 2: with olive oil. 46 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 3: Peel away the leaves of the art choke, cut the 47 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 3: stalks two centimeters from the heads. Fry the artichokes in 48 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 3: batches until the leaves begin to crisp and the hearts soften. 49 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 3: Drain on kitchen paper when cool, peel off the outside leaves, 50 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 3: trim the tops of the artichokes. Increase the temperature of 51 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 3: the oil to one hundred and seventy degrees. To fry 52 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 3: the second time, this is a healthy one. 53 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 2: It does strain. We off the oil. 54 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 4: I have to say it's tasty. It's healthy in love. 55 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 3: So to fry the second time, you place two to 56 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 3: three art chokes at a time in a hot oil 57 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 3: and fry until crisp for about two to three minutes. 58 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 3: Then flatten out the artichokes, set each on a board 59 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 3: and gently separate out the layer of the head, exposing 60 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 3: the heart. Squeeze between two plates season and serve with 61 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 3: lemon amazing recipes. 62 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 2: But than I said, an choke has a head and a. 63 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 3: Heart, So I was thinking about myself, what do you 64 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 3: read it for? 65 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 2: Can you start for lunch? 66 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 4: It depends. 67 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 3: So I'm very lucky because I entertain lot our clients 68 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 3: and business partners. So we go out to We're in 69 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 3: Mayfair and we go out to lovely Mayfair restaurants. So 70 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 3: I'm at Scott's a lot carriages, I love the Mount 71 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 3: Street restaurant and things which I all now associate with work, right, 72 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:20,039 Speaker 3: But then there are lots of days where I'm doing 73 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 3: the business end, so I don't leave my desk all day, 74 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 3: and my assistant will go and fetch me a salad 75 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 3: and all some sushi. 76 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 4: I try to eat raw food in the day. 77 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 3: But the way it is that Vogue House is each 78 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:35,600 Speaker 3: magazine kind of dominates a floor. 79 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 4: So I worked on GQ for years. 80 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 3: I was running that business, and I was that's the 81 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 3: first floor, and then you graduate up and Boga's the 82 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 3: fifth floor. And there was always this idea that nobody 83 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 3: eats at Vogue, you know, so people would deliver. You'd 84 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 3: see in the reception of Vogue House. You know, cakes 85 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 3: and these amazing things being delivered, and we'd all sort 86 00:04:57,800 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 3: of scoff, Oh, well, you know they'll be in the 87 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 3: bin and needs them up there, and you know a GQ. 88 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 3: We all sort of it was food everywhere all the time, 89 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 3: you know, and actually is a big misconception because. 90 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 4: We were Yeah, we work really hard. 91 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 3: It's a really hard working team, the Vogue team. I 92 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 3: still now I'm overseeing all of the brands at Conde 93 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 3: Nas but I still sit with Edward on the fifth floor. 94 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 3: And he loves to eat. 95 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 4: We love to eat. 96 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 3: We love to plan a dinner. We love to incorporate 97 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 3: a bit of our culture into dinners. So even when 98 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 3: we did his wedding, his wedding was at long leads 99 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 3: and it helped him to plan that. It was amazing. 100 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 3: But we were saying, you know, we need to have 101 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 3: John Off in there, which caterists can go. Yeah, we did, 102 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 3: and we had you know, he loves spicy food. Anytime 103 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:51,679 Speaker 3: he comes here, he'll always say, can I have chili 104 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 3: and chili Island, So we had chili sauces and everything. 105 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 3: So it's talking about food eating a lot of times 106 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 3: he and I eat our lunch at desks you know, 107 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 3: across from each other. So he'll have steam vegetables and 108 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 3: you know, some fish or chicken or something, and I'll 109 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 3: have sushi. But we sit together and eat it if 110 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 3: we're if we're doing a working lunch. Otherwise I'm out 111 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 3: with clients. 112 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 2: When we talked to Edward Nifl, and he just felt 113 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 2: quite a lot about wanting to change the culture of 114 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 2: you know, the stick thin model and the denial of 115 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:28,839 Speaker 2: food and the denial of pleasure and in order to 116 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 2: show clothes at their best. Now that you're in such 117 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 2: a senior position at Cande Nast, does that does that 118 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 2: into your yes world? Yeah, what do you feel about it? Well? 119 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 3: I think that you know, the reason that Edwind and 120 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,359 Speaker 3: I's partnership kind of is so important to me is 121 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 3: we had been separately and a bit together talking about 122 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:54,560 Speaker 3: this challenge in our industry, not just about beauty being 123 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 3: about stick thin, which is kind of a bit preposterous, 124 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 3: but just the idea that magazin scenes in media represented 125 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,040 Speaker 3: this kind of one really hard to reach version of 126 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 3: being a woman, which we didn't grow up surrounded by 127 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 3: my friends, weren't those people, and yet there were these 128 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 3: magazines that we loved representing that in an industry which 129 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 3: we loved and we were a part of, you know, 130 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,679 Speaker 3: and so you know, the joy and beauty for both 131 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 3: of us was all around, in different shapes and different 132 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 3: sizes and different color And what we did behind the 133 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 3: scenes at Vogue was build a group of people who 134 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 3: didn't think like us. That's how you learn about new, 135 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 3: exciting things if you're all speaking to each other. And 136 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 3: you you know, Edwin and I actually have quite similar backgrounds. 137 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 3: I was laughing with Steve McQueen about our mothers did 138 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 3: exactly the same thing. 139 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 4: Nurses in the same hospital did your mother? 140 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, and so our background, you know, he can start 141 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 3: a sentence, I can finish it because our backgrounds are 142 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 3: so similar. And so what's really fascinating is talking to 143 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 3: I mean, I could talk to Steve forever in a 144 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 3: day or Edward forever in a day. But what I 145 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 3: really love is to talk to people who didn't grow 146 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 3: up like me. That's where and I think that's what 147 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 3: I really want to challenge not only the media industry 148 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 3: but the but any organization to do a little bit more. Is, 149 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 3: you know, how can you connect with people and wider 150 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 3: audiences if you don't have them. 151 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 4: In your midst. 152 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:36,679 Speaker 2: And food and food is the great connector with him, 153 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 2: and he remember him talking very much about growing up 154 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 2: like you, very very interesting conversations about his mother and 155 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,719 Speaker 2: the markets and kind of keeping the food of their 156 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,679 Speaker 2: parents and their grandparents and adapting to the food of 157 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 2: the culture. 158 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 3: The keeping food alive through food is everything, you know, 159 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 3: when when everything was planned around food, I remember all 160 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 3: of our great excursions on the weekends being about going 161 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 3: to get food, you know, so particularly in London in 162 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 3: the nineties late eighties nineties, where a lot of the 163 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 3: foods that we ate in the Caribbean in particular were 164 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 3: not readily available. You couldn't pop to, you know, Sainsbury's, 165 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 3: so you'd go from West London to Dulstone Market because 166 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 3: somebody told you that there was something there or what 167 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 3: have you. 168 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 4: And Wembley Market. 169 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 3: We used to go to south All Market lots because 170 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 3: the Indian community had lots of the ingredients and spices 171 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 3: and so on that we used. And so that's really unifying. 172 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 3: But I think with one of the best ways to 173 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 3: get to know people and groups of new people when 174 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 3: you're trying to connect and create these kind of diversity 175 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 3: of perspective, spaces where you know it's through food. 176 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 2: Where were you born? 177 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,319 Speaker 3: So from the very beginning, I was born in Kenya, 178 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 3: in Nanuki. My father is Kenyan and my mother is 179 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 3: from Saint Kitts in the Caribbean, Saint Kittenita, it's tiny 180 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 3: into the islands. And they met here in London. It's 181 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,839 Speaker 3: kind of a strange pairing in the seventies, and it 182 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:26,719 Speaker 3: was quite a radical relationship. 183 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 4: There's because. 184 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 3: At that time Africans and people from the Caribbean did 185 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 3: not spend that much time together. 186 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:38,719 Speaker 4: They certainly didn't end up in relationships. 187 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 3: And London is the great sort of unifying space, right 188 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 3: It's a true melting plot I think in the world. 189 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 4: They met here, they. 190 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 3: Fell in love, and my mother moved with my father 191 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,960 Speaker 3: to this strange land where she knew no language or 192 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 3: the culture. Lots of her family didn't speak to her 193 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 3: because of the move, and indeed lots of his family 194 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:06,079 Speaker 3: didn't speak to him because someone from yeah, from a 195 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 3: different culture, and he was a very eligible bachelor. 196 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:11,079 Speaker 4: So I was born in this kind of context. 