1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:04,520 Speaker 1: Ruthie's Table four is now a book Paul McCartney, Michael 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: ka Kamala Harris, David Beckham, Tina fey Elton John and 3 00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:12,799 Speaker 1: many more. It's full of stories, beautifully designed, and a 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: celebration of the way food connects us all. It's available 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: now wherever you buy your books. 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 2: Ruthie's Table four brought to you by Sky and Montclair. 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 3: We went to Yemen in twenty fifteen, like not long 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,519 Speaker 3: after the Houthi's had taken over. We did go to 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 3: the presidential palace to interview the new head, Hoothy. Being 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 3: in the presidential palace of a government that nobody wanted 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 3: there is a dangerous place to sit. The Saudeast could 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 3: have bombed it anytime, so we wanted to leave quickly, 13 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 3: so we did our work very fast. We packed up 14 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 3: our equipment and we were heading out the door and 15 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 3: they were like, you're not leaving. We said, what do 16 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 3: you mean you're not leaving? There's lunch, said, we don't 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 3: want lunch. I know, we don't want lunch. We just 18 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 3: want to leave. And our drivers were this point, going, guys, 19 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 3: we can't we can't say no, They're not going to 20 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 3: let us go. 21 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 2: For over forty years. My life in food has been 22 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 2: a story of adventure, excitement, education and comfort. Aaron Lyle, 23 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 2: who is with me today, is a conflict producer for 24 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 2: CBS News. Her life in food has been a story 25 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 2: of survival, danger, and hope. She's eaten with Ukrainian soldiers 26 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 2: on the freezing front line, cooked with families in their 27 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 2: homes in Gaza, and shared food on the battlefield in 28 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 2: Syria and Iraq with bullets sounding in the distance. From 29 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 2: these experiences in the field, Aaron has created Food under Fire, 30 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 2: a unique and beautiful food blog full of recipes, anecdotes, photographs, memories, 31 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 2: and portraits of the people she's met on her journalistic travels. Today, 32 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 2: we're here together in the warmth and the safety of 33 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 2: the river cafe, women with different experiences but with the 34 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 2: same values and to shared knowledge that food brings us 35 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 2: together in war and in peace, and brings us together. 36 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 2: Today we were just talking about the that we met, 37 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 2: Tell them how we met. 38 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 4: Well. 39 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 3: I normally cover breaking news and war and conflict for CBS, 40 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 3: but once in a while I get to do lovely features. 41 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 3: And we did a feature on you for CBS Sunday 42 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 3: Morning and about this podcast and about the book that 43 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 3: came out of the podcast. And while we met on 44 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 3: that day, I told you about the blog and. 45 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 2: You said you got to come back, So I am, 46 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 2: and we thought, you know, what a great story to 47 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 2: tell us. Everybody, every everybody has a story, and this 48 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 2: is a story to tell. 49 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 3: Well, when I first started going to war zones, my 50 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 3: parents and my friends were saying would say where are 51 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 3: you staying and what are you eating? And after a 52 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 3: while I realized actually the food experiences I was having 53 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 3: in the field were so unique and that people were 54 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 3: interested in it because how are normal people surviving when 55 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 3: bombs are going off? When things are chaotic? 56 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 4: And so that's that's why I started. 57 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 2: Now, food does tell us about a culture? Does it 58 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:08,079 Speaker 2: also tell you about a war? 59 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 3: It does? Yeah. I mean food is food is survival, 60 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 3: food is comfort, food is intimacy. I mean it's always 61 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 3: so surprising to me when we when we go to 62 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 3: a place that's that's a war, that's under siege, that 63 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 3: that has very limited resources, and people share with us, 64 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,519 Speaker 3: you know, because they have I say it a few 65 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 3: times in the blog in various uh, various anecdotes, but 66 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 3: in a lot of these places they have so little 67 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 3: and then they share everything with us, you know, and 68 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 3: and and that is always a bit of a wow 69 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 3: experience because the generosity is always astounding. 70 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 2: And someone shared, was it Nella shared a recipe for 71 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 2: this porsch and I thought, we thought, why would we 72 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 2: want to hear recipe from the river cafe from from 73 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 2: the front line. 74 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,839 Speaker 3: So we we went to Zapparisa. This is I think 75 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 3: in twenty twenty two. And whereas Zaparisia is just past Nepro, 76 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 3: it's sort of in the east of Ukraine, not quite 77 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 3: the front line, although the Zaparisia nuclear plant is obviously 78 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 3: Russian held, so it's it's very near the front line 79 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 3: in Ukraine. And at this point they were getting all 80 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 3: the refugees from Mariupol, whoever was able to escape. They 81 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 3: were driving to Zaparisia first. So we went to Zaparisia 82 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 3: to to find those people and hear their stories. And 83 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 3: our fixer who's from Kiev, had a contact in Zaparisia 84 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,039 Speaker 3: named Nella, and she met us in her like little 85 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 3: latta car and from the beginning she was feeding us 86 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 3: like we showed up on arrival, and she had she 87 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 3: had made these mashed potato doughnuts that morning and kept 88 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 3: them in her car. 89 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 4: In her weddinge. 