WEBVTT - David Adjaye 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.960 Welcome to River Cafe, Table four, a production of iHeartRadio 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:05.240 and Adamized Studios. 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:12.639 So I can't see David, I can see you in 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.040 my mind's I have you right in the center of 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:15.480 my mind. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:22.400 I can see you too, You're in the center of 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:26.239 my heart. David Aja is a close friend and a 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:30.360 great architect. Everything he does, his buildings, his office, how 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.600 he works with clients, how he creates a family is 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:38.480 done with ethos, social concerns and the highest possible values. 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.360 He's in Ghana right now. I am in London, but 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:44.239 here we are together. 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:46.960 When you go to Rome, which you in the city, 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.120 you and I both love, and you go in the 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:54.240 spring to restaurants, they serve artichokes in so many different ways. 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.160 They boil them, they raise them. But the romana are 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.600 these kind of slow cloped arto jokes. Whole the stem 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:02.400 and meet the whole thing. 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:09.360 Killer. I love vegetable, so it's perfect artichokes. A la 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:15.200 romana serve six twelve small or six large violetta artichokes 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:19.360 with their stalks. Prepare the artichoke, but leave them whole. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:24.400 Scoop out the choke with a teaspoon as each artichoke 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.160 is prepared. Place in a bowl of cold water with 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.520 the juice of two lemons for the herbs. Mix together 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:35.000 the parsley, mint, crush, garlic, and six tablespoons of olive 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:39.119 oil and season well. Drain the artichokes. Press the herb 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.200 mixture inside the center of each archer choke. Pour two 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.160 hundred and fifteen mili liters of olive oil into a 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.520 saucepan large enough to contain all the artichokes. Put the 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:53.960 artichokes stuffed side down, jam together so they stay upright. 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:58.640 Scatter any excess herb stuffing over the top. Add water 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.360 to come to one third of the way up the globes, 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.160 and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat. Cover with 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.600 a sheet of greasepoop paper, and place the lid on top. 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.119 Cook gently for about thirty minutes, or until the water 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.880 is evaporated and the autichokes have begun to brown at 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.600 the bottom and are tender. Serve with lemon wedges. 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.400 Autochokes are romana. They're the whole artichoke. I like to 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.760 put them over a sort of high heat so that 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.359 you get the crispiness on the outside. They almost I 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.840 always think they're kind of like eating candy because of 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:38.080 the caramelized nature the outer leaves. They're quite sweet in 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.000 a way. And when you go to rome which you 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.640 and I both love, and you go in the spring 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:47.079 to restaurants, they serve autichokes in so many different ways. 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.040 They boil them, they braize them. But the Romana are 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.520 these kind of slow cooked artichokes whole with the stem. 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.440 They're delicious. Are you vegetarian? 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:00.360 I'm vegetarian with a ten percent pescatarian. If it's really 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:01.079 great seafood. 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.000 And you don't eat dairy, right. 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.440 I don't eat dairy. Yeah, dairy's completely off, David. 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.799 I was just thinking that you are in Ghana. I'm 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:15.160 in London and I was thinking about the market in Ghana. 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:19.000 Are there artichokes? Are there huge amount of vegetables? Is 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.320 it seafood? Do you go to the market. What's it like? 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.520 Yes, you get a lot of fresh produce made by 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:29.640 very local producers. Most Genians go to markets still and 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.960 buy fresh produce every week every day. Yeah, it's an 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:34.920 amazing thing. I don't get to go as much as 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.240 I would love to, but whenever I've been, I've always 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.400 been sort of thrilled by the kind of variety and 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.520 the diversity. It's also on the coast, so there's excellent 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.840 fish here. Even though I'm a vegetarian, I you know, 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.560 when there's a fresh catch, I'm always tempted. The family's 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.600 always tempted. We always get fresh, fresh fish. 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.720 Is there one large market or are there lots all 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:55.720 over the city. 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.000 Or is it there's a main market, which is the 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:00.600 city market, but there are lots of small markets all 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.600 over the city, so there are local sort of little 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:05.640 stalls and places that you can get it. But there's 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.440 a main market called Makala Market in the center of 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.440 the city, which is the main hive of activity. What 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.400 are the vegetables that you The vegetables have different shapes 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.520 and colors, sometimes the same names, but very different shapes 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.960 and colors. Yeah, there's a kind of incredible, you know 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.720 that lovely kind of aroma of markets which you see 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:25.880 all over the world. There's a kind of African version 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.080 of that, which is dense and incredible colors and things 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.320 like that. Ashley, my wife is obsessed with the markets, 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.680 so she's always sneaking off to go look at what's new. 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.279 What's also wonderful about these markets is the way in 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.200 which you understand the seasonality of produce, which is so 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.640 clear here. Foods come in seasons and waves, and you know, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.120 you suddenly get something and everybody wants it for the 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.160 next few months and then it's gone. 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.880 And then it's gone. That's something I think. 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.760 Something exactly and that is a new thing. You know. 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:58.919 London is something where you can get things all the 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.680 time and you forget about seeonality. Yeah, and that's something 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:03.800 we're really enjoying about our crowd that things come and 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.200 go depending on when they're in season. It's really beautiful. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.200 What's it like there now? Is it warm? Is it bring? 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:15.119 Yes? Yes? Because Ghana is on the equator more or less, 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.640 we're really always between something like twenty and thirty five 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.719 degrees At worst, it's like thirty five, but it's never 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.920 below twenty. You know, twenty. People are wearing jumpers here 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:29.680 because they think it's cold, and we're always laughing when 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:35.000 they say it's cold, Like, really, it's relative. 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.520 How does it feel being there? What does it feel like. 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.720 Now we've been here a couple of years and it's 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.600 it's still really lovely. We're really enjoying it very much. 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.800 It's a totally different atmosphere, but it's one that you know, 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.040 is really very special. Gettian's are very warm, so it's 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.440 a very kind of social culture that's very much about 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.120 you know, it takes a village to look after a family. 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.960 So there's a kind of friendliness that people you know, 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.159 have care for each other that I really really love. 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.919 We're still discovering it, you know, Acros the city we 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.279 know very well. The country. We're sort of traveling around 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.080 now to really understand. And it's wonderful to just to 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.080 go with the kids to you know, my father's ancestral 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.240 village or my mother's ancestral village and just to see 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.760 these places for them to see it. Yeah, it's kind 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:19.200 of great. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.799 Tell me the story of your family, your parents. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.520 Yeah, So Ghana, you know, a quick set of history. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.520 Ghana was you know, colonial outpost. It was one of 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.640 the first Sub Saharan country to gain independence in the 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.400 late fifties fifty seven to be exact. And my father 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.400 was part of a sort of royal family in a 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.839 sort of a farming village called ad Also and the 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:43.359 then Prime minister President and Krumer sort of asked for 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:47.120 all the sort of learned characters to go into education 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.719 and go into government immediately. They were sort of brought 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.640 in when the British left. So my father was part 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:54.839 of that first wave of moving from the village and 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.800 coming to the city and you know, working in the 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.599 various departments and finally getting to be accepted in the 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:04.400 diplomatic corps. He met my mother in Akra. She was 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:06.640 also kind of came from the village and sort of 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.960 started working in the city. They met, they fell in love. 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.880 My father was good at his job, I guess, and 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.800 was quickly given the position of going on a posting 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.560 to East Africa, and that's where we were born. So 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.239 myself and my brothers were all born in East Africa. 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.000 I was born in Tanzania, brothers born in Kenya and Uganda, 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.640 and then we came back to Ghana for a few years. 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:30.280 So I had a few years in Ghana and I 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.040 had wonderful sort of memories of just that time, and 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.600 it was the sort of childhood memory of you know, 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.880 my earliest home, you know, growing up with a co 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:39.000 coach garden. 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.520 What year was that, David, This would. 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:45.680 Have been in the seventies, in the early seventies, And 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.200 then we moved from there. My father then was reposted 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.960 to North Africa and the Middle East before we came 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.240 to England in the late seventies. 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:59.520 Food wise, it sounds very exotic to have had Tantana 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:03.240 and in North African food and Ghana before you were 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.640 sent into the food of England. I think hows childhood 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.640 memories of food stay with you forever, the food that 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.120 you go back to and that you love. 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.280 Yeah. No, I have a very eclectic sense of water 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.360 is possible as food and the different varieties, you know. 