Off Air... with Jane and Fi - What happens if my skirt just falls off? (with John Torode)

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Jane and Fi are getting kicked out of the studio so Fi puts herself on 1.5x speed. Before that happens, they discuss meconium memories, characterful knees and M&S underwear. They're joined by cel...ebrity chef John Torode MBE to discuss his new ITV show 'John & Lisa's Food Trip Down Under'. If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: janeandfi@times.radio Follow us on Instagram! @janeandfiAssistant Producer: Eve SalusburyTimes Radio Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 you're all on board with another edition of off-air yes yes very good thank you have you been practicing in uh in your bedroom like you did when you were about 11 getting into the cupboard radio garvey's been shut down to do some links. After all the trouble that we had behind the scenes, the executive decision was taken to close the station down. Did Ofcom come along and unscrew the massive pylon? I was up to my antics and throwing my weight around, and worse. And so it came to a juddering halt. But what years of entertainment I provided
Starting point is 00:00:45 you do share that with I think quite a few people who've gone on to practice the art of radio presentation because I'm pretty sure that Jeremy Vine had Vine FM in his family car I don't know whether he had frequencies like I did yeah well I think he's on a pretty big frequency now love
Starting point is 00:01:02 yes and he's done quite well for himself he's on with remarkable frequency. Yeah. Do you know what? We haven't talked about the death of Steve Wright, and I did see, I thought Jeremy's tribute to him was really beautiful and really spot on. And I know there have been lots and lots of tributes to Steve Wright.
Starting point is 00:01:19 You know, we've both said things in front of a microphone about him. But he was, he's never going to be, nobody can fill his space, actually, can they? No one has. No, and I can't think of someone who would be able to come along and really transform the sound of radio in the way that he did. I think he almost took it as far as it is capable for it to go. Would you agree?
Starting point is 00:01:44 Gosh. In the early days because it was that mixture of kind of fact and fiction as well wasn't it so you had all of the characters all the craziness all the craziness but there was you know at the heart of the craziness some pretty spot-on stuff i mean mr angry was a spot-on depiction... Oh, no, there was some satire there...of a bloke losing it quite often over the BBC or Europe. Yes. He was ahead of his time. He also had a character from Belfast, I remember. Oh, God, he had all sorts, didn't he?
Starting point is 00:02:13 I mean, some of them don't actually... No, some of them perhaps we wouldn't do now, nor should we. But that didn't mean they weren't very funny and, as V says, spot-on at the time. I just, I'm sure like you, I have a crystal clear memory of lying in the back garden, I think after my A-levels and listening to Steve Wright in the afternoon. And it was just a place of sanctuary,
Starting point is 00:02:37 but also somewhere where there was fun. There was just silliness and fun. And he could make, he really did make it sound important even when it wasn't and that is a knack i mean it's a heck of a knack and it's one that very very few broadcasters actually have yeah and he knew that too so we were lucky enough to go on his program a couple of times weren't we so he was immensely supportive whenever you popped up to do something new you know he'd get in touch and say do you want to come on and talk about it and you know lots of people don't bother to do that so i'd say thank you to him for that but off air he would always uh acknowledge that we just made radio so he didn't
Starting point is 00:03:21 carry i think what am I trying to say? He wasn't as pompous as an awful lot of incredibly successful people in radio end up being. Well, there are some absolutely extraordinarily self-regarding broadcasters who haven't brought an iota of the entertainment and comfort and companionship that Steve Wright brought to listeners. And some of these pillocks are still out and about doing their thing. And I suppose it comforts me to know that they won't be missed in the same way as him. So, you know, get over yourselves.
Starting point is 00:03:58 They know who they are. Or do they? Why don't you tell them? Perhaps I should. Perhaps I should. Perhaps I should. I probably have. Yes, you probably have. Anyway, he will be much missed on air. And, you know, lots of us were just genuinely,
Starting point is 00:04:16 genuinely really, really sad that he had died because 69 is no age at all. Wasted your good years is perhaps where we'll start with your lovely email. Such a sad story. And this is about our email yesterday from our correspondent. Would you like to put just into a couple of sentences what the problem was? Well, she was a woman approaching 40 who'd been having an affair with a married man for five years. I mean, it is an old story. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt terribly.
Starting point is 00:04:46 She is clearly in a great deal of pain about it. She realises he's made the usual promises. He's going to leave his wife. They don't get on. And guess what? He hasn't. And we have no idea whether or not they get on or whether his wife knows.