90 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 3: They were they looked almost like a like a kinish 91 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 3: a little dumpling, fried dumpling, and inside was this warm, 92 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 3: spic mashed potato mixture. She just she met us and 93 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,599 Speaker 3: immediately handed these out. And so we stood in the 94 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 3: cold eating her her potato dumplings. And then when we 95 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 3: went back for a second day, we shot in the 96 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 3: morning and then she said, okay, that's it, You're coming 97 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 3: to my house for soup. And we go into her 98 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 3: apartment building, which is a classic Soviet style. You know, 99 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 3: it looks incredibly decrepit from the outside, but when you're 100 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 3: when you're in her flat, it's warm. She had five 101 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 3: cats wandering around, and she just shoved all six of 102 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 3: us around her tiny glass kitchen table and ladled out 103 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 3: a borsh that she'd been cooking since the morning. So 104 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 3: that is a recipe on the blog. 105 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 2: Going into a home tells you so much? 106 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 3: Does it? Is? 107 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,600 Speaker 2: Just I always say that when somebody said what is 108 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 2: the best restaurant in London, I'd say home. Yeah, you know, 109 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 2: if you go to someone's home for your house and 110 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 2: my house, But it's anyone's home. I think that there 111 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 2: is something. We were once in Prague, Richard, my husband 112 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 2: got an honorary degree from the University of Prague, and 113 00:05:57,600 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 2: we were walking down the street and a woman came up 114 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 2: and said, I was your ceremony yesterday and it was 115 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 2: so moving and I loved you at architecture, and she said, 116 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 2: would you ever think of coming to my home for lunch? 117 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 2: We said yes, you know, immediately, and the next day 118 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 2: we found ourselves in this little home in Prague with 119 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 2: the kind of family silver. It was very you know 120 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,039 Speaker 2: that had been handed down, tablecloths that have been ironed 121 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 2: for hours, it seemed, with embroidery, and we had this 122 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 2: meal that she'd cooked, and her children were there. I 123 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 2: remember it more than probably any restaurant I've ever been, just. 124 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 3: To get that kind of closed door experience. 125 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:36,279 Speaker 1: Yeah. 126 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really unique. 127 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 2: And the generosity, as you say, and the trust actually 128 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 2: the trust to say I'm going to take strangers into 129 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 2: my home and feed them so and to have it 130 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 2: compounded by being in a war zone. So this is 131 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:55,039 Speaker 2: called Nella's famous borsch Yes, and I was wondering whether 132 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 2: you would read the recipe. It's the first recipe that 133 00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 2: we've ever had that didn't have the ingredients in a list. 134 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:02,479 Speaker 3: She wouldn't give us any measures, any measure exactly. 135 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 2: I like that. 136 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 3: She also cautions that it doesn't have giant chunks of meat, 137 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 3: because that's not the kind of bores she makes. But 138 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 3: suppose you you could pull the meat off the simmering 139 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 3: in here and keep them. 140 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 2: It's interesting because my father, as a big event in 141 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 2: our lives, would drive us to New York to see 142 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 2: theater when we were kids from upstate New York, and 143 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 2: we'd go to the Russian tea room as a as 144 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 2: a treat, and the borsche was always very red, very 145 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 2: smooth and not much you know, texture in my memory, 146 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 2: and then the sour cream. 147 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 4: But this one is quite a meatate potato, very different. 148 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 3: It's it's closer to like a gulash, that's more like 149 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 3: a stew. 150 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 4: Yeah. 151 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 3: And the Ukrainians I've met the chef Clubtenko, who's who's 152 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 3: lobbied the UN and UNESCO, Yeah, to name Ukrainian borshes 153 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 3: a as a heritage product, So they take it very serious. 154 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 4: It's a nationality for Ukrainian. 155 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 3: So this is Nella's famous Ukrainian Ukrainian borsh Simmer a 156 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 3: large piece of either pork or beef in a large 157 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 3: pot of water. Skim the fat, then add a whole 158 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 3: onion and bay leaves. Simmer until you have a stock. 159 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 3: Scrub and peel two potatoes, two carrots, and two beets. 160 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 3: Add them to the boiling stove. After the vegetables are softened, 161 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 3: remove and let the stock continue to simmer. Cube the potatoes, carrots, beets, 162 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 3: and onions, adding tomato juice to the pan. Remove the 163 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 3: meat from the stock and add vegetables while they simmer. 164 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,839 Speaker 3: Add sliced green cabbage and dill to the pot. Boil 165 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 3: for ten minutes. It's then ready to serve with sour cream, 166 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 3: or you can let the flavors meld and eat it 167 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 3: the next day. 168 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 4: Simple delim sounds. 169 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:52,520 Speaker 3: Simple, but I think my bores would probably not equal mellas. 170 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 2: So you've only worked for CBS, and CBS sent you 171 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 2: to London. 172 00:08:57,400 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 3: So I moved to London in twenty fourteen. My first 173 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 3: story once I moved here was the revolution in Ukraine. 174 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 3: The might on and my boss came to me and said, look, 175 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 3: we haven't covered Ukraine in thirty years. Nobody nobody in 176 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,960 Speaker 3: this office has ever been. We don't really have any contacts, 177 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 3: but you know, the story's years if you want to go. 178 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 3: And so I went, and it was it was an 179 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 3: amazing time. I mean we'd go out to the to 180 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 3: the square every day, and I mean the Ukrainians are 181 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 3: so sort of creative and how how they manage these things. 182 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 3: You know, the guys would be kitted out and in 183 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 3: sort of mattresses as a as a shield and little 184 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 3: calanders as helmets, and they'd be out there sort of 185 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 3: throwing bricks against the government police. And there would be 186 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 3: little old grandmothers pushing around carts. I've never seen anything 187 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 3: like them. They looked like many trains and they were 188 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 3: sort of soup tureens that were that were kept hot 189 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 3: with wood I think, and they just pushed them around 190 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 3: and they were dishing out soup and the others were 191 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 3: wandering around with hard boiled eggs. 192 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 4: And it's just kind of do you remember the soup? 193 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 4: But it was, yeah, it was, it was. 194 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 2: And what was that? What was? 195 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 4: I'm sorry to be sure. 196 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 3: They had a they had a pro Russian president at 197 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 3: the time, y Haandikovic, and he had he had he 198 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 3: was moving closer to Russia and away from the EU, 199 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 3: and so they were protesting that, and in the end 200 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,959 Speaker 3: he fled and the protesters sort of quote unquote one 201 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 3: and and that was that was that, And that was 202 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 3: the start of sort of everything we've seen since. 