Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 20: Rose McGowan

Episode Date: April 17, 2019

In the final episode of the series, Rose McGowan – actor, activist, author and model – orders her dream meal. And, when it comes to food, she has superpowers…Recorded and edited by Ben Williams for Plosive Productions.Artwork by Paul Gilbey (photography) and Amy Browne (illustrations)Rose McGowan's book 'Brave' is available now. Buy it here.Ed Gamble records his special at the Leicester Square Theatre on 12 May. See the Leicester Square Theatre website for details.James Acaster is on tour. See his website for full details.James’s TV show ‘Hypothetical’ is on Dave, Wednesdays, 10pm.Watch Ed and James's YouTube series 'Just Puddings'. Watch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, listeners of the Off Menu podcast. It is Ed Gamble here from the Off Menu podcast. I have a very exciting announcement. I have written my first ever book. I am absolutely over the moon to announce this. I'm very, very proud of it. Of course, what else could I write a book about? But food. My book is all about food. My life in food. How greedy I am. What a greedy little boy I was. What a greedy adult I am. I think it's very funny. I'm very proud of it. The book is called Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy. And it's coming out this October, but it is available to pre-order now, wherever you pre-order books from. And if you like my signature, I've done some signed copies,

which are exclusively available from Waterstones. But go and pre-order your copy of Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy now. Please? Put us on a medium heat for one hour approximately. You got yourself a hot podcast. Hello, Ed Gamble. Welcome. My name is James A. Caster. This is the Off Menu podcast. Sorry, I should explain. We're sort of towards the end of the day now. And me and James have had one and a half cans of beer.

We're celebrated. We've done three podcasts in one day. They've all been fantastic. You'll be able to hear them all very soon. And now we're doing these. Well, this is one of them, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. This is one of them. Don't be fair. Yeah. This is the Off Menu podcast where we talk to a special guest and get them to describe their dream meal.

Yes. We're going to ask them what they're, but the best ever starter main course, dessert, side dish and drink are that they've ever had. And today's guest is... It's Rose McGowan, James. It's Rose McGowan. Needs no introduction. Rose McGowan is an actress, activist, author. She just had her new book come out called Brave, for example. Right. Get that book. It's unbelievable that we've managed to get Rose on the podcast. Yep. No beating about it. I'm sure no one who subscribes to this podcast ever expected us to land this.

But there we are. Rose McGowan is on the podcast. It's very exciting. Even though we've got Rose McGowan on the podcast, let me tell you, if Rose McGowan mentions the secret ingredient, I will have no qualms in chucking her out of the restaurant. No, you're good like that. It's the same treatment for all the guests. Absolutely. So the secret ingredient this week that Rose is not allowed to mention is... Foam.

Foam in all its forms. The scourge of fine dining restaurants. I noted a point in it. No point. I think it's just... I'm sure it takes a bit of skill to make it. I bet it saves money as well. I bet it saves money because if you have an intense sauce, you need more flavour to pack it in there. But if you put it in a foam, it's probably like an eighth of the ingredients.

That's my conspiracy theory. They're playing us for fools and we all know it. So if Rose McGowan says foam, she's out. Bye-bye, Rose. Apologies. Thank you so much for coming in, but you're out. You've said foam. Bye-bye. And with that in mind, oh, I think that's her at the door right now. Rose McGowan.

Welcome to the dream restaurant, Rose. Hello. Hello. Thank you so much for... Oh, here he is. Welcome, Rose McGowan. To the restaurant. Good to see you. Good to see you. Do you like the look of the place? The look of the place is fantastic.

You have a lot of popchips and I hear they're sponsoring you, so I thought I should mention them. You're doing a very good job, but you mentioned them much more than we have already. Yeah, and when they got into the sponsorship deal, they had no idea you would be plugging them, so I think they'll be absolutely over them. Popchips, popchips, popchips. There. I think we need more money now.

I can get you more money, I'm sure of it. Now, you were saying beforehand that you... Is it fair to say you hate food? Is that right? I don't know if I hate food. I hate the intrusion of food. I find it to be a bit of a bother. I like nice food, of course, but I don't go out of my way for it. If it happens, that's nice. If it doesn't, then I'll eat just to survive.

Yeah. If I could take a pill and not deal with it, that would be fine, too. Oh, so you're a pill person. No, I'm not a pill person, but it's a one-to-one benefit. No, we weren't accusing you of being a pill person in general. You're just saying there are people. If there were an alternative, yeah. Yeah, people who would have the food pill.

I think everyone on the planet could follow the two categories. People who would take the food pill are people who would want to keep eating food. Right. I fall under the pill category. Yeah. But don't take that quote out of context any more now. No, please don't. Rose is not saying... I am not a pill popper. It's not my channel.

And really, a pill person, that's not... I'm from California. We like things that make us eat. That give us some munchies, so to speak. Yeah, exactly. Because you were saying that you would like to do your own TV show, where you go to gourmet restaurants, is that right? I kind of have this fantasy of doing a show where fancy chefs try to force me to eat their food, and I go to McDonald's or Taco Bell afterwards.

You don't have Taco Bell in England, which is... We do now. There's a very new addition. Where? I think there's one quite near here. There's definitely one in Hammersmith. There's one in Fulham Broadway. A Taco Bell? Yeah, it's Taco Bell.

My life has changed. Some London Taco Bells. All right, London, let's go. Do you have a staple on the menu, unless you're going to mention it later on? No, it's a bean and cheese burrito with no onions, but add sour cream and one hardshell taco with a Pepsi. That is the... It's very specific.

The speed that I want to hear a fast food order said that. Absolutely. It's like, I know exactly what I want. I've said it a million times before. I have. That's sort of the spirit of this podcast as well. It's not really about fancy food. It's about knowing what you'd like.

I like that, because fancy food, it just eludes me. Especially if I get taken, and this sounds very posh, but if I do get taken to a Michelin-starred restaurant, it always ends up with me scavenging for food afterwards. Some starving stuff. You just hand come in for some KFC or something. No, I don't do KFC. No.

That one's no. But I will just do food that if I'm really hungry, I'll eat whatever, just to get it over with. Right. I think that's a great idea for a TV show, because chefs like Gourmet chefs are normally... They're used to being lauded and appreciated by everyone. Yeah, I would not probably do that.

I'd be like, no, there's smoke coming off of my food, for God's sake. So that's what you don't enjoy, the theater of food sometimes. If they do like... They put like foams and smokes on it and things like that, you're not into it, you're not into it. It just means I won't like it. I know it. I grew up in Tuscany, and that food kind of spoiled me for...

And then I got sent to America in the late 80s, and that was a shock to my food system and others, parts of my system, that I never quite got over. And what was the big difference there? In Tuscany, what were you having to eat compared to what you then had to eat at the moment? Oh, dear God. Well, Tuscany is like a penne arrabbiata

or like the penne with the spicy tomato sauce or like just as simple. The tomatoes in Tuscany are better than tomatoes anywhere else pretty much. So anything with tomatoes, just, you know, buffalo mozzarella with some lovely sliced tomato. They're balsamic and olive oil. You really can't beat it.

And then I got sent to America and it was orange cheese, literally called American cheese, which kind of says it all. Yeah, that's very plasticky and melt. It's just like, yeah, you get gluey, I'd say. Gluey. And I actually wrote that in my book, Brave. That's out right now. And I was like, dear America, why is your cheese orange?

But seriously, like, when did cheese become actually orange? Yeah, who decided that? Because that's not. No, that's some marketing genius. Appeals to you as a kid. Because like, yeah, when I was a kid, definitely the orange cheese looked tastier. Because we have Red Leicester here, right?

Yeah. Which is like orange. I think you can find good Red Leicesters, but yeah, it's not. It's not a natural color. It's not a naturally current color. No, not at all. The jump from actual Italian food to Italian American food must have been pretty difficult. Oh, God, I also write about this in my book.

The first time I saw, you know, pasta in America, I got very excited. And it turned out to be one congealed blob on the plate that I lifted with a fork all at once. And there was water underneath it. And I started crying because I knew my life was never going to be the same. Add into the water, your tears.

My tears flowed into the pasta water. And it didn't make it any better. Yeah. A lot of that was the chef's tears anyway. He'd come from Italy and he was. Probably. He's like, forget it. We're done. What have I become?

Can we start you with some water? Would you like still or sparkling? Still. Always still? Always still. Why is this? Because the bubbles pop my stomach out in a very strange way.

I don't, apparently they settle other people's stomachs, but they don't do that to me. I just get like a four month pregnancy look. Just super chic. And what one always wants to look like, of course. So I avoid bubbles. And now you know. Exclusive we've got.

Inexclusive. Bubbles make your stomach pop. I think I understand that. I'm the same in sparkling water. It makes me feel a bit bloated before a meal. You don't want to, you want to feel sort of fresh and empty before a lovely big meal, I think. Yes. Fresh and empty.

Fresh and empty. The story of my life. That actually could have been your book type. Fresh and empty. You've already got me brave. It's my next book title. