WEBVTT - Marisa Abela 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.880 You're listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair. 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:08.880 Sam Taylor Johnson is a close friend and director of 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.719 Back to Black, The Story of Amy Winehouse. Checking in 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.600 with her during filming, she always reassured me that it 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:20.400 was intense, it was challenging, it was exhilarating, but really, Ruthie, 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.680 the greatest thing about the whole process was working with 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:28.080 the brilliant and fearless Marisa Abella. One night a few 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:30.200 months ago, Sam called me at home to tell me 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.520 Marisa was in the River Cafe and might we send 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.360 her a glass of champagne. When I told this to 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.080 a friend who was visiting me from New York, he said, Ruthie, 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.000 we're not sending her a glass of champagne. We're going 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.600 there right now to give it to her ourselves. She's amazing, 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.080 and she was and she is. Three days ago, Back 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:53.600 to Black opened in London, and though I was three 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.520 thousand miles away in New York, the word travel that 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:00.000 it was a great movie. Today we're here to get 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.360 in the River Cafe to talk about performance in the 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:07.560 kitchen and performance in front of the camera, and afterwards 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:12.520 we'll have a glass of champagne. So talking about the movie, Yeah, 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.959 it opened up Monday night. Yeah yeah, everybody's going to 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.400 ask you who was there and what did you wear? 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:19.480 And I'm going to ask you what you ate? What 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:21.240 did you what did you do for food? 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.560 Let's be honest. I'm wearing like a Fendy dress. It's 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:25.640 very figure hugging. 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:27.399 What does the food have to do with the Fendy dress? 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:28.840 That you were afraid of eating too much? 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.680 And then we kind of split the scene right right right. 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.280 You just want to be you want to feel your best, 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.720 but it's still just sort of about like pacing and whatever. 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:42.720 And also you get so nervous that it's just the 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:44.800 adrenaline so intense. 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:47.480 So what did you do? Did you eat before you? 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:49.200 Did you have a good meal on Sunday night? 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.880 I had a good glass of red wine and I 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.920 did have a good meal. I had a chicken seat. 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:58.960 Did the premiere? That was very exciting? 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:01.080 Yeah, most exciting moment. 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.280 It was very important for me with my first ever premiere. 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.440 So I was you know, I wanted my family to 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.560 be there and my friends and then you get five 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.320 people that get to sit next to you, So okay, 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.400 who's that going to be my mom, my, dad, whatever. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.320 But I decided that it should be my best girlfriends 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.640 because they're the ones that are going to be just 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:27.160 so excited. And I think the most purely happy moment 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:29.160 was when I sat down next to them and the 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.480 first ten minutes or whatever, all of them just turning 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.520 arounding at one specific moment wet. 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.880 When you see the effect, that's yeah, I couldn't possibly 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.200 compare it to what we do, but having to see 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.640 the response. I was talking to Sarah Jessica Parker and 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.600 we're talking the other day about audiences, and I was saying, 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.160 can you know I can tell the night when we 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.600 might be have the same team, the sort of the 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.280 same food, the place is full, but you can have 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.679 at the end of it thinking it didn't work or yes. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.240 And I said, does that happen in the theory? She 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.919 said sometimes, Ruthie. I just wonder if all those people 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.440 called each other first before they came and so let's hold, 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:10.639 let's have let's not laugh at any of the jokes, 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.880 you know, or they you know, they call each other, 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.560 they say, Okay, we're going to be really responsive. It's 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.200 almost the mood. And so did you feel that from 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.360 the audience. You know. 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.280 It's also difficult to tell, especially with a film when 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.720 it's not when you're not rehearsing the scenes or the type. 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.079 You film every scene and individually for three months, it's 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.400 difficult to remember exactly what's going on. And then you 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.240 watch it on screen and you know, within the first 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.880 two minutes you get a big laugh or something, and 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.480 you think so much about what the reaction to it's 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.600 going to be, you don't even think, you know, people 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.280 find it funny. So then when people are laughing, you're like, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.760 oh my god, you know this is this is crazy 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.920 and we've got a standing ovation at the end, which 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.200 is and I didn't I think I blacked out. I 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:57.200 didn't notice. I like walked straight up to Sam and 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.800 I was like, I can't believe, how do you feel? 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.720 And she was like, Marisa, turn around, like everyone is 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.840 on their feet, and I was like, what you know? 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.840 And it's just it's just it's wild. 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.800 When you're working, when you are filming. When if you 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:15.720 knew that you had a long day of performing different scenes, 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.559 different songs, what would you eat. 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.440 Well, this is different to most of the other work 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:26.400 I've done because I had specific needs to meet as Amy. 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.320 You know, I went through a physical transformation, So what 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.440 was that? I lost a lot of weight to play 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.559 her at certain points in her life. 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:36.359 How much do you remember? 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:40.560 Probably that's yeah, well let's stop. 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:41.200 There and tell me how. 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:47.480 You did that. Well, essentially a plant based gluten free day, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:51.039 free cop free. I mean it was sort of legumes 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.960 and plants in the evenings. 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.920 In the evening. Yeah, And did you find that difficult? 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.080 I mean, very as you can tell food is you know. 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.720 But the truth is is that like, what it does 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:09.000 do is that it makes those four months of your 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.839 life completely about the work. And I'm not a method 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.159 actress in that I go home and I think, am 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.520 I Marisa? Or am I am? Like? I know, I 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:21.520 know what's going on, and that's not it's not important 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.360 for me to do that. But what it does mean 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.599 is that you can't get away from this work and 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.840 it is the most important thing, as it should be 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.719 for that time. When it's a physical feeling like that, 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:36.240 you can't you know, you can't change it, like hunger. 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.040 For me, the most important thing though I wasn't going 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:42.200 to do the classic. You know, you hear about these 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.839 actors that are like I was on one whatever and 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.800 a cigarette a date. But it wasn't that I ate 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.599 because for me, the most important thing always was the 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.040 rest of the work, like can I embody her? Can 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.679 I inhabit her? Can I sing? Can I move? 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:57.680 Can I? You know? 0:05:58.240 --> 0:05:59.640 And I wasn't going to be able to do that 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.479 if I absolutely no energy. So it was a sort 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.600 of like a science of finding the maximum amount of 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:10.080 energy from the minimum amount of sustenance. 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.720 Essentially, as you say you were doing it for work. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.560 It was for a job. It wasn't because you wanted 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:21.000 to fit into to get a boyfriend or yeah. I 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:22.400 mean there's so many issues. 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.960 And also, you know, Amy had beliemia. I was playing 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.359 someone with an eating disorder, so it's also about understanding 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.880 the psychology of eating disorders, and also one eating disorder 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.040 over another. It's interesting to me as an actor. You know, 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.400 if someone has anorexx, yeah, it's something very different if 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:44.400 someone has beliema. Someone's relationship to food is interesting. I think, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:49.279 you know, needing to eat and purge versus not eat 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.720 anything at all says something different about a person. I 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:57.960 think from what age fourteen forever or pretty much. I 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.960 think it's difficult to say exactly, you know, especially when 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.880 she was in the throes of her addiction, what her 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:10.320 appetite was like at that point, probably incredibly low, you know, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.960 versus only healthier with your relationship to drugs and alcohol. 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.280 Your relationship to food might be different because your body changes, 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:22.160 you know, if you're eating more because you're not using. 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.840 But what we do know is that she had a 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.480 difficult relationship with food and with her body image from 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:32.680 the age of fourteen. As an actor, having someone tell 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:34.320 you that you need to look a certain way for 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:38.680 a role when that role is fictional, it's very difficult, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.200 and I think I would struggle with that. But when 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.080 it's not fictional and she's existed, and you know her 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.920 relationship to food and drugs and alcohol has affected the 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:53.520 way that she physically manifests to all of us, then 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:55.920 I think it's you know, my job as an actor 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:57.080 to do that thing. 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:01.640 Do you think the food was overpowering in terms of 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:03.600 her whole character, that it was defining? 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:07.160 Yeah, well, I think that. You know, part of the 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:12.400 reason that her addiction hit her physically as hard as 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.880 it did was because she didn't have the sort of 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.120 physical capability to keep up with as much as she 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:23.160 was consuming. But I also think that she was completely 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:28.119 hounded by the paparazzi. One of the things that drew 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.280 me to Amy as a woman was that she had 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:35.480 this insatiable appetite for life and for music, you know, 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:38.199 and that you can see that in her body when 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.840 she's younger. She's not afraid to be hungry for life 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.400 and for experiences and for food. And as the world 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:50.040 got more hungry for her, it's almost like they stole 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.520 that appetite from her. It's almost like, you know, aerial 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.719 and ursula, like they took her voice away from her, 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:01.880 and they took her appetite. And it's when someone is 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.480 feeding on you, is there that much left? I know 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.400 it's kind of sounding a bit metaphorical, that I do 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.559 think that. I think that food, if you're told, is 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.120 a woman in your life, like, don't take up space. 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:19.079 You have to stop enjoying one of the simple pleasures, 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.480 you know, it's a sensual pleasure, and I don't think 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:24.880 she has afforded many of those. 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:27.800 Tell me about the joy that you heard during filming, 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.600 and about that you told us about Christmas. 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.440 My birthday is in December, and obviously Christmas is also 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.360 in December, and my trainers said, listen, you have to 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.440 give yourself one thing to work towards, so like you know, 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.080 you're going to be able to give yourself whatever you 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.040 want on that day. And it can either be your 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.720 birthday or Christmas, because December kind of works for us. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.360 And I was hosting Christmas that year my flat, so 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:56.240 it became all I could think about if I was hungry. 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.960 I remember one time I got a massage. I booked 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:01.240 in a massage and it was an hour and a 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.120 half and instead of relaxing during this massage, all I 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.600 was thinking was, well, I'll sub you know, little bagels 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:13.360 with crumbrushion, and I'll do caveat and I'll do this. 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.360 And it was like, you know, it was a Christmas 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.959 for four people, and I had a ham, a lamb, 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:24.480 a chicken because I was just so fixated on this food. 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.120 Did you know the River Cafe has a shop. It's 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.520 full of our favorite foods and designs. We have cookbooks, 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.359 lin a Napkins kitchen, were toad bags with our signatures, 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:44.040 glasses from Venice, chocolates from Turin. You can find us 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.840 right next door to the River Cafe. In London or 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:58.360 online at shop Therivercafe dot co dot uk. Tell me 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.880 what it was like cooking with Sean here in the kitchen. 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.160 Do it you did zucchini trifilati? 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.480 Well, I think the thing about cooking is that you know, 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.360 we all. It's the same with films, right, everyone watches 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.120 movies all the time and knows what they love. Who 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:15.480 doesn't necessarily know how they'd make it? And it's like 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.280 I know what I would love to eat and how 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.720 I enjoy food. But watching someone really know what it 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:24.959 is that they're doing make something that you know is 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:28.560 about to be delicious, It's probably the same feeling that 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.280 people get when they come on certain watch movies being made. 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.400 Hi, I'm Sean Owen. I'm here with Marisa Abella and 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.800 we're going to make zucchini trifilati. In case you ever 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.079 have guests with you decided you're going to make zucchini trifolati. 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:44.959 You can cut it on the chopping board or you 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:46.520 can just cut it like a housewife. 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:47.920 That's my preferred message. 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:48.400 I love that. 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.320 So I've just cut it in my hand, like turning 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.040 the zucchini as I. 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.760 Cnu't so cool, just like just put yourself. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.240 In the mindset of the Italian housewife. Yeah, just turn 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:01.360 and cut and turn and cut. 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.760 I cut apples like this sometime, got it. 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:07.719 And so as many as zucchini as you want. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:08.440 I'm not sure how many of. 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.520 The recipe it's going to be four. Probably four. You'll 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.600 just have a bit of garlic. We've got spring garlic. 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:17.120 Now that's just it also really amazing because the skin 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.080 is so soft that you can need the whole skin 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.040 like you have to cut, you don't really have to 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:26.360 trim it off, and that will just get in as well. 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.560 And then we're just gonna fry the zucchini with like 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.600 olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and a low heat 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.120 for about maybe an hour or so. You get perfect 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.320 zucchini triflaty like super slow because it's supers slow. And 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.679 then we finish it with zucchini flowers. At the end. 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.040 It looks really fresh. It's a really nice thing if 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:48.600 you have like fresh zucchini and you're. 