203 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 2: And that was your first kind of intervention, your first experience. 204 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 3: That was my first. How big was the crew? It's 205 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 3: usually to try and take small. It's usually four of us. 206 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:45,439 Speaker 3: It's usually producer, correspondent, cameraman and security advisor if it's 207 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:47,560 Speaker 3: a dangerous place. And then once we're on the ground, 208 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 3: we pick up a local fixer translator who helps us 209 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 3: get around. From there, I went to Crimea and then 210 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 3: eastern Ukraine because at this point Russia was invading in 211 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 3: the east, and so I've been covering Ukraine. 212 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 2: Crane been your fogus. 213 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, Ukraine, well, the Ukraine in the Middle East generally. 214 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 3: But that is also when I started the food blog, 215 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 3: because I thought there's some interesting things happening out here. 216 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 2: What else situation in Ukraine do you remember Other. 217 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,560 Speaker 3: Than there's a lot of there's a lot of really 218 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 3: sort of hardy, bone sticking food, which is perfect when 219 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 3: you're fighting war in winter. 220 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 4: So there's kasha, which is a sort. 221 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 2: Of my grandmother made kasha. 222 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's a lot of kasha around the Mountainous 223 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:35,680 Speaker 3: regions make something called banosh, which is it's like a 224 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,959 Speaker 3: polenta corn meal and then they top it. They mix 225 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,080 Speaker 3: it with cheese and they top it with mushrooms or 226 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:47,320 Speaker 3: sort of bacon. It's really you eat it and after six, 227 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 3: six or seven bites, you can't anymore because it's just 228 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 3: expanding inside you. And then you know, if you get 229 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 3: sort of towards the front lines and you're with the 230 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 3: soldiers who are cooking, there's a lot of of boiled eggs, 231 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,200 Speaker 3: there's a lot of stews, soups on the stove. 232 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 2: How do they get the food to the front line. 233 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 3: They have an. 234 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:12,840 Speaker 2: Amazing logistics Ukraine particularly, they're very. 235 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 3: They're very nimble and they pivot very quickly. So they've 236 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 3: been very good at keeping the logistics running. There was 237 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 3: one trip we made close to the front line and 238 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 3: it was sort of set back a little bit and 239 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 3: they had a proper food set up there where they 240 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 3: were bringing in sort of volunteer chefs. This guy, a 241 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,200 Speaker 3: Ukrainian guy, had come in. He was a head chef 242 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 3: in Sweden somewhere and he had flown back to volunteer 243 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 3: his services after the invasion and was just there again 244 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 3: making wars. 245 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,199 Speaker 2: And do you know jose Andres, Yes, did you ever 246 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 2: meet him? I haven't, Yeah, because he's amazing, He is amazing, 247 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 2: my hero. And yeah, he's Central Kitchen. They fly in and. 248 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 3: We run into their people in more places than any. 249 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 4: Other charity out there. 250 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 3: Actually, yeah, like you'll be really frontline ish and and 251 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 3: you'll see a guy in a world Central Kitchen t shirt. 252 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,319 Speaker 3: It's amazing, actually, they really are, and. 253 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 2: They do it in an incredible way which he just goes. 254 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:12,559 Speaker 2: He doesn't break a whole team with them, I think. 255 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 2: And then the whole idea is that they. 256 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 3: Hire locals and the local source everything locally. So it's 257 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 3: really really. 258 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, because you have started by talking about how 259 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 2: very often you go to a war zone and life 260 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:31,199 Speaker 2: is going on. But that must train a change from 261 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 2: when you get then to the actual absolutely, to the 262 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 2: front line. 263 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:39,600 Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it gets harder the closer you get, obviously 264 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 3: to get to get fresh produced and varied products. But 265 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 3: somehow they're all they're all doing it. One of our 266 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,200 Speaker 3: most one of my most amazing experiences in life, like 267 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 3: I mean at work for sure, but in life as well. 268 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:56,439 Speaker 4: Was when Hairson. 269 00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 3: Hair Song had been taken over by the Russians in 270 00:13:58,640 --> 00:13:59,439 Speaker 3: the early days. 271 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 4: Of the invasion. 272 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 3: It's southern New southern, yeah, and it's sort of right 273 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 3: on the way to Crimea, and that's why I think 274 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 3: the Russians took it, because the Crimea and so they 275 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 3: came in and it was liberated. The Ukrainians liberated the city, 276 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 3: I mean on the other side of the river, in 277 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 3: that part of Harso, and the Russians are still there 278 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 3: to this day, but the Ukrainians took back the main city. 279 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 3: So we were in Kiev and we wanted to get 280 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,280 Speaker 3: to Airsan, obviously because the pictures were amazing. People were 281 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 3: dancing in the streets and singing. So we started driving 282 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 3: and then we passed through checkpoints to get closer and closer, 283 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 3: and finally we get to the final checkpoint outside of 284 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 3: Hairson and they said, sorry, we're closed. The president is 285 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 3: coming tomorrow, so we're not letting anyone else in. You 286 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 3: can come back tomorrow morning when Zelenski arrives. We said okay. 287 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 3: And at this point we had driven for hours and 288 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 3: I was not going to drive back to our hotel 289 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 3: and Odessa, which was again hours away. So I said, 290 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 3: all right, team, let's let's go to the nearest village. 291 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 3: Let's shoot a story, see what we can find, and 292 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 3: maybe we can find a guest house. So we go 293 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 3: to this village and we see this little old man 294 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 3: and he approaches us and he starts crying, and he 295 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 3: basically tells us a story of how the Russians had 296 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 3: taken over his mother's home and they were living there, 297 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 3: the soldiers, and they were trashing the place. I mean, 298 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 3: it was turning into a pig stye. And finally he 299 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 3: said he had had enough, and so he went to 300 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 3: the house and said, guys, you've got to get out 301 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 3: of here. This is so disrespectful. Please leave my mother's house. 