1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:04,080
Speaker 1: Welcome to River Cafe, Table four, a production of iHeartRadio

2
00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:05,359
Speaker 1: and Adamized Studios.

3
00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:14,040
Speaker 2: Is it, Seve? What time is it? Is it seven? Okay?

4
00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:14,880
Speaker 2: Well they want us.

5
00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:16,360
Speaker 3: To not time to eat yet.

6
00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,560
Speaker 4: But a few weeks ago a very special person came

7
00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,760
Speaker 4: to dinner at our home, Speaker of the United States

8
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,440
Speaker 4: House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

9
00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,320
Speaker 3: I can't wait, I can't.

10
00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,120
Speaker 2: Wait up tonight. We're having two chocolate desserts.

11
00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,760
Speaker 3: I saw on that. Okay, I was thinking, that can

12
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,320
Speaker 3: make that my whole meal. I mean that I won't.

13
00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,720
Speaker 4: Before greeting the other guests, Nancy and I talked together

14
00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,599
Speaker 4: about food and politics, food and family, food in her

15
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,839
Speaker 4: Italian American childhood, and being the mother of five children.

16
00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,960
Speaker 4: We also spent quite a lot of time talking about

17
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:04,600
Speaker 4: our shared passion for chocolate ice cream.

18
00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:07,600
Speaker 5: My husband and I got married, we lived in New York,

19
00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,000
Speaker 5: now New York for me. When I was a young girl,

20
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,320
Speaker 5: a child, really, our family would go to New York regularly.

21
00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,680
Speaker 5: We'd go to plays, we'd go to dinner. All that

22
00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 5: New York was like heaven.

23
00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:21,280
Speaker 3: So here.

24
00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:27,360
Speaker 5: We were young, married in Manhattan. Paul was working, but

25
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:28,520
Speaker 5: we didn't have children yet.

26
00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 2: The first year, and what kind of restaurants would you

27
00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:31,680
Speaker 2: seek out?

28
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,280
Speaker 5: We had, shall we say, champagne taste and beer bottled purses.

29
00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:39,720
Speaker 3: So we did.

30
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,040
Speaker 5: Say that and go We would go to the best

31
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:47,080
Speaker 5: restaurants as if we were entitled, almost or we would

32
00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,520
Speaker 5: just go to the neighborhood Italian American restaurant in New

33
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,080
Speaker 5: York or something, or the corner place to have whatever

34
00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,720
Speaker 5: it was. But New York was great because, for example,

35
00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:03,160
Speaker 5: if you wanted to have chopped chicken livers, oh my gosh,

36
00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,720
Speaker 5: the best place in the world for chopped chicken. You know,

37
00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,320
Speaker 5: anything you wanted the best was there carry out that

38
00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,280
Speaker 5: would be. But we were largely into dining out. Yeah,

39
00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:14,520
Speaker 5: then we had children, and then it was more.

40
00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:16,960
Speaker 2: Than And so when you when you were.

41
00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:21,639
Speaker 4: Bringing up the children, did you follow your mother's footsteps?

42
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:22,800
Speaker 2: Did you have somebody helping?

43
00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:23,040
Speaker 4: No?

44
00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,679
Speaker 5: No, we had no help none. I mean that was

45
00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,720
Speaker 5: a different world. When you have five children in six years,

46
00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:32,560
Speaker 5: help doesn't come anywhere near your house.

47
00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:34,639
Speaker 3: They take detours.

48
00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:37,480
Speaker 5: So you mean help wouldn't come near you, Oh my gosh, no,

49
00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:40,440
Speaker 5: why would they. You could go work with somebody with

50
00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,760
Speaker 5: one child or two children. Why would they going to

51
00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 5: work with somebody with five children?

52
00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:47,560
Speaker 2: So how did you do it?

53
00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,560
Speaker 5: It was intense. It was intense, but I would love

54
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,640
Speaker 5: to do it all over. Then it was the most

55
00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 5: glorious thing.

56
00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:56,680
Speaker 2: You've lived in an apartment in New York? Or was

57
00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:58,440
Speaker 2: that time you were in San Francis? Were?