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.000 Growing in your garden, it's amazing. 0:12:53.280 --> 0:13:00.280 I mean I have a garden, but the flowers are 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.480 amazing in the summer, you know, and you can fry them. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.840 But also the beautiful added to this, and this is 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:06.600 such a nice thing to have like on its own, 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:08.439 with fish or meat. 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.440 Chickens in a nice bit olive oil. 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.000 Then if you can see that there. 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:16.040 Looks a bit like sludge. 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.960 No, it looks so delicious. Don't not put that in. 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:20.800 But is it? 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.000 Is it all in the intensity of the When you 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:25.640 slow cook something, it goes. 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:30.319 Really an olive oil. Right, okay, exactly at the end? 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:32.640 Right Zuccini. 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:35.640 I hope it's cooked long enough. 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:36.080 For rufe. 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:48.000 Zucchini trafilati Eighteen small zucchini, trimmed and cut, three tablespoons 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:51.679 of olive oil, two garlic cloves, peeled and sliced, a 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.440 handful of mint or basil, roughly chopped, sea salt, and 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.560 freshly ground black pepper. Heat the oil in a large 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:03.880 frying pan. Add the garlic and gently brown. Then add 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.439 the zucchini and cook slowly for fifteen to twenty minutes, 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.280 when brown on all sides. At one hundred and twenty 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.080 five milli liters of boiling water and stir, scraping and 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.320 combining the juices until the water has been absorbed and 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:22.400 the zucchini is soft. Add the mint or basil, seasoned 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.240 with salt and pepper and serve. 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.240 You chose the recipe for zucchini trifilati, I did? And 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.840 why why did it have all the recipes? Because it's 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.440 one of my favorites. It's one of the first vegetables 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.640 I ever learned to cook. In that process. 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:44.200 I love eating zucchini out courgette, same thing, same thing, 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:49.360 French or Italian. I love eating it out. But whenever 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.520 I cook it, I don't get it quite right. I fore, like, 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.960 I don't know whether I don't season it completely right, 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.440 or it can go kind of like too soft, too easily, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.560 or whatever it is. But so, but whenever I eat 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.880 it out, it's like, oh my god, what is this delicious? 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.480 Especially impasta? And then so I think when I saw 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:10.200 it today, I was like, well, this is a perfect 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:14.800 way to just maybe it's quite selfish. And also the timing, 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.320 she said an hour. I'm bad at putting things on 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.320 high for a short period of time. I guess I'm 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:24.680 quite impatient book, Yeah, exactly, I come on, let's go. 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:29.680 Let's Also I get very hungry very quickly, especially when 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.480 I'm at home. I'm just sirring, oh, I'll make dinner tonight, 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.760 don't worry about it, and then all of a sudden 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.440 fifteen minutes, I'm like, I'm starving. I don't know about you. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:38.400 I'm going to die by. 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:44.040 Oil water right faster. Yeah, I think that the French 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.160 are like very Healdente, you know, they're like things quite crispy. 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.760 And the Italians really like to slow cook their vegetables. 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:52.840 I get more flavor out of it. Maybe it's the 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.800 olive oil that is then absorbed into it over a 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.240 longer period of time, the process of sort of slidy 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.320 going brown and then soft and then brown again. The 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.840 Italians cook vegetables for your British I know, so I 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.200 have to be careful not malt okay. So then I 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.840 would say that why is it that when the Italians 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.520 cook vegetables for a long time they get better, and 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:19.080 when English people vegetables for a long time, they kind 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.480 of get worse. Friend of mine said, I remember saying 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:26.000 years ago that nobody really had time to cook anymore, 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.000 and that's you know, it's a shame. And he said, yeah, 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.800 but except for the English. Maybe cabbage, but they'll say, oh, 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:37.160 we only have forty five minutes the cabbage. Yeah, maybe 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.920 that would speed up. But I think zucchini. Does we 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.080 do some that. Actually, I don't think we do any 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.320 zucchini that is, Chris. But because even if we boil it, 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:47.560 we boil it for longer whole and then slice it 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:49.560 up and put it with olive oil and mint. 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.880 But well that's something that I've learned today. Yeah, see, 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:53.960 that's good. 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.600 So what was it like growing up in your home 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.800 in terms of food, because you do seem to say 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.200 you love to eat. Tell me about the early days 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:04.200 of your childhood and food. What are your memories. 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.600 I grew up at home with my mom and my 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.520 brother and me. It's just the three of us, and 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.879 my mom is a great cook. There was always a 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.880 lot of food, you know, like that was the thing. 