302 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 3: And they said, okay, old man, here's a shovel. Why 303 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 3: don't you dig your grave? So so they made him 304 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 3: dig his grave for two nights. He didn't tell his 305 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 3: wife about this, He just went they went. They were like, 306 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 3: you're coming back, or we're going to find you. So 307 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 3: he went back and he finished digging his grave and 308 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 3: he shows us this, I mean, it was like a 309 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 3: perfectly rectangular grave. And finally he says, okay, I'm done. 310 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 3: And he fully expected, you know, to get shot and 311 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 3: thrown in the grave. And they were kind of drunk 312 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 3: and laughed at him and said whatever, nice, get out 313 00:15:57,760 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 3: of here. 314 00:15:58,240 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 4: So he left. 315 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 3: So he tells this story. He shows us the grave, 316 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:05,600 Speaker 3: he shows us the trash house, and it was a 317 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 3: sort of an amazing story. And then I said to him, listen, 318 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 3: we're a team of seven because we had some drivers, 319 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 3: everything involved. Is there a place around here we could 320 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 3: spend the night, Like, we have our own food, we 321 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 3: have a generator, we have a starlink. We just need 322 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 3: a place to crash. Is there a guest house? And 323 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 3: he said, well, you're staying in my house. Like of course, 324 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 3: you know, we have food, we have a place for 325 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 3: you to sleep. We even have lady wine for you. 326 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 3: He said, lady wine. What is lady wine? He said, well, 327 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:34,480 Speaker 3: we have hard wine for the men and like a 328 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 3: softer wine for the ladies. He said, okay, lay sounds amazing. 329 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 3: So he brings us back to his house, which is 330 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,200 Speaker 3: essentially a junkyard. He's got all these cars on blocks 331 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 3: and seven dogs and you know, a little little shack 332 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 3: there and he brings us in and his wife is 333 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 3: turning one room into a bedroom for seven people. And 334 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:57,640 Speaker 3: she has taken everything in her kitchen and cooked it 335 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 3: and put it on this little rickety table. And we 336 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 3: sat around this table, you know, all seven nine of us, 337 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 3: however many we were eating like a just a plain 338 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:12,680 Speaker 3: pasta topped with a sort of spicy tomato pepper mixture, 339 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 3: and bread with salo which is the pork fat that 340 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 3: like you have some bread, and of course Lady wine, which. 341 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 2: We so tell me about Lady wine. 342 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 3: It tastes like wine. I mean, it's homemade. Everything that 343 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 3: they were serving us was basically they had moonshae and vodka. 344 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,199 Speaker 3: They had homemade Lady wine and a harder wine. So 345 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 3: it's I guess it's just the level of fermentation. So 346 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 3: it tasted like wine, but maybe slightly fizzy, amazing in 347 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 3: a big jug. I think the men also ended up 348 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 3: drinking as we made our way through the through the supplies. 349 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:51,160 Speaker 3: But you know, it's those kind of moments, yeah, where 350 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:53,439 Speaker 3: you just go, oh my god. You know, humanity is 351 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 3: an amazing thing sometimes, right and for them as well, 352 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:02,160 Speaker 3: because they they could unload the trauma of occupation, they 353 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,480 Speaker 3: finally had people sitting around their table going like tell 354 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 3: us everything. 355 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:05,440 Speaker 2: Yeah. 356 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 3: So for them it was our poor fixer was going 357 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,120 Speaker 3: a mile a minute back and forth in English and Ukrainian. 358 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 3: But it was pretty special. 359 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 2: So we're taking Ukraine, which is a very strong image 360 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 2: of the food, the culture, the whole atmosphere of what 361 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:30,640 Speaker 2: if you shifted to Syria, would that be a very 362 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 2: different mindset in terms of. 363 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:37,879 Speaker 3: No, I mean the hospitality is sort of a universal 364 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 3: gift and in many of the cultures, particularly in the 365 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:47,439 Speaker 3: Middle East, hospitality is taken very, very seriously. So again, 366 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 3: I've had amazing experiences in Gaza where families have taken us. 367 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 4: Into their hotels about Gaza. 368 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 3: My last time in Gaza was I think twenty seventeen 369 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 3: or twenty nineteen. We haven't been able to go in 370 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 3: for this current flicked and at the time our producer 371 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 3: there has a very big family and they would they 372 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 3: invited us to their watermelon farm and we would sit 373 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 3: around eating watermelon, salty white cheese, and then all the 374 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:16,640 Speaker 3: women in the family would cook and invite us into 375 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:19,400 Speaker 3: the apartment and it would be rice and meat and 376 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 3: stuffed grape leaves and dips and fetouche and all the 377 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 3: yummy things, and it's just, I mean, it's pinch yourself 378 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 3: moments because you're in a place and you have a 379 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 3: vision of a place, particularly if you haven't been, if 380 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 3: you were just watching your TV and you're watching war 381 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 3: in Afghanistan or Syria or a gaza or whatever, you 382 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 3: think it's three hundred and sixty degree destruction, But actually 383 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,400 Speaker 3: when you're in it, there's these amazing moments. 384 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 2: What is the nearest you've come to a kind of 385 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 2: death experience? 386 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 3: In twenty fourteen, my team and I were taken by 387 00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:00,679 Speaker 3: Russian separatists, blindfolded at gunpoint and taken to a place 388 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 3: and held. It was really only probably half a day, 389 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,959 Speaker 3: but it felt like forever. And when you're sitting there 390 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,919 Speaker 3: in a blindfold, time passes very slowly. That was in 391 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:12,640 Speaker 3: twenty fourteen. 392 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 2: Were you were together in a room, always separate speech. 