197 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:13,720 Speaker 2: Why did they both plan to come to London for 198 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 2: a short time and then go home or did. 199 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 4: My father what did he do? He did some of 200 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 4: his education here. 201 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 3: He's a military man, but he studied engineering, came to 202 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:28,079 Speaker 3: London with studies and works and things. And my mother, 203 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 3: who is a great inspiration in my life, has moved 204 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 3: here at seventeen on her own. She took the flight 205 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,199 Speaker 3: and came to London to become a nurse with the NHS. 206 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 3: And it was a time where British were recruiting heavily 207 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 3: in the Commonwealth to establish the welfare states to come 208 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 3: and become nurses and. 209 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 4: Bus drivers and all of those things. 210 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 3: And she had a big kind of dreamy heart and 211 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 3: came here thinking this is going to be an incredible life. 212 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 2: Then to us supported to yeah, Kenny. 213 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 3: Was it a small village, Quite a small village, yes, 214 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 3: And it's in a sort of mountainous area. His family 215 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 3: were in Coffee, so yeah, quite rural, but they were 216 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,440 Speaker 3: very well off. But my mother had a very difficult 217 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 3: time settling in there. And this is where food comes 218 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 3: in because she was encountering women who didn't understand her 219 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:32,199 Speaker 3: literally and figuratively. She only spoke English and they often 220 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 3: spoke five languages, you know, and so the language barrier 221 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 3: was there. She didn't speak Swahili, she didn't speak the 222 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 3: dialect as well, and so food was her way to 223 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 3: connect with people. She used to say to me, it's 224 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,319 Speaker 3: quicker to learn addition than to learn a language. And 225 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 3: I think one of the most ingratiating things you can 226 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 3: do in a new culture is you know, know some 227 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 3: basic words to greet people. And she looked at food 228 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 3: in the same way. If you could cook the food 229 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 3: really well, it was a show of respect. So she 230 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 3: learned to cook, which I also found strange because she 231 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 3: had cooks and nannies and all of those things. But 232 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 3: she loved to cook, and. 233 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 2: She loved to cook before. 234 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, my grandmother was a great cook. 235 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 2: And grandmother and Saint KITT's. 236 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're all over the place, and my. 237 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 3: Family are not a family who say I love you 238 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 3: a lot, but we're incredibly loving family and expressed through stories, 239 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 3: like everyone in my family is a bit of a joker, 240 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 3: you know, funny stories and food. 241 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, she was a kitchen Like do you remember the 242 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 2: kitchen in the house? 243 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:37,959 Speaker 4: Well, I didn't. 244 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 3: I we left Kenya at when I was eighteen months old. 245 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:47,319 Speaker 3: I don't have any real memories. But again, she would 246 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 3: cook the dishes to keep I guess the Kenyon in 247 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 3: me alive. So we left when I was eighteen months old. 248 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 3: We moved to Saint Kits and then we came to 249 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 3: London and she would cook ugalley and soka mawiki and 250 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 3: mung beans and these are Kenyan dishes. 251 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 2: What are the first two? I know? Mung beans? 252 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, So soka mawiki is it's like collared greens or 253 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 3: kale with tomatoes and onions, and you tend to have 254 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 3: it with rich dishes, so like a beef stew or 255 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 3: stewed mung beans and ougalley, which is like a maze 256 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 3: kind of it's almost like a not a mashed potato, 257 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 3: but it's quite a firm, dense carrier almost for shoes 258 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 3: and things. And the soukamwiki is like a palate cleanser. 259 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 3: So she would make these dishes for us, my sister 260 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 3: and I, I guess, to keep that Kenyan culture alive 261 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 3: in us growing up, moving around, living in belonging to 262 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 3: three places. Food was a brilliant connector to places we'd 263 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 3: left so that they didn't become lost, but also a 264 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 3: really good way of connecting with somewhere new, with new people, 265 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 3: with new communities and within new life almost. 266 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 4: Well. Okay, So at two we went to live with 267 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 4: my grandmother. My mother and father got divorced. 268 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 3: My mother came back to London to try and re 269 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 3: establish herself by a house and all of those things, 270 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 3: and we stayed in Sant Kits with her, visiting frequently 271 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 3: with my grandmother. So I was very young, so I 272 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 3: was stuck to her all the time. And she is 273 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 3: definitely the most powerful sort of figure in my life. 274 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 4: My mother's a very powerful figure. We're very close. 