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:22.719 Quantity was keen in my house, like loads of food. 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.879 There was never a question of anyone going hungry. And 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.920 it was also such a big way of showing love. 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.920 I think, you know, my mom, if I was feeling sad, 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.919 it was food. If I was feeling happy, it was food. 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:37.680 What was her background? Did she grow up in a 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:39.560 house like that? Well? I don't know. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.159 Actually, I think my mom grew up quite scared of food. 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.040 My mom is Jewish. I think food in the Jewish 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:49.480 culture is so important, you know. So I think she 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.320 and my mom didn't have a huge appetite growing up, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.639 but it was very like finished, what's on your plate? 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.560 Do you know? Have your grandmother where she came was 0:17:57.600 --> 0:17:58.479 she born in Britain? 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:02.879 Well, so there are two sides, both sort of during 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.440 a Second World War. There were my mother's father's family 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:13.880 emigrated from Poland and my mother's family were from Austria, 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:14.320 you know. 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.719 Yeah, because I think there's also something perhaps about an 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:23.120 immigrant family in a possibly threatening environment. My family came 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:29.320 from Russia and from Hungary again emigrated and there definitely 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.439 was a feeling that in an alien environment where you 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.040 were concerned about the protection of your children, food was 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.800 a kind of way of almost creating a barrier of 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.520 safety for your kids. And you know, the thing of 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.639 coming home. I always tell a story that apparently my 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:52.000 grandmother came to visit her first grandson, my brother and 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.919 first grandson, and she came. She used to travel with 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.800 her rolling pit, you know, and so she arrived in 0:18:57.840 --> 0:18:59.440 the house of the country and my mother said, do 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.000 you want to see that baby? And she said, let's 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:01.600 eat first. 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:03.120 Yeah. 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.600 So I think that culture but it may be. You know, 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.000 I'm Jewish, and so I think that probably is a 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.760 Jewish characteristic. But probably if you had an African family 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.719 in you know, a white society that felt threatened, or 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:19.920 you know, a Catholic family in Belfast, that food would 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.280 maybe become even more totally. 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.800 And like my mom grew up in Northwest London, so 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.359 I grew up in Brighton, So there's not really a 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:30.800 massive Jewish community at all where I grew up, but 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.080 we were probably the only household there was. You know, 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.240 there were lots of supermarkets in Brighton where you could 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.960 get whatever it was you wanted to eat, but my 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.119 mom would have to go to the waitrose if she 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:46.240 wanted anything that was kosher. Yeah, you're right, no, no, 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.960 but she liked My mum will only eat Kosha smake salmon. 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:51.399 She doesn't like other smoke salmon because it's too oily. 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:52.000 You know. 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:55.639 She likes sort of kosher sausages and could filter fish 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:59.199 and you know, she likes that food. So if she 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.880 she wouldn't eat necessari and keep kosher, but she had 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.199 to go to that waitrose to get that food. So 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.400 mine was the only house in Rotting Dean. You know, right, 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:12.360 and I had chopped liver in the fridge, but it 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.560 was I mean, but my brother and I were quite 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.479 kind of embarrassed at that food. I think it's weird. 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:21.000 It's kind of weird to kind of adapt. I mean, 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.800 I think you want to. Whereas your mother might have 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.000 been proud to do that, the children are much more 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:34.119 protected of their identity and wanting to, you know, become 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.560 like the people next door, school friends, not be different. 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.360 And I think that because she was a single mother too, 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:44.119 it was very much like she I think, you know, 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:48.360 when you have two kids under the age of four, necessarily, 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:50.920 you know, we're not eating filter fish. So she would 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:53.520 eat alone a lot, not alone with us, but eat 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.920 her own meal. And I we did that a lot 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:01.080 actually growing up. You know, my brother loved oldfish and 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:04.320 I loved red meat, and my mom loved whatever, you know, 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.480 and we would eat different at the same time totally, 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.399 and I was fine. I was actually telling a friend 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.000 just now that you know I eat. Before I met 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:21.359 my boyfriend that I'm with now, I didn't like to 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.600 share food. And I think that that's kind of why, 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:25.880 because we'd go out for dinner and it would be like, 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:30.240 I'll have my thing, you have yours. It was weird 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.200 for me. Also, small plates restaurants is such a thing now, 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.920