393 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,680 Speaker 3: We separated the men and the women, so I think 394 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 3: the men were more worried than we were because they 395 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:23,919 Speaker 3: didn't know what was happening to us. But honestly, we 396 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,959 Speaker 3: just they sat us down in chairs. The men they 397 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 3: didn't give chairs too, but they sat us down in 398 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 3: chairs and gave us a cup of tea. 399 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 4: But what happened? 400 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 2: How are you? 401 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 3: I think at the end of the day, those of 402 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 3: us who had been taken had been able to alert 403 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,479 Speaker 3: our bureaus back in London that it had happened. So 404 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 3: there was a lot of phone calls being made behind 405 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,919 Speaker 3: the scenes, and I think I think they just realized 406 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,040 Speaker 3: they made a mistake. 407 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 4: What country were you in and Grain? 408 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 3: It was eastern Ukraine. 409 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 2: And you talked about Yemen. Did you also have us? 410 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,880 Speaker 3: Yep, we went to We went to Yemen in twenty fifteen, 411 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 3: like not long after the hoo Thi's had taken over, 412 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,679 Speaker 3: and we didn't have a near death experience there at all. 413 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,879 Speaker 3: I mean, it was perfectly fine. But we did go 414 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 3: to the presidential palace to interview the new Headhothy for 415 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 3: he was at the time, and we wanted to do 416 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 3: things as quickly as possible because obviously being in the 417 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 3: presidential palace of a government that nobody wanted there is 418 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 3: a dangerous place to sit. The Saudeast could have bombed 419 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 3: an anytime, so we wanted to leave quickly, so we 420 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 3: did our work very fast. We packed up our equipment 421 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 3: and we were heading out the door and they were like, 422 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 3: you're not leaving. We said, what do you mean you're 423 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 3: not leaving? There's lunch. We said, we don't want lunch. 424 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 3: I know, we don't want lunch. We just want to leave. 425 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 3: They're like, no, no, it's not it's not possible. There's lunch. 426 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 3: You're sitting down and you're having lunch, we said, And 427 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 3: our drivers were at this point going, guys, we can't 428 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 3: we can't say no. They're not going to let us go. 429 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 3: So we said, okay, let's sit down and have lunch. 430 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 3: And so we were sort of forced to have lunch. 431 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:02,400 Speaker 4: Do you remember I do? 432 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 3: It was rice and meat and actually a really great 433 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 3: Yemeny dish that I didn't know existed until I was there, 434 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:13,199 Speaker 3: which is a sort of shrimp stew. I didn't know 435 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 3: they had ate a lot of shrimp and yemon. But 436 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,560 Speaker 3: it's sort of tomato, shrimp, spicy peppers of some kind, 437 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 3: sort of cooked down until it's kind of pasty and 438 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 3: you eat it with a really nice bread. So lunch 439 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 3: was great, but I ate it. I ate it probably 440 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 3: too fast, and I should have. 441 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,439 Speaker 2: You do you think you get used to danger? Do 442 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:33,400 Speaker 2: you get you get hardened? You yet? 443 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 4: Do you feel I don't. 444 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 3: Other people might, but but every time I'm in a 445 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 3: dangerous situation, I get that pit of stomach feeling and 446 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 3: I sort of punch into myself, into my body armor, 447 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 3: and it's you know, it's it's not very pleasant. We 448 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:56,199 Speaker 3: don't make stupid decisions to go to uns. You lost people, Uh, 449 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 3: CBS has lost people. Yeah, we have, and so we 450 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 3: take it seriously. Yeah, most networks have lost people. Yeah, 451 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 3: and it's it's it's dangerous work, but we try to. 452 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:09,880 Speaker 4: Be as safe as possible. 453 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 3: If anyone on the team doesn't feel safe, we turn 454 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:19,479 Speaker 3: around and we try to give as accurate a picture 455 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,960 Speaker 3: of what's happening without undergoing the risks. 456 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 2: I was talking. I was talking to someone about in journalism, 457 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,800 Speaker 2: about what we are about news at the moment. You know, 458 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,159 Speaker 2: what we see in news, and there's so many people 459 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,399 Speaker 2: with opinions that you listen to telling you what to 460 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 2: think or helping you, you know, navigate a very complicated situation. 461 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 2: But he was saying that the really important reason we 462 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,239 Speaker 2: still have television is the people on the ground that 463 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 2: if you turn on and you see a reporter from 464 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 2: exactly the city that is being bombed from the country 465 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 2: that has been attacked. That that is real. 466 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, you need the facts in order for the opinion 467 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 3: makers to have the opinions right. So it is important. 468 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:12,400 Speaker 3: We do need to show what's actually happens. 469 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 2: What was Syria like Syria. 470 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 3: I spent most of my time in Northeast Syria. We 471 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,680 Speaker 3: have other teams that did the sort of Damascus part 472 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 3: of things. So Northeast Syria is a Kurdish region. They're 473 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:30,640 Speaker 3: at war with Turkey as well, and we were mostly 474 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:35,200 Speaker 3: there in the fight against ISIS. And in that situation, 475 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 3: I have a blog post about the breakfasts we would 476 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 3: make ourselves because as Isis got pushed back further and 477 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,520 Speaker 3: further into Begoos, which was that little tiny pocket at 478 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 3: the end there we were further and further away from 479 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 3: place to stay. So by the end we actually slept 480 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 3: in the street, not far from the Begooz frontline. We 481 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 3: just brought these army cots and slept wrapped in these 482 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,879 Speaker 3: big fluffy Syrian blankets. And every morning someone on our 483 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,679 Speaker 3: team would make porridge porridge with just a little camping 484 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 3: stove and ring and he he would boil water and 485 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 3: coffee mate and then add in the oats and then 486 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 3: we had a whole supply of sort of nuts and 487 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 3: dried fruit and peanut butter, and you know, every day 488 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,440 Speaker 3: we would make something different. One day would be banana nut, 489 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,199 Speaker 3: one day it would be peanut butter and jelly. One 490 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 3: day it would be dried strawberries and hazel nuts. And 491 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 3: would try to pimpot out as much as we could 492 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 3: to make it, to make it interesting. But by the 493 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:34,679 Speaker 3: end we were all kind of expanding out of our 494 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,640 Speaker 3: pants because if you're if you're eating boiled every day, 495 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,439 Speaker 3: and it's like injecting pure cream into her into our veins. 