WEBVTT - Laura Dern 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.120 You are listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:05.640 Montclair thinking about. 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:08.520 Laura Dern coming here to day. I found myself scrolling 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.720 through three years of text messages. It's kind of a 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.960 story about making plans to meet our excitement at the 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.960 thought of seeing each other in La or London, choosing 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.439 restaurants to go to, and even sending photographs of a 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.680 fundraiser I gave for Nancy Pelosi. As usual, most of 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:31.920 ideas were aspirational, adapting around our close families, movies, cooking, travel. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.160 Laura is loved by me and many others. She's fond, 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.760 she's curious, she's smart, she hangs with a crew on set, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.840 passionate about her children, Jaya and Ellery. She has strong 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.680 memories of her grandmother and describes her parents as heroes. 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.760 Laura fights for human rights, social values. It is a 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.279 bold and brave spokesperson for women in the film industry. 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.520 Directors and writers consider her first when making a movie. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.280 Renzo Piano, the architect for the Academy Museum of Motion 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.240 Pictures in La remembers that as a trustee, she was 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.720 a rigorous and remarkable client. He asked me to give 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.920 her a hug. Laura Dern loves to eat, and she 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.480 cares about food and the politics of feeding people safely 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:21.480 and sustainably. Today we're here in the River Cafe to 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.400 talk about all this and more. And after I give 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.120 her the hug from Lorenzo and another one for me, 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:33.399 that's what we're going to do. So tell me about 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:34.759 your cooking with Sean. 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.559 First of all, just being in the kitchen here was incredible, 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:43.200 and I was thinking about tracking my memories over the 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:48.680 last probably seven years of making movies here in London, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:54.400 My memories with my collaborators, my great memories are here 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:55.440 at the River Cafe. 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.240 This is where we plot. 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.680 And create an vent and over the course of a 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.080 meal that's always remembered. So then I was on set 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.160 with Noah bound back this week, and we'd had dinner 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.600 here together, the two of us, talking about what it's 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.919 feeling like and how it feels different for him than 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:20.440 the last movies in his life. And as we're describing it, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:25.639 we're describing like, my God, wasn't that wine incredible? Can 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.280 you believe that salad was? 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.799 What was the art of show? How did she make 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:30.640 that art to show? 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:35.520 And we're just you know, it becomes this organic part 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:41.519 of memory, food and art, and you've created this sustainable, 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:47.880 inventive place for art and artists that is forever seeped 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:49.680 in my memory so already. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:51.480 It's such a gift and it means so much. 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.120 And now our friendship which is growing and evolving, and 0:02:55.160 --> 0:03:00.160 we're getting finally getting time together, but also being in 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:04.600 the kitchen and watching a great chef's kitchen and it 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:10.160 feels rigorous and stressful. I walk away from it saying, 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.799 that's such a terrifying space, and there's something even. 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:14.520 Cold about it. 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.720 And the minute you walk in, first of all, the 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:22.400 warmth of the kitchen as part of the room, that 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:27.280 the chef is not separate from the client, that we're 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.120 all eating and creating and inventing this day together. That's 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.840 what's so beautiful about the space you've created. And then 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.600 Sean's energy is so beautiful, and that she wants to 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.600 teach as much as she loves to cook is so amazing. 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:48.560 And my son we were sharing ellery has really, through 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:53.040 the pandemic, discovered his love of cooking. And he always 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.920 had that innate instinct even as a little boy, you know, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.480 putting something together. He knew how to kind of close 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.600 his eyes and pick the right flavors or something. 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.920 But now he cooks. And I was sharing with Sean. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.000 He said, you know, the only thing that I've ever 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.640 experienced that feels like making music is making a meal. 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:16.159 And to make a. 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:20.560 Meal alongside other people is like when you're collaborating in 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:24.159 the studio. You don't know what's going to happen or 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.840 how we're going to invent together to create this same goal, 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:35.279 this piece of art. But everyone has their unique rhythm. 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:40.400 Hi, I'm John and I'm making a potatoes alborno with 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:45.440 sage with lord. The potatoes are done in the wood open, 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:47.960 but you don't need to have a wood open in. 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.600 Your house time. Okay, good, you might have one. No, 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:51.800 I don't, I will don't. 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.400 Oh yeah, So this is your recipe that you've chosen. 0:04:58.320 --> 0:04:59.000 Yeah, And so. 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:04.520 It's just thinly sliced waxy potatoes and then they've been 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.919 tossed with garlic and sage and covered and cooked for 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:13.359 about forty five minutes, and then the group in another 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:14.440 it's really. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.599 A traditional oven. What would you do? You just put 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.360 it in forty five minutes. 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:21.880 Yeah, So when you read the recipe you'll see to 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:26.279 slice of potatoes, scarlet sage cover it and then you 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.520 uncover it and brown it and it will turn out 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:29.360 like that, I promise you. 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.719 And you'd only use the fresh sage leaves, right. 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.680 Yeah, well you can use anything is fine. Roastry. Yeah, 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:43.480 it's really nice with fish or meat, anything another beautiful. 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:49.480 This is my son's obsession also with there's a beauty 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.520 to the irregularity, and there's a beauty to the shaving. 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.279 And like he was like, when you have a true 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:57.480 cratata in Spain. 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.120 Yeah, when he's like America, try to make it and 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.520 it's you never get the texture of it, right, there's 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:09.000 still like a density like aldento and pasta, yes, exactly. 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:10.800 And I wonder whether it's something to do with the 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.719 potato because it's actually like a waxy potato. By the 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:16.240 end of today, you'll know how to make that. You 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:18.479 can impress your son and you know what you're where 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:19.120 you're going with it? 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.520 Now, Okay, great, I'm going to attempt it. 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.800 I think like when you get really good at cooking, 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.160 I think you don't need to cook with your eyes. 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.200 You cook it with other senses. I reckon you can 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.800 cook with your ears because you can hear how it's cooking, 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.640 aren't you, and then you can obviously smell and she 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.440 just got it like somewhere in your intuition. Yeah, I 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:41.440 wonder what your son thinks. I love it. 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:42.320 I have to ask them. 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:44.320 Need your eyes. 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.520 You know, when you're like frying garlic or something, and 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.560 when it goes into oil, it's sort of making alloise. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.120 But as it browns, it starts to change in the sound. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.640 I reckon you can tell when when it's brown. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:56.880 Just buying the sound. 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:57.839 Oh that's so. 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.080 Yeah, I'm really into I'm really without your eyes. 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.240 Yes, all right, again, that's amazing. 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:04.400 I'm not got that. 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:06.400 Well, if he wants to come and have a look, 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:07.680 I have a kitchen any time. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.480 Oh my god, I have to bring in it a 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:12.280 day with those Are you kidding? 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.320 Yeah? No, oh my god, that would be We talk 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:20.640 about him. Should we read the recipe first? Why don't 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:21.640 you read the recipe? 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:22.120 Okay? 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:28.679 So the recipe is potato alfoo, four tablespoons of olive oil, 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:34.720 four garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced, twenty sage leaves. 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.520 We spoke a lot about the sage because the sage 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:41.200 is beautiful now that spring is here. Eight hundred and 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:47.840 fifty gram's Rosevale or similar yellow waxy potatoes, peeled sea salt, 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.920 and freshly ground pepper. You preheat the oven to one 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.160 ninety degrees. You heat the oil and a frying pan. 0:07:55.280 --> 0:08:00.520 Stir in the garlic. Slice each potato lengthway is down 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:04.360 the middle, so that you are left with two thick slices. 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:08.040 Place in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper, 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:12.800 tossed together with olive oil and sage. Put in a 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:16.600 baking dish, cover with foil, and you cook in the 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.840 oven for forty minutes. About twenty minutes before the end 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.400 of cooking, remove the foil so that the surface of 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:29.800 the potatoes become brown. Now the sage looked so fresh, 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.120 which I think is a key. And she was saying, 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:37.480 these amazing waxy potatoes are from Italy, and I don't 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.720 even know how I find those waxy potatoes in California 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.520 or what they translate as. 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.240 I can't answer that, But we can find them. You 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.680 can find great potatoes. I mean, the stream for potatoes 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:52.560 is when I went to perof you just see all 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:55.480 these you know, different different different potatoes. But I bet 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.679 if we went to a market in La we can 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.800 find the potatoes so that they'll give you a Rosevelt potato. 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.240 Show it to the amazing, amazing potatoes. 