275 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 3: When my grandmother is almost my heart, you know, and 276 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 3: I gosh, I'm welling up. 277 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 4: Even talking about her. 278 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 3: It's so because when we spoke about this, No, she's not, 279 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 3: but she's very much alive in me. I think about 280 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 3: her every day, not only through food but also just 281 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 3: her advice. Was amazing because it's so funny, it's really 282 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 3: evocative thinking about this. 283 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 4: I'm getting emotional. 284 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 3: No, it's kind of happy to you know, when someone 285 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 3: leaves a mark on your life that's so powerful and 286 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 3: kind of runs through everything in my working life, whenever 287 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 3: I'm up against any kind of challenge, in the way 288 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 3: I raise my son, in the way that I connect 289 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 3: to people, and what I place is important. These kind 290 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 3: of figures are so strong, and I miss her, I 291 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 3: really miss. 292 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 4: Her, but she's alive. 293 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 2: What was her food like? Describe? Was she in the 294 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 2: kitchen all day long. 295 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 3: I don't remember her not wearing an apron or some 296 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 3: sort of overalls. So she made food that was needed, 297 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 3: constant nurturing, you know. 298 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 4: Her house was also. 299 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 3: Where everyone dropped in, so my sister and I lived 300 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 3: there on and off. Four of my cousins lived there, 301 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 3: and my uncle's children, and then she was sort of 302 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 3: everyone's grandmother. So her house was, Oh, it was so fun. 303 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 3: It was a wash with children all the time. And 304 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,120 Speaker 3: I was the youngest, so I was always with her. 305 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 3: I slept in her bed, and I was literally on 306 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 3: her apen strings. So her food was very rich. It 307 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:31,880 Speaker 3: was like almost like a warm embrace, you know, hearty, 308 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 3: and lots of sort of stews and meats and heavily 309 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 3: marinated delicious comfort food, dumplings and you know, sort of starchy, 310 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 3: delicious things. And she kept her own little farm, at 311 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 3: least it felt like a farm to me. She grew 312 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 3: her own vegetables, she had her own fruit tree, She 313 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,640 Speaker 3: would graft her own strains, of mango. She grew herbs 314 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 3: and things that people would come and visit her to buy, 315 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 3: and she kept her own animals, and I used to 316 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 3: help her tend to those little gardens, and then she'd 317 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 3: make up these amazing dishes from food, and she'd tell 318 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 3: me stories of the food as well. 319 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 2: So did she grow up in poverty or did she 320 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 2: grow up any Yes? She did. 321 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 3: And I look at sort of my life now, which 322 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 3: is so much on her shoulders, and all of the 323 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 3: opportunity I have now, and I think about how important circumstances. 324 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:34,959 Speaker 3: So she was a really intelligent woman. She was the 325 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 3: most prolific reader I ever knew. She was either cooking 326 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 3: or reading. But she was forced to leave school at fourteen. 327 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:49,160 Speaker 3: Her mother was a She also had a slightly strange 328 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:58,120 Speaker 3: parentage in that her father was previously a slave and 329 00:18:58,440 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 3: her mother. 330 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 2: Was grandfather was a slave. Yeah in syn kids, yeah, 331 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:10,800 Speaker 2: and probably like the Civil War probably yeah. 332 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 3: But her mother, which is really strange, was a Portuguese 333 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,880 Speaker 3: woman from a slave owning family, so it's really really 334 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:24,000 Speaker 3: unusual that way around. And her mother was not very 335 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 3: maternal at all, and so they fell upon hard times. 336 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 3: Her mother was seen I think as having made bad decisions, 337 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 3: and so she didn't grow up surrounded, as I understand it, 338 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 3: by lots of love, and so she created this love 339 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,640 Speaker 3: loving world. But the reason that it's important at how 340 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 3: she grew up is her food was very much worker food. 341 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,160 Speaker 3: You know, she made food that they would have made 342 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 3: for men and women who worked picking cotton. 343 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 4: She was picking cotton at fourteen. 344 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 3: Years old in the fields, and then after that taking 345 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 3: books under the house to read them in evening and 346 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 3: cooking and supporting the households and so on. So she 347 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:14,480 Speaker 3: had this really eclectic upbringing where she really valued education 348 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 3: and missed her opportunity I think, to have a full education. 