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:22.440 I still love East Indian sort of cuisine with the 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:23.760 way in which it's sort of you know, And that 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.040 was all East Africa. I guess that must have been, 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.400 you know, the sort of huge influence of the Indian 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:29.320 community on East End. 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.080 What is that like? Is it very spicy. 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:36.560 Massalas and spicy massalas and doughs and flavored meats and 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.880 fishes and vegetables. And then there's Ghana which is really 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:45.360 root vegetables and soups, really very soup based and fisial 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.360 meat if you had money. And then North Africa with 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:52.320 its incredible messes and bread, you know. And so I 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.160 had all that before coming to England and coming into 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.760 England just when that sort of beginning with the transformation 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.480 of you know, I sort of remember the Conrade Shop 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.360 and all these sort of places where you know, food 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.719 was suddenly in discovering Italian food in London. That was 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:08.800 kind of the moment when it was like, oh my god, 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.960 you know, and the transformation of Italian food into English 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.520 food and the sort of love affair that started with 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:18.439 that which led me to you when you yes, and 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.000 you know as my favorite restaurant in London of course. 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:24.440 But did you have home cooking? Did your mother cook, 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.040 did your father cook? Or do you remember her being 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:27.679 in the kitchen? 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:28.080 Yes? 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.400 I always think of somebody that really loves food and 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.560 wants to know what the next meal is going to be. 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:35.880 You stayed with us. What are we eating? 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:36.320 Yeah? 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.760 What are we having? And so as a child, was 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.800 your mother was that part of her love and attention 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:42.240 to you? 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:44.640 My mother did cook, and we were three boys, and 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.160 she was very determined that we would from a very 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.560 early age understand cooking and be in love with it. 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.040 So I think I remember being like ten eleven and 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.240 my mother when we came to England, you know, her 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:55.760 going all right, now you're going to learn how to 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.440 make food for yourself. So she's sort of frog marches 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.320 in the kitchen and just started to really unfold the 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.760 idea of heat and cooking and doing things and to 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.640 feel really comfortable. And she made us watch her do things, 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:09.960 so all three of us know how to cook, which 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.400 was something that she really instilled in us, as in, 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:14.600 I don't mean that we're chefs, but in any way, 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:17.440 but we're comfortable good cook. 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.200 Now you're your food, You're good, you're a good cut. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:26.439 We know we were comfortable with the sort of you know, frying, boiling, 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.679 baking sort of things, and that came from her. And 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:31.200 you know, I think because we traveled so much, she 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.440 always made us Ganian food and it was a kind 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.079 of constant for her. So she always unfolded a kind 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:41.120 of weekly menu, actually very rarely varied, but it was 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.520 a kind of like weekends we had these soups and 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.400 these things called fufu, and then week with what food 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.760 is that kind of yam and cassava sort of dumpling. 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.559 It's like it tastes like nyoki, but a gigantic nyoki 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.679 with soups and fishes and meats. Poured on it, and 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.720 that was the kind of weekend and special. But then 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.280 in the week you would have things like jeelof which 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.760 is rice with tomato bays and vegetables and you know, 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:15.000 foods in it and vegetables, et cetera. And she'd sort 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.720 of be very methodical about it. And I used to 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:19.840 at some point I used to think, God, can we 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.440 shift these things? You know? And now like I do 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:25.160 it with my kids. It's something that we do. You do, yeah, 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:26.760 and it's really quite beautiful. 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.320 Did your mother ever cook British food? Machine interested in that. 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.400 Once in a while she'd make something. Yeah, I mean 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.640 she'd make a roast for you know, at Christmas, we 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.880 had a hybrid, so it was like the sort of 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.520 you know, we in a family loved pies, so apple 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:54.920 pies and things like that would be made by my mum. 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.079 So there were certain things that were treats from the 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.160 world that we were in that it was part of 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.240 the sort of the thing. But you know, we were 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.480 at school, so we were having school meals and so 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:07.080 she was like, Okay, you're getting English food. I want 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:08.920 to make sure that you still understand the food of. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.560 Your Yeah, yeah, do you cook now. 