58
00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:00,520
Speaker 3: Well? We had four children in New York?

59
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:01,000
Speaker 2: We did.

60
00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:02,000
Speaker 3: We left New York.

61
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,120
Speaker 5: We had four children, the oldest was four, and we

62
00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,040
Speaker 5: had a lovely apartment in Beakman Place, and then we

63
00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,160
Speaker 5: moved to San Francisco and had a big home. I mean,

64
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,520
Speaker 5: we didn't realize how small our apartment was until we

65
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,680
Speaker 5: moved into a home in San Francisco and that was lovely.

66
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:21,200
Speaker 3: And then we had our fifth child there.

67
00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,560
Speaker 4: And how did you cook for five children? Did you

68
00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:24,920
Speaker 4: both cook? Did you cook?

69
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,720
Speaker 5: How did you feed them healthily? Yea, they'll not say

70
00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:31,720
Speaker 5: that I was a great cook. I mean it was

71
00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,880
Speaker 5: standard fare. And then as they got older, I just

72
00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,720
Speaker 5: got tired of washing pots and pans. I didn't want

73
00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:47,360
Speaker 5: to wash anymore pots and pans. So I developed a

74
00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:52,480
Speaker 5: practice where I would go to some place like MacArthur Park,

75
00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,360
Speaker 5: which was a restaurant then that had the greatest ribs okay,

76
00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,400
Speaker 5: or we go to the Rocas, which was a seafood place.

77
00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,800
Speaker 5: I would go to Chinatown Peking Duck and I would

78
00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 5: make a salad and I would bring home this and

79
00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,240
Speaker 5: it wasn't strictly carry out like.

80
00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:10,360
Speaker 2: Fast food.

81
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,040
Speaker 5: It was delicious food from these restaurants. We have this

82
00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:19,240
Speaker 5: meal Linen's salad. So when I went to Congress, my

83
00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,719
Speaker 5: youngest daughter, Alexandra, she said, mother, I'm so proud of

84
00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:28,760
Speaker 5: you because you're a pioneer. I said, really, because I'm

85
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,960
Speaker 5: a woman member of Congress. She said, no, Remember when

86
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,600
Speaker 5: you used to cook and then you stopped. Well, now

87
00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:36,720
Speaker 5: a lot of people stop cooking, but you were the

88
00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:37,640
Speaker 5: first to stop.

89
00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:42,520
Speaker 2: Oh good, that's good that you pioneer. Oh it is

90
00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:43,720
Speaker 2: a liberation, isn't it.

91
00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:47,359
Speaker 4: It can be creative cooking, It can be exciting, it

92
00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:48,280
Speaker 4: can be relaxing.

93
00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:50,520
Speaker 2: I think a family affair.

94
00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:51,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a lovely thing.

95
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:56,360
Speaker 5: But three times, and with five children, five will get

96
00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,680
Speaker 5: you ten every time because they bring So it's a thing.

97
00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,640
Speaker 5: But the pots got me, the pots and pants that

98
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:03,039
Speaker 5: got me.

99
00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,599
Speaker 2: So you got you got that's good. And then the

100
00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:07,599
Speaker 2: children got older.

101
00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,920
Speaker 4: You then became more and more involved in politics and participas.

102
00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:13,840
Speaker 3: Always said, we're in school all day.

103
00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:16,240
Speaker 2: How did food fit into that life?

104
00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,440
Speaker 4: I mean, how did it fit into working and being

105
00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:20,719
Speaker 4: a working mother.

106
00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,159
Speaker 5: Well, the children would call it child labor. But we

107
00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,440
Speaker 5: would have many events at our home all the time,

108
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:31,240
Speaker 5: and we always had food.

109
00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:32,800
Speaker 3: You know, the Democrats.

110
00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:35,159
Speaker 5: It was about people coming together, people coming So we

111
00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,840
Speaker 5: would always have food so that kids would help prepare.

112
00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:40,520
Speaker 3: And they say to this.

113
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,960
Speaker 5: Day, you know, for every salmon on a bagel, we'd

114
00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,720
Speaker 5: eat one and put one on the tray, and these little.

115
00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:48,960
Speaker 3: Ones and the one we would have dinners.

116
00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,640
Speaker 5: I hope I none of our guests hear this, but

117
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:58,599
Speaker 5: here's how we would do it. Say we have like

118
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:01,960
Speaker 5: many men, many people coming to dinner. Once we had

119
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,520
Speaker 5: nearly two hundred, we had a big house. We bought

120
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,320
Speaker 5: one of those pools, you know, those little pools that children.

121
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,479
Speaker 5: You inflate it, fill it with water and wash the

122
00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:16,000
Speaker 5: lettuce in there. Then you put it in a pillowcase,

123
00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,480
Speaker 5: tie a knot in it, and you put it on

124
00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,960
Speaker 5: the spin cycle in the dishes, in the washing machine.

125
00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,040
Speaker 3: The washing washing machine would have to be.

126
00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,000
Speaker 5: Very careful because sometimes while would tell people and they

127
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:29,680
Speaker 5: get it mixed up.

128
00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,120
Speaker 3: They put it in the dryer that doesn't.

129
00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:39,600
Speaker 5: Work, had to be in the spin cycle of the

130
00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:43,599
Speaker 5: washing machine and come out crispy. You have to have

131
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:49,080
Speaker 5: a big thing to wash the lettuce and spin cycle.

132
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,840
Speaker 2: Have any of your children taking on that recipe for us?

133
00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:53,920
Speaker 3: So now, I don't think so.

134
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,440
Speaker 5: I think that they don't entertain one hundred people at

135
00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:57,919
Speaker 5: a time.

136
00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:05,480
Speaker 2: So I think shopping is a hard thing to do.

137
00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:07,880
Speaker 2: Don't you think getting this shopping done?

138
00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:09,119
Speaker 3: Well? We have a little motto.

139
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,600
Speaker 5: If I don't have to shop for it, cook it

140
00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,000
Speaker 5: or clean it up, I'm all in for it, whatever

141
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 5: it is.

142
00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,720
Speaker 3: But that's not your life. It's very important. It's an art.

143
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,960
Speaker 5: I remember fascinating my grandchildren by having them put a

144
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:30,160
Speaker 5: mountain of flour. Each had their mountain of flour, break

145
00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,280
Speaker 5: eggs and net, mix it up this that and net,

146
00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,200
Speaker 5: let it sit, roll it out neat, you know, put

147
00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,960
Speaker 5: us through the machine and in the pot of water,

148
00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,880
Speaker 5: and they're eating pasta that was a mound of flour

149
00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:45,520
Speaker 5: with an egg in the middle.

150
00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:50,040
Speaker 4: They had their own individual cooking in a restaurant. I say,

151
00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,520
Speaker 4: people say to me, how can you cook for two

152
00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:54,800
Speaker 4: hundred people? And I can't cook for eight and I go,

153
00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,000
Speaker 4: I don't think I can cook for eight. It's much harder,

154
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,800
Speaker 4: you know, because in a restaurant it's you have somebody

155
00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,080
Speaker 4: chopping the parsa and somebody helping you pick the crab.

156
00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:07,480
Speaker 4: I think for a lot of people, cooking at home

157
00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:09,920
Speaker 4: as a performance, and you know, and it's quite hard

158
00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,200
Speaker 4: to entertain. You feel that you are being judged or

159
00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:14,000
Speaker 4: is it good enough?

160
00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:15,239
Speaker 2: Or well is it hot?

161
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,040
Speaker 3: It's the old thing and it keeping it hot. Yeah,

162
00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:19,480
Speaker 3: that was.

163
00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,800
Speaker 2: That's a challenge in a restaurant too. And so what about.

164
00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:26,920
Speaker 4: The Washington moving from San Francisco is a very food city.

165
00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,280
Speaker 4: I mean you have Alice Walters, you had Judy and Rogers,

166
00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:34,960
Speaker 4: you have women chef, you have so many different types

167
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,480
Speaker 4: of food. So was it a big wrench going from

168
00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:39,600
Speaker 4: such a food city to Washington.

169
00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:42,960
Speaker 5: Let me just say, I live in San Francisco, I

170
00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:47,000
Speaker 5: work in Washington, Okay, And I was always working because

171
00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:51,320
Speaker 5: San Francisco is three hours earlier, so when other people

172
00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:53,960
Speaker 5: might go out to dinner it was at seven o'clock.

173
00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,160
Speaker 5: It was four o'clock in the afternoon in San Francisco.

174
00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,120
Speaker 5: So I was really always working. And people would say,

175
00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:01,280
Speaker 5: what's a good restaurant. I mean, I'm the worst person

176
00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,120
Speaker 5: to ask, but there are some wonderful restaurants in Washington

177
00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,280
Speaker 5: that I can now and look forward to, you know,

178
00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:09,840
Speaker 5: just putting work on the shelves.

179
00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:12,240
Speaker 2: What do you like about a restaurant? What do you

180
00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:14,320
Speaker 2: look for in a restaurant? Is it the food? Is

181
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:16,960
Speaker 2: it the welcome, is it the descort?

182
00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:22,160
Speaker 5: What? First and foremost, it's the food. And it's very,

183
00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:26,160
Speaker 5: very important that there'd be a tablecloth. The tablecloth is

184
00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,360
Speaker 5: not only a tablecloth, it's absorbed sound. So it's little

185
00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:33,720
Speaker 5: calmer when you have that. Now, there are many restaurants

186
00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:38,000
Speaker 5: that don't have tablecloths, that are wonderful restaurants. But I'm

187
00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,600
Speaker 5: always happy when I have a tablecloth still at this

188
00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,120
Speaker 5: point in life, and I especially still like Italian food.

189
00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:47,720
Speaker 3: But of course I like friend, I like all you know,

190
00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:49,120
Speaker 3: good food.

191
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,480
Speaker 5: Just like music, they're all different kinds of music, from

192
00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,160
Speaker 5: classical to rap whatever.

193
00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,400
Speaker 3: Just as long as it's good, it's good. And same

194
00:09:57,440 --> 00:09:58,040
Speaker 3: thing with food.

195
00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,600
Speaker 5: Well, we have California, we have you know, the Mexican influence,

196
00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,280
Speaker 5: we have the we have every kind of food you

197
00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,479
Speaker 5: can imagine in the world in San Francisco.

198
00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,760
Speaker 4: So have great farms, and I think Alice has done great.

199
00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:16,319
Speaker 4: Oh she's farmed to the table. She's a force, I.

200
00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,800
Speaker 3: Mean, unbelievable. Yeah, she's fabulous in every way.

201
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,920
Speaker 2: Do you ever work in a restaurant?

202
00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,040
Speaker 4: Would you take somebody out and work over dinner or

203
00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,400
Speaker 4: do you find that you kind of work when you

204
00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:27,360
Speaker 4: work and you eat.

205
00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:27,800
Speaker 2: When you eat?

206
00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:34,920
Speaker 3: I like just to enjoy dinner. Now. Maybe that's being Italian.

207
00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:35,480
Speaker 3: I don't know.

208
00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,520
Speaker 5: I'm a big believer in putting things on the shelf.

209
00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,400
Speaker 5: There's an expression in Latin a jay kuada. Just do

210
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,840
Speaker 5: what you're doing if you're dining, if you're eating, and

211
00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,200
Speaker 5: then even if it means you have to split the

212
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:50,360
Speaker 5: I'm eating.

213
00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:51,240
Speaker 3: Now and I'll work then.

214
00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,920
Speaker 5: But I don't want to do them together, especially since

215
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,679
Speaker 5: some times your conversations can become.

216
00:10:59,280 --> 00:10:59,920
Speaker 3: Contentious.

217
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:01,880
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't mean in a negative way, but

218
00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:03,560
Speaker 5: it's like, why are we talking about this now?

219
00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:04,880
Speaker 3: I'm trying to eat my dinner.

220
00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,199
Speaker 4: And what about How does food fit into your work life?

221
00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:10,280
Speaker 4: Do you stop always for lunch? Do you have a

222
00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:14,280
Speaker 4: sandwhich at your desk? Does it depend on the day

223
00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:14,880
Speaker 4: my work?

224
00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:15,080
Speaker 3: No?

225
00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:15,480
Speaker 2: Food?

226
00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,000
Speaker 5: Well, I have a salad maybe at my desk, But

227
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,600
Speaker 5: like on Wednesdays I have now for a long time now,

228
00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:26,000
Speaker 5: it's been a pick up lunch for my members. I

229
00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,800
Speaker 5: wish that I could be having them for dinner more

230
00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,320
Speaker 5: and stuff that we really can't because of COVID for

231
00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,199
Speaker 5: a long time. And some of the restaurants that would

232
00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:40,600
Speaker 5: be able to handle that scale just don't even exist

233
00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:44,480
Speaker 5: any I mean some of them have moved on. But

234
00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:47,360
Speaker 5: the food is not an important part of my life

235
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:47,800
Speaker 5: in DC.

236
00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:50,120
Speaker 3: In DC and.

237
00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,959
Speaker 4: When you travel, do you look forward to having a date,

238
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,080
Speaker 4: dinner or lunch. Is it something that you think about

239
00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:57,199
Speaker 4: on your foreign trips?

240
00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,240
Speaker 2: What did you have for lunch today? In London?

241
00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,720
Speaker 5: Today we had a beautiful lunch hosted by the Speaker

242
00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:08,720
Speaker 5: of the Househoil. It was lovely in every way and

243
00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,400
Speaker 5: he told me that they have a cook there at

244
00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,120
Speaker 5: the House of Commons and it was beautiful in every way.

245
00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:19,840
Speaker 5: It was a lovely, lovely dining experience. It wasn't just

246
00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:21,880
Speaker 5: eating lunch. It was a dining experience.

247
00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:23,080
Speaker 2: How many of you were there?

248
00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:29,400
Speaker 5: Maybe one table, probably at least forty people at the table,

249
00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:34,160
Speaker 5: big long table, beautiful beautiful flowers, beautiful food.

250
00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,439
Speaker 3: It was. It was lovely. And that's that's.

251
00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:44,880
Speaker 5: London's come a long way, baby, I mean from when

252
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,560
Speaker 5: we would come here when we were young.

253
00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:49,880
Speaker 3: Now you have everything, Yeah, you have everything.

254
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:54,840
Speaker 2: It's really really good restaurants in London. Really Where were

255
00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:56,120
Speaker 2: you last night? Last night?

256
00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:01,560
Speaker 5: We were at Ivy how good that's Scott's.

257
00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:04,760
Speaker 2: Yeah. And we have to get you to the River Cafe.

258
00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:06,440
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, all of the River Cafe too.

259
00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,240
Speaker 2: You're in there that you come to myrowng time thing

260
00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:11,360
Speaker 2: we have to get We're closed on Sunday nights, so

261
00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,040
Speaker 2: you're forgiven for last time. But we would love you

262
00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:14,400
Speaker 2: to come.

263
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:16,839
Speaker 5: And I like Wolsey because it has a lot of

264
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:18,920
Speaker 5: we love it.

265
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,280
Speaker 3: I want to chocolate. That's why I go there. I mean, yeah,

266
00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:23,280
Speaker 3: one of the reasons.

267
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:24,240
Speaker 2: That's a great restaurant.

268
00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,840
Speaker 4: No, I think London has definitely there's so many different

269
00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,800
Speaker 4: types again, different types of restaurants. And that's one of

270
00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,960
Speaker 4: the heartbreaking things about Brexit, you know, is that we

271
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:40,440
Speaker 4: want to encourage different cultures and being open and that's

272
00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:52,360
Speaker 4: something we we must we mustn't forget. We share values,

273
00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,760
Speaker 4: we share concern for inequality, the fact that there are

274
00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:01,240
Speaker 4: children who are going to bed hungry and in Britain

275
00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,800
Speaker 4: and in the United States, that we know that during

276
00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:09,600
Speaker 4: the pandemic, certainly in this country, school shot a lot.

277
00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,319
Speaker 2: Of children that was their main meal.

278
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:17,160
Speaker 4: And so being in a position of influence and policy,

279
00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:22,119
Speaker 4: what do you feel about the question of child.

280
00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,240
Speaker 2: Hunger, of hunger? Yes, well, you know homeless people queuing

281
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:25,920
Speaker 2: up for food.

282
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,160
Speaker 5: Well, I always say to members of Congress, know your why.

283
00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,280
Speaker 5: I'll tell people your why. Why do you think you

284
00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,120
Speaker 5: should be in Congress? What has motivated you? And my

285
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,800
Speaker 5: why why I went from the kitchen to the Congress,

286
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,480
Speaker 5: from housewives to house speaker, was that one in five

287
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,400
Speaker 5: children in America goes to sleep hungry at night. That

288
00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,560
Speaker 5: I couldn't I couldn't handle it. I mean, it was

289
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,920
Speaker 5: just that we had five children, and you think one

290
00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:57,920
Speaker 5: of these children will not have food, will will go to.

291
00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,640
Speaker 3: Sleep hungry at night in America?

292
00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,880
Speaker 5: Now and take it globally, and it's sinful, it's sinful

293
00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:10,880
Speaker 5: any place. It's immoral. And that was my motivation and

294
00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,960
Speaker 5: all that that implied. If they were hungry, they weren't

295
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:19,080
Speaker 5: learning to their capacity, they were not feeling that their

296
00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,280
Speaker 5: needs were being met, and their families were just not

297
00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,800
Speaker 5: able to meet their families' needs, and it is a

298
00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,320
Speaker 5: kitchen table issue for some families. Are they going to

299
00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,800
Speaker 5: be able to put food on the table, pay the rent,

300
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,760
Speaker 5: pay the utility bill, pay for their children to go

301
00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,760
Speaker 5: to school if that required some payment. So the food issue,

302
00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,960
Speaker 5: that one in five children living in poverty going to

303
00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,840
Speaker 5: sleep hungry at night was my why, and so we

304
00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,840
Speaker 5: all every step of the way, have worked for policy

305
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:56,400
Speaker 5: to alleviate that, to not only supply food, food programs,

306
00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:00,000
Speaker 5: lunch proves and that, but also to improve the standard

307
00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,160
Speaker 5: of living of people so that they didn't have to

308
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,480
Speaker 5: choose between paying the rent or feeding their children at

309
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,840
Speaker 5: dinner or taking a turn eating.

310
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,520
Speaker 4: And when you went into Congress, I just will say,

311
00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:15,840
Speaker 4: what was it one in five, how many years ago?

312
00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:17,000
Speaker 3: And it's still the same.

313
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,280
Speaker 5: And that's really what's so tragic, because no matter how

314
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,320
Speaker 5: you try to do one thing and another, all kinds

315
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:26,720
Speaker 5: of things come along. My also when I went to

316
00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:31,840
Speaker 5: Congress was to fight HIV AIDS, and that was my

317
00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,440
Speaker 5: first speech on the floor of the House was about AIDS.

318
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,760
Speaker 5: So you have all these challenges and right now with COVID,

319
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,240
Speaker 5: when we're talking about the southern hemisphere and that people

320
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,480
Speaker 5: are like, I have to worry about feeding my family

321
00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,800
Speaker 5: before I worry about what else is going on in

322
00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:50,320
Speaker 5: the world.

323
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,560
Speaker 3: And it's still a challenge. It shouldn't be.

324
00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:57,920
Speaker 5: And again it's it isn't even an issue. It's a value,

325
00:16:58,000 --> 00:16:58,720
Speaker 5: it's an ethic.

326
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,640
Speaker 2: It's about way back.

327
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:05,760
Speaker 4: The concern you know, for looking after children is something

328
00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,199
Speaker 4: that is just a years old. It's something that is

329
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:12,760
Speaker 4: a principle forever. And in a way, it was very much.

330
00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,680
Speaker 2: Feeding your children and taking care of them.

331
00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,440
Speaker 4: And then we became as we had vats, we knew

332
00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:19,440
Speaker 4: that we had to also educate them and we also

333
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,879
Speaker 4: had to treat them in a certain we had to

334
00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:26,000
Speaker 4: love them, we had to you know, show them different environments.

335
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:31,000
Speaker 4: But that we still haven't achieved the feeding of children.

336
00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,800
Speaker 5: And when you think of it, Ruthie, when you think that,

337
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,520
Speaker 5: when we're raising our own children, it's about nutrition and

338
00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:40,920
Speaker 5: you know, feeding the right thing, and then these.

339
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:41,800
Speaker 3: Other children.

340
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:48,480
Speaker 5: We have urban deserts in terms of you go to

341
00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,400
Speaker 5: the store and it's all processed food. It's not fresh

342
00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:54,720
Speaker 5: vegetables or fresh fish, this, that and the other thing.

343
00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:58,880
Speaker 5: So these children are not even getting the nutrition even

344
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,040
Speaker 5: if they're getting fed and adults.

345
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:04,199
Speaker 4: You know, Steve McQueen, the director, told me that he

346
00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,399
Speaker 4: was in Chicago and there were no vegetable stores in

347
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,199
Speaker 4: poor areas. So it's something that we all need to

348
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:11,560
Speaker 4: keep working.

349
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,440
Speaker 5: Just for one example, in Flint, Michigan, when they had

350
00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:19,840
Speaker 5: the water crisis, it gives me chills just to even

351
00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,159
Speaker 5: think about what it meant for those children. They were

352
00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:26,879
Speaker 5: drinking water that was harmful to them, but not only that,

353
00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,640
Speaker 5: it hurt their development in the rest. And we had

354
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,800
Speaker 5: scientists and doctors who would come to us and say,

355
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,679
Speaker 5: the only way out is for these children to have

356
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:37,159
Speaker 5: fresh food and vegetables.

357
00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:38,320
Speaker 3: And you know all.

358
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:41,200
Speaker 5: This, and if you go there, there might be one

359
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,400
Speaker 5: store someplace that might not be near where they are,

360
00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:47,920
Speaker 5: whatever it is that would supply that. Now we're getting

361
00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:52,680
Speaker 5: a little more informed that you have to have stores

362
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:57,240
Speaker 5: that are farmers' markets and things like that where people

363
00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:01,440
Speaker 5: can get fresh food. But it directly related to the

364
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:02,960
Speaker 5: development of their brains.

365
00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,000
Speaker 4: And this is how we should judge a society, and

366
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:09,440
Speaker 4: that the value we place in the future of our children.

367
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,520
Speaker 5: So it's not only a value, it's an art.

368
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,360
Speaker 4: And that's what I was going. We're coming and they're

369
00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:19,879
Speaker 4: all waiting for us upstairs. But before we do, go

370
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,679
Speaker 4: upstairs and eat and talk and greet the people who

371
00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,679
Speaker 4: are all waiting for you in London. I would say

372
00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:30,680
Speaker 4: that we agree that food is values, food is an art,

373
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,960
Speaker 4: food is family, food is memories.

374
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,160
Speaker 2: It is also comfort.

375
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,639
Speaker 4: And there's a food and I can probably guess what

376
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:39,679
Speaker 4: your answer is going to be, but there is a

377
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:43,320
Speaker 4: food that we turn to when we just need comfort.

378
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:49,359
Speaker 4: And Nancy Pelosi, my friend, what would be your comfort food?

379
00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:55,840
Speaker 3: Ice cream? Dark, very dark. The older I get, the

380
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,080
Speaker 3: darker the ice cream. I would say that.

381
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,040
Speaker 2: You were ever predictable, but I did predict that answer.

382
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,280
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you,

383
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:10,280
Speaker 4: love you love you to thank you. To visit the

384
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,840
Speaker 4: online shop of The River Cafe. Go to shop the

385
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,560
Speaker 4: Rivercafe dot co dot uk.

386
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,199
Speaker 1: River Cafe Table four is a production of iHeartRadio and

387
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:34,399
Speaker 1: Adami Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

388
00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,880
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.