349 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 3: But food was also the key joy. 350 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and so would you sit down? Would you go 351 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,120 Speaker 2: to school and then every evening come home and sit 352 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 2: down for dinner. Would there be for dinner on the 353 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 2: table for you? Yes? 354 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, So my grandmother always liked us to sit and 355 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 3: eat together again because I think sharing stories and storytelling 356 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 3: was really important, and food's a really good way to 357 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 3: get everyone together and understand what their days were like. 358 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 3: I was very young, so I was always around the house, 359 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:54,880 Speaker 3: So I looked forward to people coming home with their 360 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 3: stories of the day and enjoying that over food. 361 00:20:58,359 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 4: And so. 362 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 3: We would have great mounds of kind of rice and 363 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 3: vegetables and these kind of incredible with me and everybody 364 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 3: would pile in and pour in and go for second plates. 365 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 3: It wasn't a very formal sit and the table was 366 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,480 Speaker 3: also off the kitchen, so it was kind of part 367 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,240 Speaker 3: of the action, and it was just a really lovely 368 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 3: way to be connected with the people around you. 369 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,439 Speaker 2: Breakfast, what was breakfast? Icen that? Do you remember? 370 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 4: Do you know what's so funny? I do not remember breakfast. 371 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 3: What I remember, really really vividly at my grandmother's house 372 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 3: is the back door of her house was at the. 373 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 4: Base of it. 374 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,240 Speaker 3: We called it a mountain, but it was really just 375 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 3: a big hill and there were mango groves and things, 376 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 3: and so we would take buckets in the morning. We'd 377 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 3: just run out barefoot, all the kids together with the 378 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 3: older kids, and go and pick fruit and slightly gorge 379 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 3: ourselves on the things. 380 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:55,879 Speaker 2: So you left this kind of your mother took you 381 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:57,159 Speaker 2: to London, then, did. 382 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,359 Speaker 3: You, Yeah, so my mother, while we were having this 383 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 3: lovely time, you know, with my grandmother, learning these amazing 384 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 3: lessons about life and opportunity and food and you know, 385 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,400 Speaker 3: all of those things. My mother was in London, toiling away. 386 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:14,399 Speaker 3: She was very focused on us moving to London and 387 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,639 Speaker 3: having the kind of cultural access that you could have 388 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 3: in London. Being part of different communities was a big 389 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,280 Speaker 3: thing for her, and getting a really, really great education. 390 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:29,719 Speaker 3: So she was working very hard. She'd managed to on 391 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 3: a nurse's salary by a three bedroom house in West London, 392 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 3: which was her dream, and were all while coming back 393 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 3: every three months to sink it to visit us. But 394 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,640 Speaker 3: this sort of sad thing happened where she became this 395 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 3: kind of glamorous figure in my life. But I didn't. 396 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 3: I didn't really connect that we were ever going to 397 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 3: live together. So when we came to London, it was 398 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,119 Speaker 3: a bit of a room awakening, to be honest, Like, 399 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,360 Speaker 3: I missed my grandmother terribly. 400 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 2: Had you ever experienced, either in Kenya or in Saint 401 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 2: KITT's any form of racism, you probably hadn't, had you No. 402 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 3: That was also really strange, and I'm also really grateful 403 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,679 Speaker 3: for that, because when I did encounter any forms of racism, 404 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 3: it just didn't touch my soul because it just seemed preposterous. 405 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 3: You know, the idea that I could be anything bad 406 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 3: or good just because I'm black was silly because I'd 407 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 3: come from these cultures where everyone's black, good, bad, you know, and. 408 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 4: Everything in between. 409 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 3: And so I think I'm really with retrospect, you know, 410 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:52,160 Speaker 3: grateful to that foundation where I was never affected deeply 411 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 3: by any kind of racist comments and things like that. 412 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:56,840 Speaker 4: It just felt a bit silly. 413 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 3: I went to Catholics, where there's a lot of immigrant 414 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 3: communities anyway, you know, lots of Irish Catholics, Italians, Eastern Europeans, 415 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:15,199 Speaker 3: and so there was that unity in difference anyway. And 416 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 3: then I really think I definitely remember to encounters in 417 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 3: primary school. I told my mother and she was, of course, 418 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,359 Speaker 3: you know, came down to the school and frustrated, but 419 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 3: it just didn't really really affect me. I think the 420 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 3: comments are don't affect me as much as seeing injustice 421 00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 3: so more discrimination. But I didn't I couldn't understand that 422 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,439 Speaker 3: until later on. Yeah, but I was very lucky to 423 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:52,120 Speaker 3: be surrounded by lots of people who had had their version, 424 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 3: you know, of the kind of immigrant experience. The other 425 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 3: thing was my mother is an incredibly charming woman. 426 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 4: Everybody loves her. 427 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 3: She just brought people together all the time, and so 428 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,959 Speaker 3: our house was always filled with quite people from all 429 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 3: different backgrounds. And again I'm really grateful to that. Now 430 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 3: I tend not to walk into spaces and feel uncomfortable. 