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:13.640 You know, I love I love cooking. I don't get 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.720 as much chance to cook as I would like to. Ashley, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.680 my wife loves to kind of cook, so she wants 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.280 to lead that I do. On the weekends, I have 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.840 one day where I cook for the entire family. So 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.320 I have a Sunday a Sunday sort of meal that 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.760 I always make. And you know what is it? But 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.640 you cook, it's just vegetables and a kind of pasta 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.400 and bits. So I kind of make a kind of 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.880 a hybrid, but it's really I kind of get market vegetables. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.160 What I do is I kind of I finish off 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:45.200 the week whatever's left over, and I kind of make 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.960 it into this flavored sort of stew pasta thing with 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:51.000 other sort of supports. 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.000 How do the kids come and cook with you? Do 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:54.679 they cook? 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.280 Yes? They do. Now. They love coming in and wanting 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.199 to get involved. And it's always just green vegetables, every 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.320 green that we can find. So we're looking at peas 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.040 and cabbage and broccoli, and you know, we're boiling them 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.480 and we're sort of there's this calenders that are used 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:11.600 in Ghana, so we then sort of crushed them in 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:13.760 the calendar to make a paste green and then we 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.480 add flavors to it and stuff. It's become a little thing. 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.760 We're trying to think how we met, and I think, well, 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:22.560 you could tell the story, but wasn't it I thought 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:27.040 it was that Richard was so so impressed and so 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.400 in all of your work. I don't think he taught you, 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.160 but you knew him when you were a student or 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:33.920 was it after the graduate? Oh? 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.680 Yeah, Richard was an icon forever. But he really entered 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.240 my life sort of directly as a person when I 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.199 started my career sort of sort of early two thousand 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.000 and I made this house called the Electra House and 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.280 that's right, yeah, And it was published in Domus and 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.160 he saw it and he really loved it and called 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:52.720 me to talk to him about it. And that's I 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.920 think that's where we first met, Ruth. That was around 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.600 that time, and it's an incredible journey. 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:02.000 We met through architecture and food. That connection has lasted 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.320 through many years, and it was a period it seemed 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.760 that you were traveling an enormous amount fabulous places and 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.880 building buildings everywhere. Do you think about what the food 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:14.800 will be like in that city? Does it? Do you 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:16.160 start thinking where will I eat. 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.440 Yeah, No, I think I've practically designed you know, I 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:23.560 literally the food where I go to eat is intimately 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.680 linked with the places that I'm actually working, and what 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.480 I like to kind of have there is very important. 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.640 When I travel, It's not about anything but just having 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.920 to find places where the food is hard still and 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.880 that the food reflects something that really gives you a 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:40.680 sense of, you know, comfort where you are. It is 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.400 so important to me. I just detest traveling and eating 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.760 generic food. I really like to feel like I've sort 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.400 of arrived somewhere in that that food is part of 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.520 the place and I'm sort of engaging in that. Something 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.680 that's really nice and gonea now is it's all about 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.120 chefs making food in their homes, especially during this COVID 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.440 time for just like for just two or three people, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.800 and that's been kind of amazing to experience. You just 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.040 get like half a dozen people invited, and it's in 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:07.520 the garden because the weather is so great. It's socially 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.080 distanced in the garden. You know, there's a chef called Selassian. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:12.200 She has a kind of pop up Comadounia, and she's 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.360 doing incredible things with ganny and food, so she's been 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.600 a kind of whenever she does a real run to 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.280 go eat. So this idea of like eating in a 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.640 place where you know, where somebody really you know, I 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:24.600 think the best way to describe is that where the 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.520 food is hard, you know, it's not just product, not 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.600 just stuff, like exactly what you do. You've sort of 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.320 taught the world that Ruthie and I think it's it's 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:36.720 going around. I see versions of you in the younger 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.080 generations all around as they try to really connect with 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.320 food in a much more powerful way. 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:44.720 I think that is, you know, what does it mean 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:46.720 to go to a restaurant? What does it mean to 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:51.000 go with your friends? And something we've all missed enormously, 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.440 certainly when people have come back to the River Cafe 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.640 having been away for so long, it's quite emotion being 0:15:57.680 --> 0:15:58.520 in a room with people. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:15:58.800 Do that. 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:00.840 Is there a certain restaurant you like or don't like 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:02.640 it that you feel comfortable in? 