Starting point is 00:05:00 I mean, they have a relationship. There have clearly been some good times. But she's not allowed to be seen with him in public. It all just seemed so clandestine. And kind of the bottle of their relationship was very much half full, I think. And she's realised that, you know, he's not going to leave the wife, is he? But she is going to be upset. So what should she do?
Starting point is 00:05:23 That was the gist of it. That is the gist of it absolutely and the gist of all of the emails that we've received is just go your own way cut yourself adrift from him and your best years actually may not just have passed you by they may be just ahead of you absolutely so there's this fantastic quote from Catherine Ryan, which is mentioned in an email from Tabitha, who says, just a thought for the listener who wrote in about their relationship with a man who's married. As Catherine Ryan always says, what's worse than spending five years with the wrong man is spending five years and one day with them. And this one is a little bit more verbose but says a lot actually and we're going to keep you anonymous as you say very few people in my life know the full story of my recent separation
Starting point is 00:06:13 I've just listened to the email from your listener as somebody who's going through a divorce from a husband who was serious serially unfaithful at first I thought well this is what you deserve for having an affair whilst there is a part of me that will always think that, I was surprised to find myself feeling very sad for the correspondent. We are the same age and whilst our roots may have been different, we find ourselves in the same place, 40 and wondering if we wasted our best years on a man who didn't deserve it. I want to tell her what my best friends have told me, that the best is yet to come. At first I couldn't see it in the devastation of my marriage coming to an end, but now I can, and I've come through the worst of it.
Starting point is 00:06:51 I'm still young, but I'm now also much stronger. My husband wasn't worthy of me, and this man isn't worthy of you. If a man lies and cheats and makes you feel that you need to hide in the shadows and bow to his feelings, he doesn't deserve you. Don't waste any more time on him. So that's kind of from the other side, actually. you feel that you need to hide in the shadows and bow to his feelings he doesn't deserve you don't waste any more time on him so that's kind of from the other side actually it's a very good sisterly email and uh and also i think it's really worth acknowledging that uh you know whoever you are in the relationship when you are splitting up that fear of what's going to come next can just feel so overwhelming.
Starting point is 00:07:27 But so many people tell the story of what happens next being better. So the decision just comes to be meaningful and right. And you don't know that that's going to happen. But I would say just, you know, do it with a bit of hope in your heart. Well, yes. Although actually, you know, this phrase best years,
Starting point is 00:07:46 is it what people really mean, your potential for reproduction? Well, I think reading between the lines of our correspondent, that's exactly what she was saying. And that's just a biological fact. And it's bloody cruel. But it is fact. And that has got to be part of this decision making hasn't it another listener says I too lost my so-called best years to a man married 14 years older eventually finding the
Starting point is 00:08:14 strength to leave him after seven years of promises and hints of a better future that looking back I wanted to believe more than actually believing them to be realistic if you see what I mean it almost broke me thinking there must be something wrong with me, that no matter how unhappy he claimed to be, I didn't seem to be a better alternative for him. It's 10 years on now and I'm in a wonderful relationship with a six years younger man who adores me and who can offer me the future I want and deserve. I have left it too late to have children and whilst in general I don't regret that, I do sometimes find myself wishing I could have met my partner earlier and had that experience with him. Please tell your correspondent, listen to the track by Taylor
Starting point is 00:08:57 Swift called Illicit Affairs. It completely stopped me the first time I heard it and it sums up the situation perfectly. It has the lyric, that's the thing about illicit affairs, they tell the truth one single time, but they lie, they lie, they lie a million little times. It's a beautiful song. It's on folklore, isn't it?
Starting point is 00:09:17 I can't actually call it mine. And it's got a very, very clever lyric as well about illicit affairs. They start in parking lots and they end in despair. It is a is a very good song right i must go back and listen to folklore i did actually went to a gig the other night what taylor swift get that quiet no um noah khan noah khan he's number one in the charts no he is you know noah uh well he's a number one in the album chart i must i need to get this right um he he was the subject, he's number one in the album chart. I need to get this right. He was the subject of a quite flattering portrait
Starting point is 00:09:49 in The Guardian yesterday, so they think he's worth writing about. And he's a rather, a kind of melancholic balladeer, I would say. But he packed out Wembley Arena. The Guardian wrote a view about him. It's hard to believe. A melancholic balladeer, yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:03 And he's probably, he was very funny. I mean, I didn't know anything about him. And I was absolutely an emergency call-up to this gig because of various reasons. Nobody could go with my daughter, so it was me or bust. So I went, and I was so glad I went. Apart from the other thing, I haven't been to a proper gig since Cliff. Sit down or stand up?