431 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 3: I don't mind being the only person of a I 432 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:18,439 Speaker 3: don't mind being the only woman in the room, or 433 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 3: the only personal color or whatever. I think that's because 434 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:25,959 Speaker 3: of her, because she was hard not to like. And 435 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 3: I remember my mother used to host these dinners and 436 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 3: Sunday afternoons and you'd have, you know, her friend, her 437 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 3: nursing friends, the High Commission of Saint Kits would be 438 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,719 Speaker 3: casually there and like other sort of dignitaries are our 439 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 3: little house, you know, and these people for you know, 440 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,600 Speaker 3: the woman from a counsel estate around the corner who 441 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,359 Speaker 3: sometimes helped to pick us up from school because she 442 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 3: was working and things like that. And she just threw 443 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 3: everyone together and served up food. 444 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 2: And did she adapt her cooking when she came here, 445 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 2: did she change to more British cooking or did she 446 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:01,160 Speaker 2: keep for cooking Kenya? 447 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 3: She kept the cooking a lot of sink it and Kenya, 448 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:11,160 Speaker 3: But she did we did do these sort of English 449 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 3: nights so Fridays we'd have would have like British food, 450 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,480 Speaker 3: and we thought it was really exotic. We'd have egg 451 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 3: and chips for breakfast, no for dinner, which we kind 452 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,639 Speaker 3: of was. Really this was so bizarre to us, you know, 453 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 3: that's like, wow, potato and an egg and that's the 454 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 3: whole meal. And lots of different sort of cuisines that 455 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,040 Speaker 3: you could get here, which you couldn't get so readily 456 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 3: and sink it and things. So Fridays and sometimes Saturdays 457 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,640 Speaker 3: were days to either eat out or she'd recreate frankly 458 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 3: with much more flavor, you know. But yeah, no, she cooked, 459 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 3: and I remember everybody loved her food. I always thoughts 460 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 3: when my friends came to my house, they came to 461 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 3: see her rather than going to see me, you know. 462 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 2: Other people's houses for food. Would it be very different 463 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 2: from your own? 464 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,159 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, and it was such a culture shock. I 465 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,120 Speaker 3: always loved to go. A very close friend of mine 466 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 3: is Polish and she in her house, her grandmother had 467 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 3: a sort of annex in her house. She was blind, 468 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 3: actually her babcher and we became very close. And now 469 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 3: I think about it, it's probably because i'd never really 470 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 3: made the connection of my relationship with my grandmother, but 471 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:29,919 Speaker 3: she would teach me to make pierogies and all of 472 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 3: these amazing sort of Polish dishes which I would never 473 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 3: have eaten before. And I would have Irish shoes at 474 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 3: you know, my Irish friends out. I had a friend 475 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 3: called Margaret who had she was one of thirteen. I 476 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 3: found initially the food really bland, and my first encounter 477 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 3: with English food was at school, so it's kind of 478 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 3: you know, the worst, yeah, and then it sort of 479 00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 3: London opened up to me through having these experiences with 480 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,959 Speaker 3: different families from different immigrant backgrounds and how they cooked 481 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 3: and so on. So that was really important in me 482 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 3: falling in love with being in London after arriving in 483 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:15,680 Speaker 3: that cold October and feeling ripped away from my favorite place. 484 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,119 Speaker 3: The idea of Vogue was that it was at the 485 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 3: time that Edward took over exclusive really in an excluding way, unfortunately, 486 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 3: which was the style of the time. But the idea 487 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 3: that you would critique the industry, which was our bread 488 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 3: and butter. So the business of Vogue is advertising from 489 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 3: luxury fashion brands who at the time celebrated very thin, 490 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 3: very white, a very particular youth, and a very particular 491 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:09,719 Speaker 3: type of beauty. So although everyone loved Edward's idea and vision, 492 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 3: there was also this almost unanimous sort of gulp and fearful, 493 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 3: very fearful, this, this is going to destroy the business evogue. 