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:11.480 But I also was so touched, especially because I said, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.080 I want to make it for ellery by not only 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:20.920 the lengthways, but the beauty of irregularity that ellery doesn't 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:26.440 like precise, the precise look of things. It's even like 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.120 in filmmaking something being off center. 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:29.959 You know that. 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:35.080 There's something so beautiful about the way it looks. And 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.720 I was really touched by that. And he always comments 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.280 on that, like when we've been in Spain and you 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.640 have a frittata and the potatoes the density, like he 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.360 was comparing it to al dente and pasta, like you 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:47.600 have it. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:49.640 There's a little bite to them, and. 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.960 They can be very potatoes can be very mushy. 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.240 Well that's why I think there when she said waxy, 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.960 they're not flowering. You know, you have a baked potato 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.640 with sour cream or whatever you have with it, you 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.520 want it to be quite flowery. And we have mashed potatoes. 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.200 You want them not to be waxy. 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.000 But these hold their shape and they kind of a 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.680 defined and always sounds better and better. What where is he? 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:15.320 I know, we got to get him over here. 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:18.120 If he's concerned about the way that potatoes just lie 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.319 and I want him here tomorrow. He's a musician. 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:25.360 He's a musician, yes he did, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.640 now he's just started producing his first record for an 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.720 amazing artist, a female singer songwriter. And so I think 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:37.160 sound and instinct is everything. You know, it's really Yeah, 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:38.439 it's beautiful. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:42.120 But over food, talking over food, food and sharing a 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:48.240 meal and creating also really happens together, doesn't it so much? 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:49.720 I was just saying to a girlfriend. 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.120 She was like, what is the thing that makes you know? 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.079 And I said, if anyone mistreated a waiter, I deal, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:57.800 Oh yeah, yeah, million percent. 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.079 Yeah, you know, we're pretty lucky in the restaurant that 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:01.199 people are really nice. 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.400 And also being raised between Los Angeles and New York. 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:10.520 I was raised by actor parents, and most waiters are 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.000 often actors in Los Angeles and New York or musicians, 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:20.760 and so their respect at the presentation of the specials. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.200 I was taught that. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.280 You know, you not only the focus and regard, but 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:33.160 actually honoring their performance of the specials as high art. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:37.839 And so the performance of specials was given deep. 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:38.400 In high regard for. 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:42.040 A long time. The friend of mine had their two 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.760 children who were like eight and ten. We were all 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.840 having their journalists. We were all having lunch in a restaurant, 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.680 and the little daughter turned him and said blue, daddy, 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.760 and then the sun later on said brown. And I said, 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.079 what are they doing? He said, oh, we've taught them 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.079 to learn the color of the eyes the person who's 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.000 waiting on their table, so that they look at them. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.160 And I thought that was really a nice way of 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.360 doing it, that they just met the you know somebody. Yeah, 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:16.240 since a brown blue, blue brow, that's amazing, it's nice. Yeah, 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.560 let's go back, Okay, because we've talked about your son, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.000 we haven't talked about your daughter yet, but about it 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:23.640 does she is? She interested in food. 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:28.000 She is like me, We love food and we appreciate food. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:33.040 And she is a fierce young activist. So she definitely 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.560 cares deeply about sustainability and the. 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.080 Politics of food, particularly. 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.040 In the US, and so we have a lot of 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:46.480 conversations about where the food is coming from, carbon emissions, 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.880 how to support it, regenerative farming, the soil itself. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:51.000 And she was a. 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:55.000 Really beautiful supporter of a series of films, and I've 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.920 been a producer on the most recent, which has Kissed 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.559 the Ground, and now a film made Common Ground. 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.520 Which is sort of the sequel to that. 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.440 About regenerative farming. And so she's learned a lot about 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:12.880 the question of over tilling and pesticides and big food 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:17.200 the industry of it, and obviously the laws in the 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.439 UK and EU are very different than in the US, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.800 in which chemicals are somehow god in the US, which 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:28.920 is tragic and hopefully changing more and more with independent farmers, 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.360 and so she is deeply interested in it, which is 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:34.520 really beautiful. 