WEBVTT - Bonus: Erin Lyall on Eating With Soldiers

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<v Speaker 1>Ruthie's Table four is now a book.

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<v Speaker 2>Paul McCartney, Michael ka Kamala Harris, David Beckham, Tina fey

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<v Speaker 2>Elton John and many more. It's full of stories, beautifully designed,

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<v Speaker 2>and a celebration of the way food connects us all.

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<v Speaker 2>It's available now wherever you buy your books.

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<v Speaker 1>Ruthie's Table four brought to you by Sky and Montclair.

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<v Speaker 1>In your experience of being in the front line, of

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<v Speaker 1>being with the soldiers, I'd like to ask you what

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<v Speaker 1>they feel about eating. They do they how do they

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<v Speaker 1>express the need for good food or food? How do

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<v Speaker 1>they want to be fed?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, food is comfort, obviously, but food is survival primarily.

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<v Speaker 3>So in most military situations, no matter which military were with,

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<v Speaker 3>the priority is hearty food that's portable, right, So if

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<v Speaker 3>you're embedded with the American military, it'll be MRI's Meals

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<v Speaker 3>Ready to Eat, which are those little cardboard boxes full

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<v Speaker 3>of little pouches and you sort of add hot water

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<v Speaker 3>and it heats up some sort of chicken casserole whatever.

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<v Speaker 3>But each of those packs has like two thousand calories.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, if you only add one of those a day,

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<v Speaker 3>you'll be totally fine. I haven't actually seen many of

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<v Speaker 3>the militaries that I've been with recently eating things like that.

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<v Speaker 3>It's always been in Ukraine, I see a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>these open faced sandwich type things. So they'll do rye

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<v Speaker 3>bread with pork fat, with a boiled egg, with salmon,

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<v Speaker 3>with a pickle, with sausages mostly cured. The Ukrainians do

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<v Speaker 3>a lot of preserved things, lots of pickle things, lots

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<v Speaker 3>of condensed jammy things that they'll smear on bread. And

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<v Speaker 3>then in the Middle East, a lot of it is

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<v Speaker 3>sort of catches, catch can but there are moments, it's

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<v Speaker 3>in my experience, where there will be a big delivery

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<v Speaker 3>of something and then they'll set out a feast for

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<v Speaker 3>the army. So I had like an amazing experience with

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<v Speaker 3>the Kurdish Peshmerga on a mountaintop overlooking Mosul where they

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<v Speaker 3>were in a tent and we walked in and it

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<v Speaker 3>was laid out with just platters of rice and meat

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<v Speaker 3>and bread and little salads and picky things, and you know,

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<v Speaker 3>people would just rip up bread and grab a hunk

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<v Speaker 3>of meat with the bread, and you know, amazing. But

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<v Speaker 3>the logistics of military feeding is mind blow I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>it's it's quite an endeavor. And you know, we never

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<v Speaker 3>expect to be fed in any of these situations. We're

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<v Speaker 3>always i mean, just energy bars and nuts and you know,

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<v Speaker 3>whatever sort of bare bones calories we can keep in

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<v Speaker 3>our bag so that at minimum we don't have to

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<v Speaker 3>we don't have to ask to take food away from

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<v Speaker 3>the people who need it to fight.

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<v Speaker 1>But is that your responsibility is a producer, to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure there's food? Sure, how do you do it?

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<v Speaker 3>We just load up, We load up before we head out,

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<v Speaker 3>as simple as that. And then I mean, in a

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<v Speaker 3>place like Ukraine, there are supermarkets functioning all over the

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<v Speaker 3>place and very beautiful, clean, well stocked gas stations, so

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<v Speaker 3>you know, it's just a constant make sure we have it,

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<v Speaker 3>make sure we have it, and you know, you end

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<v Speaker 3>up doing a lot of pre eating, like I'm not hungry,

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<v Speaker 3>but I'll eat because I never know when.

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<v Speaker 1>My next meal comes.

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<v Speaker 3>And then at the end of the day you're like, oh, man,

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<v Speaker 3>I just has five giant meals because I was pre

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<v Speaker 3>eating and then somebody served me something and you know,

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<v Speaker 3>I overdid it.