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:03.320 Yeah? 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.320 I'm very specific about the kinds of places that I 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:07.240 like and don't like. 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:09.760 Yeah, let's go for the positive. What do you like 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:10.480 in a restaurant? 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.040 I like it to have a certain kind of authenticity, 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.320 to feel like it's not trying to bamboozle me with effects, 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.200 but it's confident in itself and it's trying to reflect 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:22.640 a little bit of what its culture is. 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.880 And what about designing, Because you're in art, you've designed, Yeah, 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:27.760 public buildings, restaurants. 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.800 Have you designed that you I haven't designed a restaurant yet, 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.240 but I'm right now designing the restaurant for Princeton Art Museum. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.560 That's that's probably the closest I'm getting to my first 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.720 I have a restaurant. Actually, ironically, do you. 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.640 Know what it will be like the restaurant in the museum. 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.120 Yeah, it's trying to really the things I said have 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.480 a certain kind of quality that has a certain sort 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.400 of openness. Is kind of has its own terrace, so 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.120 it's open onto a really beautiful terrace that overlooks the grounds. 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:54.920 Trying to make it feel not in any way that 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.600 it's exclusive, but it has a kind of egalitarian quality. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.520 But it's really good quality as a kind of quality 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.000 in the kind of pieces that are around you, the 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:05.720 things that you touch, the things that you kind of 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.199 got next to. But it also kind of honest the 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.080 idea of food that it has a certain ritual quality 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:12.879 to it as well. I think that that's really lovely 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.719 in a restaurant that it feels like a ritual, very 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.440 important social ritual. It's not just totally casual. So it's 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.840 a kind of fine blend between being you know, somehow 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:36.240 serious but not looking too serious. 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.160 What's the project you're most excited about right now? 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:44.919 Gosh, we're doing projects. I love what I'm doing. The 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:46.840 Studio Museum in Harlem, I think is a very important 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.879 project for me. The Abu Dhabi Abrahamic Center is a 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.760 very important one. Building the National Cathedral for Ghana is 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.320 really like a dream. You know. It makes me remind 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.280 my father, who passed away five years ago. So being 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.600 back in his country and building a national monument for 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.239 this country is a great sort of humbling honor. So 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.000 there's some of the big highlights right now. 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:12.480 So, David, you've just won the Riba Gold Medal, and 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.280 I think about how brilliant that is for you, for 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.200 the people who've worked with you, for the work that you've done. 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.320 Thank you your speech and what you'll say and who 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.080 will speak with you. But I'm also thinking about what 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.800 we're going to eat afterwards when we have the party 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.200 for you, And so do you have some thoughts about 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.080 what you'd like to eat. Should we do a menu 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:34.760 right now? Do you have your piece of paper and. 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.280 Pen ruthy, I would be thrilled if you would design 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:40.040 a menu with me. 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.240 Okay, well, let's see. We're here. It's in May, isn't it. 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.479 It's the end of May. So that will be a 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.760 fantastic talking about the way you were talking about the 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.920 arrival and the departure of vegetables, and so the arrival 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.600 of May couldn't be a better season. They'll be beautiful melons, 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:01.040 they'll be asparagus, they'll be peas and green beans, and so, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.639 in a way, I think we could start out with 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.760 a long table full of antipasity and vegetables. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:09.360 We could have. 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.160 Asparagus with pramesan cheese and butter, and we could have 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.320 a zucchini that have been boiled and then marinated with mint, 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.080 and so we could start with that, which will get 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.280 us all into a very good mood. And then we 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:26.920 could have because I know you love tomato pasta. 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:28.480 Don't you, Yes, I do, one of my favorites. 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:30.800 But then you know, maybe that would be a time, 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:33.000 as you said, you save it for special occasions and 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:35.800 when it's particularly good. We could have fish, which we 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.960 could have a whole sea bass baked in salt. We 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.000 could have we could just decide a few days before 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:47.160 within what sea bass or turbot or if possible, wild salmon. 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.840 I'm just drooling to my mind is a flame with images. 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:56.600 And then let's see what else. What would you like 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:57.240 for dessert? 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.800 So I'm blackness in tolerance that you remember it. So 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.280 it has to be non dairy, if that's possible. 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:04.080