494 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 2: I remember before the first issue on the talk about 495 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 2: you know, the change, the vision of yourself and the 496 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 2: Edwards and that first issue was amazing. Tell me about 497 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 2: that first issue, and it kind of does relate to food, 498 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 2: doesn't it about food? 499 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 4: It's true, I think that. I think it's very much 500 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 4: about joy. 501 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 3: And if you deny yourself anything right, you deny yourself 502 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 3: getting older, you deny yourself gaining a few pounds for 503 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 3: the joy of food, you deny who you are in 504 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 3: terms of your demographic makeup, it's not joyful. And so 505 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 3: that's what I read, That's what I articulate from what 506 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 3: Edward's vision was, and it was also my shared views, 507 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,800 Speaker 3: you know, and everything I've described about how I grew up. 508 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:20,680 Speaker 3: It's about great storytelling, it's about joy, it's about connection, 509 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:26,480 Speaker 3: it's about acceptance of difference, and so this just spoke 510 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:26,760 Speaker 3: to me. 511 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,120 Speaker 2: It also instills a sense of failure if you're not 512 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 2: you know, yes, so damaging too. Definitely, and growing up 513 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 2: that sense of failure if you don't fit into what 514 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 2: it was. 515 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 3: You know what was so incredible in that first year 516 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 3: is so Edward and I went on this mission where 517 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 3: he basically said, you know, if this doesn't make money, 518 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 3: then I'm not going to be doing this for very long. 519 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 3: I know I can do what I need to do 520 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 3: and people will love it, but I need to be 521 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 3: able to do it for a while. And no one 522 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,200 Speaker 3: can see a path to making this business work. And 523 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 3: so I set about creating a new business. And it 524 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 3: was scary stuff because Vogue is half of Condinas business. 525 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,200 Speaker 3: So we have ten brands and half of the business 526 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 3: is Vogue, so you really don't want to mess that up, right, 527 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 3: So everybody was sort of saying, it ain't broke, you know, 528 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 3: it ain't broke, leave it alone. But I knew what 529 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,280 Speaker 3: was coming, and so we had to speak to the brands. 530 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 3: We had to try and ask them to be different. 531 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,800 Speaker 3: We had to say, you are going to need to 532 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:34,239 Speaker 3: make samples in different sizes. We can create content for 533 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 3: you because your ad is now going to look slightly 534 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 3: strange in the backdrop of this kind of melting pot 535 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 3: with different races and sizes, and so I had to 536 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 3: create a different business model for Vogue, which invited in 537 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 3: different brands to work with us, invited our existing brands 538 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 3: to work differently. Also that we could bolster up this 539 00:31:56,160 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 3: incredible vision where women felt seen and they felt like 540 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 3: they weren't excluded, and that the idea that a magazine 541 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:09,960 Speaker 3: like Vogue didn't have to be excluding, it could be 542 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 3: aspirational and inclusive was radical creatively, but it was radical 543 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,640 Speaker 3: from a business perspective as well, because a lot of 544 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 3: the times when people take those radical creative risks, it's 545 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 3: on it with a platform which is not so big 546 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 3: and not so visible and not so scary. And that 547 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:38,960 Speaker 3: first year issue after issue getting letters, you know, people 548 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 3: taking the time to write letters or long emails to say, 549 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 3: thank God, I finally see myself. This is amazing and 550 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,520 Speaker 3: was so gratifying. It just you know, powered us on. 551 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 3: But it was an amazing time and still is. 552 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,479 Speaker 2: You've changed the world. Would you say as well? In fashion, 553 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 2: is that you see more runways with different models of 554 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,720 Speaker 2: different sizes and different shapes. You know, the friends that 555 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,719 Speaker 2: I've had who were in models, not many of them, 556 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 2: but I just saw it was almost painful to see 557 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:15,000 Speaker 2: the relationship with food to being able to do their job, 558 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 2: you know, to be. 559 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 4: Able to I think we still have a lot of 560 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 4: work to do there. 561 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 3: I definitely feel that British Vogue has changed the magazine 562 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:30,040 Speaker 3: world and the content world significantly. I remember the first 563 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 3: September that we went. Rihanna was our first, the first 564 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 3: black woman I believe, to be on the cover of 565 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 3: British Vogue, and in. 566 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 4: September that was twenty twenty. 567 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 3: You know, it's very recent, and you know, every time 568 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 3: we did these and people would say that's the first 569 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:52,080 Speaker 3: or the first, and you'd say, my god, this is crazy. 570 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 4: It's not like we're going for someone obscure. It's realnit, 571 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 4: you know. 572 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,800 Speaker 3: And then I remember the subsequent September after that first set, 573 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,720 Speaker 3: remember issue having a black woman on the cover. I 574 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:07,400 Speaker 3: went to the newsstands as I do, and every single 575 00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:08,600 Speaker 3: magazine cover had. 576 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 4: A black woman on it, and I think this is. 577 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 3: Incredible, you know, because everybody thought, well, this is what 578 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 3: we need to do now. And then I became a 579 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:20,040 Speaker 3: bit afraid that it was trend base. So people were saying, 580 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,759 Speaker 3: what would Edward do? What would they do at Vogue 581 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 3: and let's create the output without the work behind the scenes. 