Starting point is 00:10:23 Well, it was sit down at the arena, but then everybody stood up in the seats and I actually realised I was going to have to sit because obviously I couldn't stay sitting. I couldn't stay sitting. I was the only person there who was sitting down. But honestly, it was brilliant. His song, what is it,
Starting point is 00:10:40 From My Experience or Past Experience? That's very good. But he's altogether very good. But he is somewhat brooding and he's had various struggles with mental health and he attracted a crowd, I would say, were the kind of person I'd been myself in my sort of 20s. He's somewhat down about life and what it might or might not offer me. But some super tunes super tunes a very good band lovely yes well that sounds like a top night out well it well it kind of was because i
Starting point is 00:11:11 worked out we hadn't been my daughter and i hadn't been to wembley arena since i took her to see the tweenies god they were good live my god do you want i haven't been to Wembley since I saw Rod Stewart. We all have our little secrets. That was such a long time ago. Did you stand up for that? Oh, yes, all the way through, obviously. But the sitting down, standing up thing is quite funny because, you know, increasingly,
Starting point is 00:11:38 and I know that you do the same thing, we go and see kind of heritage bands, don't we? So we go and see bands who absolutely we would have stood up for first time round. But you walk in and you just think, oh, thank God everyone's sitting down. And then it does. It will get to, you know, a couple of songs before the encore
Starting point is 00:11:54 when the beat is a little bit lively and everybody in the frisky dates, they're going to stand up. And if I'm going to be very honest, and I know that's a phrase that annoys some of our listeners, but I wish that everybody would just stay sitting down until the end i can't see anything jane but we don't need to worry because when we are in the i know it's going to be the home for the infirm but impartial and now you've renamed it the home for i can't remember the infirm but ready to listen to the other side no even if it's from a right-wing perspective. I think it's the infirm but solvent. OK.
Starting point is 00:12:27 The infirm but solvent. Because we are the age we are, we'll just be able to get avatars of all our favourite bands just coming. That's so true. And they can just jiggle around in the living room, can't they? And I won't mind at all. Brilliant. And also, I do find it, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:44 I just find it difficult seeing bands where you know that somebody's died. It's just so sad. And it doesn't matter who replaces them and how fantastic they are. You're just seeing a constant memory of somebody who's gone. And actually, I was really lucky to see Fleetwood Mac when all of them were on stage together. And the thought now, it's something like that, isn't it? Where you just think it just could not possibly, possibly be anything other than a sad night out, actually,
Starting point is 00:13:12 to know who's no longer there. Well, what about, I'm trying to think of a band that we might, Shawoddy Woddy would probably be appropriate to our age group when we're in that home. Gosh. There are a lot of Shawoddy Woddy, and I don't know how many of them have... How many of them are no longer under the moon of love?
Starting point is 00:13:28 ...left this mortal coil in their fabulous drape coats. Was it drape coats? Yes. They were kind of three-quarter length. That's right, yeah. Numbers, weren't they? The lead singer was incredibly attractive. Did you?
Starting point is 00:13:40 Did you think so? I just remember him as having a heavy fringed mullet. Exactly. Okay. Fwoop, fwoop, fwoop, fwoop, f a heavy fringed mullet. Exactly. Okay, off you go. Anyway, right. Slips, girdles and vests. Yes. Shall we get back on track with slips, girdles and vests? Well, can I just mention Sarah in Wanstead,
Starting point is 00:13:56 a woman after my own heart. I always tell my girls to have a packet of tissues on them in case there's no toilet paper when they're out. And can I just say sarah that's exactly my advice as well uh always keep a white loaf in the freezer and always have a packet of tissues in your bag because drip drying doesn't work for anyone no and then you find yourself scrabbling around thinking i could use the receipt but will i then be able to give it to my accountant for my tax purposes later the answer is no i've never done that depends on
Starting point is 00:14:25 your account okay slips girdles and vests dear jane and phoebe i was in hysterics when i heard your comment no one still wears a slip there remains your comment and i thought it was highly controversial there remains a generation of windrush women my 80 plus mother is one of them who still insists on wearing a slip she returned to the caribbean 20 years ago with her m&s full and half slips she wears them in 30 plus degree temperatures when venturing out i recently suggested she dispose of them and her girdles but she was adamant that she needs them 40 years in the uk is fully embedded and continues to influence her underwear draw. That comes in from Jennifer. And, I mean, I think we should apologise.