496 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 2: I went to Syria in two thousand and probably eight, 497 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 2: very quite a long time, Agot. 498 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 3: Where were you so well? 499 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:53,880 Speaker 2: In Damascus and Aleppo and Palmer And it was an 500 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,200 Speaker 2: incredible culture of food. You know, you talk about culture 501 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:01,920 Speaker 2: and but the you know, the artifacts and museum of Pottery, 502 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 2: or you see the paintings, or you see the architecture, 503 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 2: but the culture that you learned through food, the way 504 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 2: they would cut a piece of cake, the way people 505 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 2: would share. I remember Richard and I went to a 506 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 2: park and people really wanted us to try things from 507 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 2: their own picnics. 508 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 4: That hospitality that's really beautiful. 509 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:20,920 Speaker 3: Yeah. 510 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 2: Do you think it is very Middle Eastern? 511 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 3: And absolutely? In fact, I find sort of the Anglo 512 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 3: hospitality is one of the worst, sort of American and British. 513 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 3: It's a little bit more closed off, you know. You 514 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 3: you bring in your friends and family, but strangers not 515 00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:41,879 Speaker 3: so much, whereas the rest of the world tends to 516 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:42,440 Speaker 3: be a bit more. 517 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 4: Yeah. 518 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 2: And also how delicious the food is. Do you ever 519 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 2: bring back recipes and cook them when you come back? 520 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 3: I do? Yeah, I do, and that My most recent 521 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 3: recipe that I've learned is Ukrainian pickles, okay, which it's 522 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,439 Speaker 3: so pul it's like crazy, and my kids love them. 523 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 3: They eat them all the time. Like candy. You basically 524 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:09,160 Speaker 3: take a tupperware, you slice small cucumbers into spears, throw 525 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 3: them in the tupperware, throwing a handful of big sea 526 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 3: salt lakes, throwing a bunch of dill and a couple 527 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:16,880 Speaker 3: peeled clothes of garlic. 528 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 4: That's it. 529 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 3: Put the lid on, shake it, put it in the fridge, 530 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 3: and in two hours they're like the most amazing fresh pickle. Yeah. 531 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 4: There is no liquid, no liquid at all. 532 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, the salt just makes it all happen. 533 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 2: And restaurants when you're in these wars, you go to shore, 534 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 2: you go out. Yeah, they're so interesting because again they 535 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,120 Speaker 2: would You know that've been reassured so many times by 536 00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:40,920 Speaker 2: people who are living in a place that we think 537 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 2: is just like over my me, mostly my children have 538 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,640 Speaker 2: been backpacking, your traveling. I want to say, come home. 539 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 2: They it's fine, they were okay. 540 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:53,480 Speaker 3: Absolutely, And even in Ukraine. We were in Denipro and 541 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, which is again not far 542 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,359 Speaker 3: from Zaparigias, so not far from the front line, and 543 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 3: I met a guy who who had just opened a 544 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,480 Speaker 3: restaurant and I said, what, like, it's twenty twenty two, 545 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 3: you just haven't what are you talking about? And he 546 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 3: he had been an egg distributor. Yeah, and literally the 547 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 3: Russians bombed his egg warehouse in Kiev and destroyed all 548 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,120 Speaker 3: his eggs, and out of his broken eggs, he said, 549 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 3: you know what, I always wanted to open a restaurant. 550 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 3: So he opened a restaurant in the middle of morror 551 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 3: in Depro. 552 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 2: I just thought, like, that is amazing, exactly all the 553 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 2: times on your country. 554 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 3: Yeah, that you're going to survive the opening restaurant like 555 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,439 Speaker 3: one of the hardest things to do in this world 556 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,440 Speaker 3: is yeah, you would obviously know, I mean, come on, amazing. 557 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, but it is a hope in the future, that's 558 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 2: what you said. I've come across that with people who 559 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,520 Speaker 2: are ill that they want to buy that house, open 560 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,160 Speaker 2: that restaurant, get a new job to do it, even 561 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 2: though you know they're facing the obstacles. It's the guy 562 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 2: is saying, somehow will be okay. 563 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's great. 564 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 4: There's there's hope everywhere. 565 00:28:53,560 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, there is. Let's go back to peace and growing 566 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 2: being born in Japan, is that right? 567 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:06,520 Speaker 3: My parents were briefly in the Air Force, and both 568 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 3: of them yep, they joined together as doctors and they 569 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 3: moved to Missauwa, Japan, and very quickly had me and 570 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 3: my sister, and then four years later left. So you 571 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 3: have a memory of a very very little memory. I 572 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 3: went back as a later in my childhood and as 573 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 3: a twenty year old, but very little memory. 574 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 2: Where did you grow up? 575 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 3: So after Masawa, we moved to southern Massachusetts near Plymouth, 576 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 3: and yeah, they opened their clinics there and I spent 577 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 3: my childhood Massachusetts. 578 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 2: And what was food like in your home? Did they 579 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 2: did they manage to work all day and then cook, 580 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:43,640 Speaker 2: or they did. 581 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:46,840 Speaker 3: My dad was the cook, and my mother tried sometimes 582 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 3: but never terribly successfully. We like to rip her about that, 583 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 3: but my dad is nearly professional level. Yeah, he's very good. 584 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 3: So we ate very well. But more than that, they 585 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 3: really they really tried to expose us to world foods. 586 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 3: So what they weren't cooking at home that you know, 587 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 3: we did in rural Massachusetts in the eighties, there wasn't 588 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 3: very much, but once a Thai restaurant opened up, we 589 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 3: would do Thai food there every Thursday night. They we 590 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 3: would sometimes drive into Boston and go out for Japanese 591 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 3: and other cuisines. My parents used to have these elaborate 592 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,720 Speaker 3: country themed dinner parties and enlist me to serve, so 593 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 3: I would dress as a peasant, serve the Russian dinner 594 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 3: or whatever that dinner party was going to be. So 595 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 3: they were they were really into exposing us to world food. 596 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:36,800 Speaker 4: That's great. 597 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 3: More than more than like distinct memories of the meals. 598 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 4: At home, it was did you did they travel with you? 599 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, we went to Japan again as a as a child. 600 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 3: We went to Europe, and all of those trips were 601 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 3: built around the food. They were never big museum goers. 602 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:54,960 Speaker 4: It was all about those book. 603 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,280 Speaker 2: Did you travel around the United States as well? 604 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 3: We did? Yeah, we went. We went out west. 605 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 4: We had these great epic road trips. 606 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 3: Around the Grand Canyon. I have an amazing childhood memory 607 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 3: I was probably ten where they woke us up early. 608 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 3: We were staying in a cabin near the Grand Canyon. 609 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 3: They woke us up super early. It was still dark, 610 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 3: and we went to the Krispy Kream which was open 611 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,000 Speaker 3: and had the Hot Donuts sign and got doughnuts so 612 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 3: much fun and coffee, and then went and sat on 613 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 3: the rim of the Grand Canyon like dangling our feet, 614 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 3: eating these hot donuts and drinking coffee. 615 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 2: Yeah. 616 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 3: I think they just are Yeah, they are fun. 617 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 2: What was it like when you left home? 618 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 3: Because of how they raised me, and because I was 619 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:44,160 Speaker 3: exposed to travel so young, I think I was desperate 620 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 3: to get a job that had me travel. And I 621 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 3: didn't know what that job was going to be, but 622 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 3: I knew I wanted to be living in the world. 623 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 3: So I applied to the Georgetown School Foreign Service because 624 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 3: it had the word four and in it. I thought, 625 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 3: whatever whatever comes of this, it will be something in 626 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,600 Speaker 3: the world. So I went to Georgetown very briefly thought 627 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 3: about being working for the State Department. But bureaucracy is 628 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,240 Speaker 3: not for me. Yeah. I had a brief stint after 629 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 3: that as an investment banker in New York because I 630 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 3: thought maybe I could be an international woman of finance. 631 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 3: That also didn't really scratch that. 632 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 2: Did you do you have food memories of that time? 633 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:25,360 Speaker 2: Did you when you were domestic? Did you have your 634 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 2: own apartment? 635 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 3: Start in Washington, I started cooking a little bit. I 636 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 3: really started getting into food writing, like reading food writing. 637 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 3: I wasn't writing anything at the time, but I became 638 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 3: obsessed with this sort of live blog that the Washington 639 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 3: Post food critic at the time, I think was Robert Sizzima. 640 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 3: He had a sort of a live chat with him 641 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:47,880 Speaker 3: once a week, and I would I would log on 642 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 3: every week and start asking questions about which restaurant to 643 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 3: eat at or I don't know. It was very dorky, 644 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 3: but I became slightly obsessed with food writing then and 645 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 3: started reading Jonathan gold and Bally Weekly and the New 646 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 3: York Times food writers and really started to care very 647 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 3: deeply about restaurants and cooking and started to get into 648 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 3: it a little bit more. When I was in New 649 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 3: York for the Investment Bank, I just gained a lot 650 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,719 Speaker 3: of weight because you work such long hours. Well, if 651 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 3: you work past nine, you can expense thirty dollars worth 652 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,240 Speaker 3: of dinner. So every night I was getting thirty dollars 653 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 3: worth of Indian food. And after a while I was like, Oh, 654 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 3: this is really not doing me much favors. But I 655 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 3: left the Investment Bank and got hired at CBS as 656 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 3: an intern in New York and started started my career there. 657 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 3: My first job, they hired me in two thousand and 658 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 3: three as part of the War desk because it was 659 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 3: the Second Golf War it was just starting, and they 660 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,480 Speaker 3: put me in the basement in a room called the 661 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 3: Record Room, which was just full of TVs. And I 662 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 3: would sit there taking notes on all the footage that 663 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 3: was coming in, so that a producer or an editor 664 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,080 Speaker 3: could walk in and say, you know, where is there 665 00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 3: a shot of a jet taking off from an aircraft 666 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 3: character I could pick up a tape and say, you know, 667 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 3: minute twenty three, second eleven on this tape. And as 668 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 3: I watched all this footage come in, I said, like, 669 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 3: where is this coming? From who's shooting all this material? 670 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 3: What is this? And they said, well, you know, there 671 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 3: are teams in the field. It's a producer, a correspondent, 672 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 3: a cameraman, and they shoot their material. They and they 673 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 3: feed it via satellite and it comes in here. I thought, oh, well, 674 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 3: I have no desire to be on camera, but a 675 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 3: producer sounds pretty cool and like you're just out in 676 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 3: the field helping manage stuff, and that sounds like a 677 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 3: job I would have. So that was sort of the early. 678 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 2: I was talking to someone who was telling me that, 679 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:41,400 Speaker 2: you know, just recounting the old days as a photo 680 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,279 Speaker 2: journalist where you would take the photographs in Hanoi and 681 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,799 Speaker 2: then hopefully get them on a plane that was. 682 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 4: Exactly to New York and exactly. 683 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,320 Speaker 2: But hopefully deliver them to the New York Times in time. 684 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 3: You know, that same we had giant roll, you know, 685 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,239 Speaker 3: roles of film that we would apparently this is pre me, 686 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 3: but you know, go to the airport and sort of 687 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,640 Speaker 3: beg someone to take it on a floor and then 688 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 3: pick it up on the other end. So it's gotten 689 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,319 Speaker 3: a lot easier, a lot easier, but it just means 690 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,319 Speaker 3: we have to work that much harder. 691 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 4: And faster, because it's. 692 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 2: So so that that intern. Do you think there was 693 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,960 Speaker 2: still an intern someone where in CPS doing that job. 694 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 3: Probably not that exact job, but not too far off. 695 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 4: That's how it works. 696 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:25,560 Speaker 2: When did you actually leave New York? 697 00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:29,480 Speaker 3: So I left New York in two thousand and seven 698 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 3: and went to Chicago. Then I went to la And 699 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 3: when I was in La, I started doing a lot 700 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 3: more foreign coverage. So I covered the earthquake in Haiti. 701 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:44,400 Speaker 3: That I mean, that was that was very hard. That 702 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 3: was a very hard story because well because the living 703 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:54,560 Speaker 3: conditions through our support were not great. At the end, 704 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 3: we ended up sort of bunking with another network in 705 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:58,919 Speaker 3: a nicer hotel. But at the beginning we were sort 706 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:04,280 Speaker 3: of really roughing it nearly camping and eating eating mrs 707 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:06,239 Speaker 3: and there was some food around, but some people on 708 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 3: our team ate it got so sick they had to 709 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 3: be metavact out of the country. So it was really 710 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 3: just sort of, uh, you know, eating canned tinned stuff 711 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,239 Speaker 3: and nuts and and and then the things we were 712 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 3: seeing were just so gut wrenching that well, like people 713 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:28,560 Speaker 3: who had lost everything, who were starving, who were sleeping 714 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:29,280 Speaker 3: in the streets. 715 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,160 Speaker 2: Do you find that the not the your reaction to 716 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:36,319 Speaker 2: a natural disaster like an earthquake or a flood, is 717 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,719 Speaker 2: that deserve different than being in a war zone. When 718 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 2: you see the. 719 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:43,920 Speaker 3: Suffer, they're not They're not dissimilar. They're not dissimilar people 720 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:50,320 Speaker 3: losing everything, people getting hurt or killed. They're slightly easier 721 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 3: in that you don't there's there's no political aspect of reporting. 722 00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 3: It's just mother nature did this, and so you don't 723 00:36:58,000 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 3: have to pull back and get into the sort of 724 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:04,239 Speaker 3: bigger context of whatever the conflict is. But for the 725 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 3: reality on the ground, it's very similar, and it's a 726 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,520 Speaker 3: lot the same stories of how do you survive this, 727 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,280 Speaker 3: how do you rebuild? How do you deal with the loss? 728 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:16,239 Speaker 3: I also did sort of the tsunami in Japan, and 729 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:20,320 Speaker 3: then the Arabs spring in Egypt, and after a while 730 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,279 Speaker 3: a job opened in London, and by that point they 731 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:24,759 Speaker 3: saw that I could handle I could handle myself in 732 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:25,560 Speaker 3: war zones. 733 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 2: If you were interviewing somebody for a job as yours, 734 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:30,239 Speaker 2: what was you what are you looking for in a 735 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:30,920 Speaker 2: character for. 736 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:37,720 Speaker 3: My exact job? Resilience, calm. I mean, ultimately, the job 737 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:41,520 Speaker 3: of a producer is the problem solver. R How do 738 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,840 Speaker 3: you make television if there's no electricity? How do you 739 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,920 Speaker 3: where do you put the crew? If there's no hotels? 740 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,280 Speaker 3: Who is going to be driving around? Who can you trust? 741 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,400 Speaker 3: How do you get out of a bad situation? How 742 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:56,400 Speaker 3: do you make television? 743 00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 2: That? 744 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:01,880 Speaker 3: I think just being nimble and quick thinking is probably 745 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:03,719 Speaker 3: the number one characteristic. 746 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:07,280 Speaker 2: Food, as you were saying, because you joy, it gives 747 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,920 Speaker 2: you knowledge of a culture. It also gives you comfort. 748 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,520 Speaker 2: And so is there a food that when you try 749 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:16,560 Speaker 2: and have with you when you know you're going to 750 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,600 Speaker 2: be in a difficult situation or is there food that 751 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,239 Speaker 2: you lean to when you that's my comfort food? 752 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:25,719 Speaker 3: That is your comfort I would say I'd say my 753 00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 3: comfort food is sort of melted cheese, like like if 754 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 3: I'm at home, it's a grilled cheese, or and if 755 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 3: I'm on the road, if I'm in Ukraine, It'll be 756 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:42,440 Speaker 3: like a Georgian kachupori, you know, the cheesy. It's amazing. 757 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:46,239 Speaker 3: It's like a it's like a stuffed it's like a 758 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 3: calzoni basically with melted cheese. It's just running everywhere. So 759 00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:55,759 Speaker 3: if I have a tough day on the road, I 760 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:58,439 Speaker 3: can go get something with some drippy melted cheese. 761 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:01,520 Speaker 2: When I get to the United States, I always want 762 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:02,160 Speaker 2: to have a grill too. 763 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 4: So I love just a grilled too so much, just 764 00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 4: like the crispy edges. 765 00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:11,680 Speaker 2: I know. When I was in New York recently for 766 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 2: the book, I came back and I been out all that, 767 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:16,840 Speaker 2: and I just like, you know what, I'm gonna have 768 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 2: a grill too, so much. 769 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,480 Speaker 3: And so good. And actually I got a good tip 770 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,239 Speaker 3: from the New York Times Making section, which is to 771 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,880 Speaker 3: smear the outside of the bread with man instead of 772 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 3: I've heard that it's amazing that it's so good. 773 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:32,439 Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, well let's go have a girl much. 774 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,280 Speaker 3: Exactly, Thank you so much. 775 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:36,600 Speaker 4: It's good. It's a pleasure. 776 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:39,520 Speaker 2: Thank you. 777 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:44,440 Speaker 3: Ruthie's Table for was produced by Alex Bell, Robbie Hamilton, 778 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,240 Speaker 3: and Zad Orgers, with Andrew Sang and Bella Silian. 779 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,120 Speaker 2: This has been an atomized production for I Hearty Hea