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<v Speaker 1>When you come home, if you've been in this situation

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<v Speaker 1>of danger, of fear, of lack of food, Ye, isolation?

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<v Speaker 1>Does it take an adjustment to it.

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<v Speaker 3>Actually took me a while in my career to figure

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<v Speaker 3>out the right way to decompress from these things. Because

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<v Speaker 3>even in America, when I was a young producer, I

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<v Speaker 3>was covering school shootings. And when you're young and covering

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<v Speaker 3>school shootings like Virginia, you know, those students who were

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<v Speaker 3>killed in Virginia Tech were two years younger than me

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<v Speaker 3>at the time, so that that was really traumatic. And

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<v Speaker 3>I used to go home after those trips and just

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<v Speaker 3>crawl into bed and lie there for a couple of

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<v Speaker 3>days and then emerge. And actually it wasn't serving me,

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<v Speaker 3>and I was really not treating the trauma in any

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<v Speaker 3>real way. And what I've what I've actually learned is

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<v Speaker 3>as soon as I come out of a war zone,

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<v Speaker 3>I like pack my life full. So as soon as

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<v Speaker 3>I come home, I'll throw a dinner party that night

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<v Speaker 3>or the next night, or I'll immediately book some exercise

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<v Speaker 3>classes or spend some real time with my kids, or

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<v Speaker 3>you know, just make a bunch of plans and dive

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<v Speaker 3>right back in into sort of the warmth of everybody

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<v Speaker 3>around me.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you sleep well?

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<v Speaker 2>I do?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, I mean I mean, I'm lucky. I don't

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<v Speaker 3>have to live in a war zone. I get to

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<v Speaker 3>leave a war zone. So I think the job has

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<v Speaker 3>given me actually a amazing amount of perspective and gratitude.

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<v Speaker 3>So I know how lucky I am that I can

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<v Speaker 3>sleep without a siren and have water running water in

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<v Speaker 3>my house in a hot shower.

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<v Speaker 1>Where would you like to go next? If you do

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<v Speaker 1>not like to go? But is there a kind of war,

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<v Speaker 1>the conflict conflict that is going on now that particularly

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<v Speaker 1>treats you.

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<v Speaker 3>I think, I mean, I'll be going back to Ukraine

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<v Speaker 3>probably very soon. The Iran conflict is interesting. We're trying

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<v Speaker 3>to figure out how to cover it because it's it's

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<v Speaker 3>impossible to get there, so we're trying to figure out

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<v Speaker 3>interesting ways to cover it. The Ebola outbreak is happening. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>we have a team going. But they're very different calculations

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<v Speaker 3>for me because I've got small children, and yeah, I

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<v Speaker 3>really don't want to get ebola. They are six and eight,

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<v Speaker 3>two daughters.

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<v Speaker 1>What's the longest you've been away when you go on

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<v Speaker 1>a trip.

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<v Speaker 3>The longest since having children is about I think the

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<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty two Russian invasion of Ukraine. Was the longest.

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<v Speaker 3>I think that was about three and a half weeks,

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<v Speaker 3>but I try to keep it to two weeks max.

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<v Speaker 1>When you go on vacation, where do you go.

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<v Speaker 3>I spend a lot of time in France. I love France.

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<v Speaker 3>I go to Osgor these days. It's near Beerits just

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<v Speaker 3>fut the Beirits, and it's amazing. It's it also has

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<v Speaker 3>a saltwater lake in the middle of town, and so

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<v Speaker 3>they've got oyster shacks all around it. So you go

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<v Speaker 3>and oysters and rose and oh it's the best.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I love it, and literally.

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<v Speaker 3>Annually I spend a lot of time in Ligouria as well.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean the sort of Mediterranean is the best place.

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<v Speaker 1>It is not a cookbook, you know, I was thinking

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<v Speaker 1>that or a memoir of some of these stories. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>food under Fire.

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<v Speaker 3>It's interesting because people love food and the people are

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<v Speaker 3>endlessly curious about how other people eat. So it's you

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<v Speaker 3>as

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<v Speaker 1>Mhm.