Starting point is 00:15:08 You know, the more we learn about what our pompous notion of empire has dictated in other people's lives, the more we should be deeply ashamed. And we've tried to export our version of democracy, commerce, all kinds of things, hierarchy, and now girdles and slips. Yeah, but exporting Marks & Spencercers is all right, isn't it? A love of Marks & Spencers underwear.
Starting point is 00:15:29 I think we are all on board with that one. Maybe. Maybe that's the thing that slips in. And obviously, Jennifer's mum just loves the comfort and there's a certain dignity to wearing a slip, I think. Riz, you've just got a little bit more going on down there. Yeah, you see, I would think it's exactly the opposite. I just find it really irritating to have an extra layer
Starting point is 00:15:50 of something that could ride up or fall down or get caught up or whatever. Falling down is funny, isn't it? I do occasionally now, I never used to think about this, I do worry about things falling down, just falling off. If I wear a skirt, what will happen if it falls off the answer is unfortunately nothing will happen i'll just i think it's a little bit of wish fulfillment going on there jane garvey and someone who doesn't want to have their name mentioned
Starting point is 00:16:17 because she doesn't want to be associated with this podcast and doesn't want anyone she knows to know that she listens it's quite offensive isn't isn't it? It says, just to say, I still wear a slip. I'm in my early 40s, and that is because of static. Who wants their dress slowly crawling up their tights while they walk to the tube? Obviously, this is less of an issue if you have line skirts, but slips allow you to wear a less spendy garment without risking static indecency.
Starting point is 00:16:44 It's also nice and warm in winter actually you know our correspondent anonymous is correct there very few skirts these days are lined yes i don't i don't like that it's disgusting no uh so quite often i find that i just don't wear tights to avoid that ride up thing um but then it's a little bit chilly on tube and also it means that invariably when you find yourself in an office setting or whatever and you cross your legs, you're just exposing what is now an ugly knee, Jane.
Starting point is 00:17:18 No, I'm sure it's not. Ugly knee. No, it is. It's characterful. No, no, my knees are terrible. They're getting worse with age. Dear. Nappy parcel satisfaction.
Starting point is 00:17:27 I didn't really understand this, but maybe this was something that you talked about when you were having your affair with Jane. Probably. Just listen to the Valentine's Day episode in which Izzy said she loves wrapping a nappy into a parcel using the sticky tabs. Please could you pass on this fact about nappies,
Starting point is 00:17:41 which people rarely seem to know. If you look carefully at the back of the nappy, you'll find there's a little webbing envelope that's tacked down until you're ready to use it, into which you're supposed to tuck the nappy after folding. It makes a satisfyingly small package and keeps everything neat and tidy. I didn't know that. Is that on all nappies or just the more expensive branded ones?
Starting point is 00:18:01 I don't know because in, you know, what would have been, God, I mean, for kind of five years of using nappies, not me, my children, I never found that or noticed that. No, I probably just wasn't doing it properly. It wouldn't surprise me. That is, that's an insight. Thank you. It is. And do you know what? It's one of many things that when you find yourself with a baby,
Starting point is 00:18:21 I mean, the first time I changed a nappy, I just had no idea. And what's the, is it meconium? The very, very sticky first poo they do. So that can be the first time that you try and put a nappy on a baby. It's quite a welcome, isn't it? It's like absolutely in at the deep end, isn't it? One way of putting it. God.
Starting point is 00:18:43 Yes, meconium memories. Anne says, I am sorry to be a few days behind. Come on, Anne. Honestly. I mean, yes, but apology accepted on this occasion. I'm a former nun, says Anne, and I've got no idea what reformer Pilates is.
Starting point is 00:19:02 Please enlighten. I imagine it would be quite tricky to perform in full habit and wimple. I now work in a prison. Inappropriate rummaging is quite common. And Anne says she enjoyed... This is something else we talked about, I think, maybe. No, I think you were here. Anne enjoyed the interview with James Timpson.
Starting point is 00:19:18 This is the guy who's the boss of Timpson's and Timpson's, of course. No, I wasn't here for that. No, I know, but he hires a lot of former prisoners. So we did talk about that in the interview. And obviously Anne is in a prison, so she will be familiar with that project, that idea, and also with inappropriate rummaging, which is men who just spend a lot of time
Starting point is 00:19:37 with their hands down their pants in public. It's a bit odd, isn't it? Yeah, it's very odd. You haven't explained Reformer Pilates. It's the point of our email. Pilates is done on the reformer machine. And if you just Google reformer machine, you'll see that there are endless possibilities with it. Pilates is, and I've said this before, I'll say it again, it's exercise for those of us who are just not that interested in gym work. but Pilates offers you a kind of way in that I've been able to stick to and I've never ever
Starting point is 00:20:06 stuck to any kind of exercise regime before but it works for me. Do you think it works because it's highly efficient because the whole point of the reformer machine is you've got a resistance workout going on haven't you? So when you're pushing
Starting point is 00:20:22 and extending you've actually got to pull back and so you're doing both muscle groups at the same time. Well I always start it's kind of two for one isn't it?
Starting point is 00:20:30 Yeah it kind of is. It's half and half in my sessions. I do the legs first or I do the other half first. Do you know what the other half is called? I think it's called
Starting point is 00:20:40 just non-legs. The top. We're back to carving in glovers, tops and bottoms. I still think that is a winner. I don't know why you were so resistant to that. It's as if you don't want to work with me forever. Right, can I just tell you off here about Cambridge? Oh, yeah, well, this lady says she doesn't want it read out.
Starting point is 00:21:00 I'm just going to read a tiny bit out just to give you an opportunity. Well, I just thought it was read a tiny bit out just to give you an opportunity well I just thought it was actually a very good point so it's just about that stereotype image that we have perhaps of Oxford and Cambridge as being just a place of privilege
Starting point is 00:21:17 it's constantly enhanced whenever you see Cambridge depicted in films or whatever it lies at the heart of Saltburn, for example. But actually the facts just tell a different story. And our correspondent just wanted to speak up for the many state school kids who now go to Oxford and Cambridge. And I do think the point is a good one,
Starting point is 00:21:37 that if you continually reinforce the idea that there's a horrible air of privilege about places, then of course people listening who aren't privileged are going to think, I don't want to come up against that. And I just think it's quite a good point to make. That is a good point. I have to say, my beef with the whole Oxbridge establishment is that establishment thing.
Starting point is 00:21:58 And I'm glad it's changing, and it definitely is changing. But we are, as a country country still governed by oxbridge privileged people and i suspect that the vast majority didn't go to state school though hopefully within the next 10 15 20 years that will definitely change and but also entertainment i'm sorry there are far too many cambridge footlights graduates still dominating the entertainment sphere? Well, they are, but I'm going to go a little bit down with the kids here and say that that is mainstream media. Because actually, if you look at TikTok and if you look at YouTube...
Starting point is 00:22:35 Oh, you know, I'm not talking about young people coming up. But if you look at all of the new media, that kind of matrix of privilege just doesn't exist so that will come to the surface and i hope i really hope it does right okay so we're going to talk at 1.5 because we've got to get out of the studio because matt chorley is here so john taro is an absolutely fantastic bloke he's been presenting masterchef for 456 years but he's entertained us as well on television screens doing lots of different things and he's currently doing a tour around australia with his wife lisa faulkner and it's very entertaining they go mostly to Western Australia and I asked
Starting point is 00:23:07 him something here we go I left Australia when I was 25 years old I'd done a little bit of it not a huge amount of it and when I say that I mean if you look at the size of Australia it's quite big and so I'd been across to Western Australia once before I mainly on the east coast so I grew up in Melbourne sometime in Sydney and then lived in Sydney until I was 25. And then I came across and then into the UK. Was this TV show genuinely an opportunity to kind of do the road trip
Starting point is 00:23:36 that you hadn't done as a younger man? I think an amazing opportunity, a fortuitous opportunity to actually see a part of Australia that I didn't know a huge amount about. I mean, Perth, the capital of Western Australia, as I say, I've been to. Fremantle, I've been to. But as far as the rest of it's concerned, I'd never really seen very much of it. And I think for me, there was this amazing world of discovery that made me understand even more that Australia's got so much to offer.
Starting point is 00:24:05 And it's so diverse in what it is. It's so incredible in what it is. It's got amazing coastline. It's even got forests. And I always thought Australia was full of bush, but it's got these amazing forests as well. So, yeah, I mean, I suppose also doing the trip, because I did the trip with Lisa, my wife, in a car, electric car.
Starting point is 00:24:23 We poodled around, had a nice time and did it quite calmly actually, rather than bouncing around really fast from one place to another. So one of the things that really shines through in the series is how well you get on with your wife. And I know that may sound like a kind of facetious thing to say, but actually a lot of the time it's like the cameras aren't really there. Was there somebody actually with you all of the time it's like the cameras aren't really there was there somebody actually with you all of the time was some of it just filmed without anybody in the car with you there was never anybody in the car with me and lisa it was all done through the guy sound guy put his sound pack in the back uh that we'd have a gopro on or a couple of gopros on and we just went for it and
Starting point is 00:24:59 that was it and that was just us genuinely going along the road and you know there's little bits where i might pull something out of the glove box. I'd put something in the morning for that reason. There's a sense of engagement that there's bits of Australia I knew, I suppose, and there's bits of Australia I didn't, but there had to be a way of joining that up together. So there was the Aussie in me on discovery, but there were the bits that I knew. So things like my twisties here, which know a big Australian thing for me growing up was um those sort of things I wanted Lisa to understand there's one stage where she wasn't very thankful for it but I I bought out um a salad sandwich on the Swan River we went for this amazing
Starting point is 00:25:38 um cruise on the Swan River with Dave who was was our captain, who was British, but now settled in just outside Perth. And he sold a powered boat and we had a salad sandwich, which is again, a very iconic Australian thing. So no, always very natural. We were allowed to do what we want. We were told we were going somewhere. We weren't scripted. And I think that's the joy of it. But thank you very much. I think we do get on pretty well yeah you have my blessing john and you're gonna you're gonna have to explain twisties uh because we're on the radio i can see your twisties not everybody else can what is a twisty a twisty they come either in a yellow packet or a a green packet they have a red squiggle in the middle of them and they they're very similar to a knickknack but they're not like a knickknack and they're sort of like a twisted thing and as i say that one is cheese flavored one is chicken flavored and when i was a kid at school
Starting point is 00:26:28 if we wanted to be able to buy uh things we weren't supposed to buy without our money that we had for the tuck shop you'll be able to afford a bread roll and a pack of twisties and you put your twisties inside the bread roll that was your lunch and that would allow you to buy your contraband um which of course we wouldn't talk about on radio would we no of course not no clean living gentleman like yourself and so australian food john i mean if you were going to be asked to cook a kind of you know a three course national celebration meal for somebody what what is that what what sums up australian food wow that's quite hard i think i'd have to bounce around from coast into it sort of you know almost land and sea i definitely have to pick up something i suppose with the whole thing to do with western australia they'd have to be uh amongst it all
Starting point is 00:27:18 truffles and marron so truffles we know uh you know everybody thinks about europe but western australia is now one of the biggest growers of truffles in the whole world i would have to have that with marrons which are like a freshwater lobster which have got really really beautiful and meaty i think that would be go with that there'd have to be a really lovely crisp glass of chardonnay with that because i think that's always very very australian i would then probably have to go and do something like maybe beef with an oyster sauce so taking that mixture of oysters with from the coast in with the beef as well and then maybe introducing to that maybe some lots and lots of asian herbs because there's so many people have moved out of asia into australia
Starting point is 00:27:56 that this is this incredible people growing great things in farms and then as far as and that would probably have to have a big glass of australian Shiraz with it and then i think for dessert i would probably go for a good old-fashioned pavlova with things like mangoes and passion fruit and pineapple and the flavors of the tropics and sunshine because that to me is what it's all about and probably with that maybe something like a a glass of sparkling something i I don't know what. And then to finish off, a really good cup of coffee because Australia is just full of the most amazing coffee shops. And, you know, WA has no shortage of great coffee. People roasting their own coffees and doing great coffee.
Starting point is 00:28:38 So there you are. That, for me, is really what it's all about. Yeah. for me is really what it's all about. Yeah. Is Australia, do you know, experiencing the same kind of health problems that we are often because of bad food choices? So our obesity crisis in the UK is quite phenomenal, actually. It is really, really bad. What's Australia done differently, if it has done something differently? Look, I don't know. I'm not a scientist, and nor am I a doctor. All I know is that in this great world that we live in, in this free world we live in, and we all do live in a very, very free world, is we have a choice. And all the people that we
Starting point is 00:29:15 met, their choice was to wake up in the morning and go for a surf, then come back and then actually do their job. And what they did in the way in which they lived their lifestyle was the way in which they lived their lifestyle i i didn't meet anybody from my point of view who whoever thought oh well no i'll just go down the shop and buy myself a frozen pizza because the food is so abundant and it's so available but i think that's probably one of our our great uh disadvantages is that food is so available and it can be sometimes what I would call cheap. And I don't like the word cheap because I don't think food should be cheap. I think it should be inexpensive. But one of the things that we all know is people don't cook at home.
Starting point is 00:29:58 And I can do as a proud Aussie, as somebody who loved Western Australia and doing this show for ITV, was that I can come back and say, there is a world out there. Go and have a look at it. But yeah, how things are going to change over the next two decades, who knows? I don't know. One of your main restaurants at the centre of a meat trade, isn't it? And it definitely has a meat
Starting point is 00:30:25 menu well i think thankfully and i'm no longer involved in smith's um what's very interesting for me fascinating for me about this and the conversation talking about now is that i saw yesterday that pret a manger have just closed their last vegetarian pret a manger their their green pret veggie has been closed because the demand has changed so much people are flexitarian i understand that i the way in which people consume food is not for me to dictate to them what i do say and like with the whole thing to do with the show that i've just done with lisa is go for the the absolute best and do small amounts of it you know it it's really interesting i i live with with lisa and you know what she eats the amount she eats is not a huge amount she's quite a lot
Starting point is 00:31:12 of my food she likes to eat come and nick stuff off my plate um but you know it's it's it's really interesting to see how that changes now i you know i do master chef i can't tell anybody what not to cook and what to cook. I work in a land where there's butter, there's salt, there's meat, there's fish, there's all these things. But I'm very, very careful about what I do eat. I do cycle to and from work as much as I possibly can. I have a lifestyle and I would like to live a long and happy life. And one of those things about doing that is I get a chance, you know, touch wood to go and visit great places like, you know, the southwest coast of Western Australia and walk on the beach barefooted and, you know, go and meet great people who are talking about coastlines and food and all sorts of stuff. Did you enjoy your journey around Australia so much
Starting point is 00:32:05 that we might lose you back to your home nation? I think at this stage in my life, I've got grown-up children and my family here. I've been here quite a long time. And so does Lisa. And we've all got different family. I think that won't necessarily happen. I wouldn't be surprised if we spend a bit of time in Australia, though.
Starting point is 00:32:26 I mean, Lisa loved WA. I mean, absolutely loved it and said to me when she said, if there's one place in the world I could live, it's here. The excitement on her face when she walked down the main street of Margaret River and bought herself a flannel, which is a flannelette jacket from this surf shop, just the joy on her face and then going into a bakery and then whilst she's in the bakery i went to her and got some charcuterie and some olives it's just it was just a really really lovely way to be yeah really lovely she's certainly a very
Starting point is 00:32:56 very dedicated shopper i admired her contribution to the retail economy of western australia enormously that's that's the the great thing about her enthusiasm i think and and what it does go to ambition to the retail economy of Western Australia enormously. That's the great thing about her enthusiasm, I think. And what it does go to show you is the variety of what there is around those parts of the world. And, you know, you can do anything you want. It's up to you. I think one of the things and the lessons I think you can learn from this whole journey is it's worth discovering. It's worth jumping in a car it's worth not just doing the same thing as everybody else it's worthwhile finding out these little places like alberta's in bustleton or mickey's in in margaret river or glenartley road you know and finding these places and actually going to them and going i can drive there discover these places, and see things along the way. And when you see something, just stop and look.
Starting point is 00:33:47 And if you see a kangaroo, do see it. Get up early in the morning and listen to the kookaburras. Get up early in the morning and walk along the beach. That was Fee's highly entertaining interview with John Tarot, but I can't talk as quickly as her. Thank you very much for listening. Goodbye. episode of Off Air with Jane Garvey and Fee Glover. Our Times Radio producer is Rosie Cutler and the podcast executive producer is Henry Tribe. And don't forget, there is even more of us every
Starting point is 00:34:30 afternoon on Times Radio. It's Monday to Thursday, three till five. You can pop us on when you're pottering around the house or heading out in the car on the school run or running a bank. Thank you for joining us and we hope you can join us again on Off Air very soon. Don't be so silly. Money to bank. I know ladies don't get behind us.

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