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.480 Did you know The River Cafe has a shop. It's 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.920 full of our favorite foods and designs. We have cookbooks, 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:50.840 Linden Napkins, kitchen ware, toadbags with our signatures, glasses from Venice, 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.120 chocolates from Turin. You can find us right next door 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.560 to the River Cafe in London or online at shop 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:08.960 Therivercafe dot co dot K. I'm a grandmother now and 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.480 I think there is something about wanting to cook for 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.360 your grandchildren in a way that you were, maybe as 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:18.240 a working mother, not able to do or to do 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.840 enough and tell me about the role that your grandmother 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.080 played in your childhood. 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.480 My mom being a single parent when my parents divorced 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:33.120 and a working actress because of travel, my grandmother raised 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:37.200 me when she was gone working, so a majority of 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.000 my time was with my grandmother Mary, who's from Alabama, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.840 and she gave birth to my mom in Mississippi. And 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:51.240 so the roots of my family are so tied to 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.320 food and tradition in the South. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.720 Southern cooking is the region, isn't it. When we think 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:03.600 about France in Italy and Britain having you know, the 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.080 north of France has a very different cuisine from the 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.360 south of France, and Piermonte has a very different cuisine 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.040 from Sicily. And then you think about American food and 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:14.840 you think, well, there's a food of Vermont really different 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.280 from the food of Ohio or but the food actually 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.000 of the South has such a strong identity. 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.240 So strong, and you what's beautiful is you watch the 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:28.440 DNA of those traditions and where they came from, just 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.760 like in the Great Lakes, you know, a very Scandinavian 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:37.720 focused American cuisine and the South, I mean, particularly in 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.000 New Orleans obviously, there's so much French influence, but there's 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:44.400 also the influence of the American farmer. And what was 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:51.080 incredible was in lower income families, the food was simpler 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.880 and from the land that you had. But my grandmother 0:15:55.480 --> 0:16:00.080 was getting what she could from her fellow friends and 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:01.760 and farms locally. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.480 So did she move to la to take care of you, Yeah, 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:05.520 oh she didn't. Yeah. 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:11.440 So it was very based in broad beans, kidney beans, okra, 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.920 collared greens, rice, and you know, that. 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:17.640 Was sort of the staple of your meal. 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:22.480 But when she was in the South, especially when they 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.600 were on the farm, the major meal of the day 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:30.120 was breakfast, which was so wild. They would have like 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.240 really like an early morning breakfast and then go out 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.240 and work in the fields and then come back and 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.560 have this huge breakfast at like ten in the morning 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.880 because they'd already been working since four am. And I 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.480 remember as a little girl when I would go visit 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:52.760 my grandfather in Mississippi, and at ten am, it was 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:58.800 corn bread and eggs and bacon and grits and collars and. 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.800 A coconut cake. The cake or a cake for breakfast 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:03.520 with your coffee. 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.400 You know. Would this be weekdays as well? 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:08.679 Every day for them, every day, you know. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.560 But the Los Angeles version is like Sunday breakfast was 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:13.600 like a big. 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.560 Did you was your father in the kitchen or never? 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.920 Never, although my mom just told me that when they 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:24.280 were first together in New York, he would cook on 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.119 Sundays for all the unemployed actors, you know, and do 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:32.800 like a big pasta spaghetti and meatballs or lamb chops 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.439 or some kind of Sunday meal to help feed the 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:41.480 other actors, and whoever was working would feed everybody. My 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:46.719 father was raised in Chicago with a very influential and 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:51.040 wealthy family of aristocratic family. 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.440 See the husband of your grandmother who came to look 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:55.840 after or a different no. 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.919 Side, Yeah, yeah, the Durn McLeish side, and it was 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:02.920 Secretary of War under FDR. 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.200 Poet Laureate of the US. 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.800 That Archibald Yeah no, yeah, Now how are you related 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:09.320 to Archibal? 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:10.760 That's my dad's uncle. 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.359 Archibald McLeish was the Poet Laureate under FDR. While his 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:19.720 grandfather on his father's side, George Dern, was Secretary of 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:20.680 War under FDR. 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.000 So Warnora Roosevelt. 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:27.600 His godmother Eleanor I mean I've lost an that one, 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:29.560 my dad's godmother. 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:31.960 Brewster's godmother was Eleanor Roosevelt. 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:36.679 But in that family, no one go you have someone cooking, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.480 and so he didn't grow up with it at all, 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:40.280 but he loved it. 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:42.680 I was thinking, if you don't have any money, then 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:44.360 probably you have to learn to cook if you want 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.359 to eat well exact But if you do, then you know, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.480 there are probably quite a lot of men and women 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:50.800 who never went into a kitchen. 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.560 And also, my mom tells so many stories of like 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:59.000 literally hungry actors in New York City. My mom came 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:00.919 to New York with twenty two dollars in her pocket 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.280 and a little cardboard suitcase to become an actress from 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.920 a tiny town in Mississippi, knowing no one. And she said, 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.480 you know, you used to go in and if you 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:13.800 ordered a beer, they would suggest, you know, order a 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:16.560 beer because it'll fill your stomach, and the bartender would 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:17.520 give them bread and butter. 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.560 But coming out of this family where your grandmother cooked 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:26.320 for you, where your mother cared about food, your father 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.640 came from a food culture, was there a time when 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:32.520 you went off on your own and suddenly there was 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.359 not that comfort food or a. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.399 Million percent I mean I started acting at eleven and 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:43.160 I was on location by myself at sixteen on and 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:50.719 working on movies meant eating on the run and eating 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:55.840 poorly and eating in small towns everywhere, and so it 0:19:55.880 --> 0:20:00.840 became what is provided to small town America, which was 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:02.920 fast food, eating tragic. 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.240 This isn't what you're starting in. 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:14.840 The late seventies and I only discovered the gift of 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:19.920 the connection between eating beautifully and food becoming a part 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:26.720 of my artistic experience in the last decade because of 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:27.639 heroes like you. 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.360 But do you think that you could work or act 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.600 or do what you do better if you actually had 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.000 healthy food on a film set, or do you think 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:38.000 it doesn't matter? 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:40.880 Well, there are heroes in this movement, and I mean 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:46.480 in music, I am so impressed thanks to Maggie Billie 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:49.879 Eilish's mom, who is working so hard in terms of 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:55.760 how to feed crew on music productions and touring. And 0:20:55.840 --> 0:21:00.000 there is a new model that a lot of incredible 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.200 companies that are looking at zero waste are looking at 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:09.160 sustainable models for catering. It's shifting and so we're trying 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.600 to figure out on film production how to do that 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:15.600 more and more. Kate Blanchette care so deeply about this 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:19.200 as well. We've been having conversations about, you know, making 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:23.440 sure there is a model that production follows more and more. 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.159 I know that Wes Anderson, you know, when he did 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.840 a podcast and his dream and there are a few 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.639 directors who would say, would not stop at all, you 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.399 know that sitting down to a meal, Let's do that 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:36.440 at the end, we'll all go out to dinner. We'll 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.679 do this. But he tried it. He tried giving everyone soup, 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.520 and of course there was a rebellion, especially months of 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.320 crew saying we can't do the lighting of this or 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:47.399 that out of bowl of soup. 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:53.760 And it's deeply possible. I've seen it done here and 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.680 I've seen it done in Italy. When I've worked and 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:02.520 you're you're not taking a lunch so as people are free, 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:06.120 you're feeding that group of people when cameras taking a break, 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.159 when the actors are taking a break, so that you 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:11.720 have a shorter day, so that everybody has the. 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:13.040 Time to be with their family. 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.159 Yeah, and then you have time for a meal with 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:20.600 your family or your collaborators, which I think works beautifully. 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:22.920 I mean I've worked on a couple of productions now 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:24.200 where there's. 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.760 A certain amount of meat and it's on order. 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.800 So the day before, if you're someone who wants meet 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.880 a meal that involves meat, you're pre ordering so you're 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.880 not wasting that day of food. And then also working 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:42.560 with local communities so that you're taking the food and 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.920 giving it to the community and there's no waste, because 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:47.600 the waste is shocking. 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.000 If you like listening to Ruthie's Table four, would you 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:02.320 please make sure to and review the podcast on the 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:08.040 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, o wherever you get your podcasts. 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:18.040 Thank you. What was it like with David Lynch? Because 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:19.600 you talk about him a lot and you've worked with 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:24.360 him a lot. What was foodise? What was David's is 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:26.119