582 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,840 Speaker 3: Talking to different people, having different people create a real 583 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 3: melting pot. And this idea of diversity of perspective is really. 584 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 4: Important to me. 585 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,920 Speaker 3: It's one of the big criticisms when Edward was appointed 586 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 3: and I was appointed, was you're going to appoint two 587 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,360 Speaker 3: black people, you know, so it's like all or nothing, 588 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 3: and lots of people felt it was kind of fad like. 589 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,000 Speaker 3: And I had been at Conde inass at that point 590 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 3: for nearly a decade. I transformed GQ. I had, you know, 591 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 3: a really Jonathan knew how disappointed me without interview to 592 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 3: the job of running British for based on my track record. 593 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:09,200 Speaker 4: But what people could see externally. 594 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:14,080 Speaker 3: Was Okay, they're doing a it's a thing they're they're 595 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 3: bringing in, you know. 596 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:16,960 Speaker 4: And so there was lots of criticism. 597 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:20,560 Speaker 3: It was quite shocking actually that people were quite vocal 598 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 3: about it. 599 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:22,759 Speaker 4: And so. 600 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 3: When I saw those September covers, I initially thought, this 601 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 3: is amazing, this is what we've always wanted. There are 602 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:32,240 Speaker 3: plus sized women and women of color, and this is amazing. 603 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,880 Speaker 3: And then I looked at the mass head and I thought, ah, 604 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,759 Speaker 3: not very much has changed Behind the scenes and to 605 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 3: really make the industry change. And really the new frontier 606 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,480 Speaker 3: is not who's on the cover, it's who works. 607 00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:55,880 Speaker 4: Behind the scenes. And how mixed is it? 608 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 2: If food is memory and you have so many memories 609 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,400 Speaker 2: and it's been so good here about this journey from 610 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 2: Kenya to sak Kids to the first Law of g 611 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,000 Speaker 2: Q and the top floor of FO and food is 612 00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 2: all that. It's also comfort. And so the question we 613 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 2: ask everybody is if you need food for comfort, is 614 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 2: there something you turn to. 615 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,600 Speaker 4: When you do? I'm going to pick two. 616 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 3: One is pasta isn't past the universal comfort food? 617 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:28,400 Speaker 2: Certainly mine? 618 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:32,720 Speaker 3: I think almost everyone you know, A really good fresh 619 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 3: pasta is just comfort. But food from my grandmother's kitchen 620 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:44,000 Speaker 3: is my ultimate. It's the if the food, the European 621 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 3: food I love is like a kiss, amazing kiss. My 622 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 3: grandmother's food is like the warm embrace. And so I 623 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 3: would have. One of the things she would make for 624 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:05,440 Speaker 3: lunch were something called saltfish fritter. So it's again I 625 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,319 Speaker 3: think from her mother, who's Portuguese. The Portuguese have a 626 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 3: thing called baccalout Yeah yeah, yeah, salted cord in sync. 627 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:20,240 Speaker 3: Its my grandmother would make saltfish cakes from them, which 628 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 3: is just mixed with eggs, onions, chives, peppers, chilis and 629 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,759 Speaker 3: then fried into these patties. And you'd have that with 630 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:33,000 Speaker 3: planting and some eggs and it's absolutely divided. 631 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 2: Do you make it? 632 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:37,000 Speaker 3: Yes, Yeah, that's that is my comfort food that I 633 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 3: make for myself. 634 00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:41,160 Speaker 4: And yeah, it's slightly adapted. 635 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,560 Speaker 2: But I wish i'd met your grandmother. 636 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,640 Speaker 4: She's amazing. Well you're kind of meeting her. Foo. 637 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,719 Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It's a beautiful conversation. 638 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 4: Thank you, it's so special. 639 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,960 Speaker 2: Thank you. 640 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,239 Speaker 1: The River Cafe Look Book is now available in bookshops 641 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:03,440 Speaker 1: and online. It has over one hundred recipes, beautifully illustrated 642 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,919 Speaker 1: with photographs from the renowned photographer Matthew Donaldson. The book 643 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 1: has fifty delicious and easy to prepare recipes, including a 644 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:15,440 Speaker 1: host of River Cafe classics that have been specially adapted 645 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:19,560 Speaker 1: for new cooks. The River Cafe Look Book Recipes for 646 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:27,760 Speaker 1: cooks of all ages. Ruthie's Table four is a production 647 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:32,520 Speaker 1: of iHeart Radio and Adamized Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 648 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:36,920 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 649 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:37,920 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows,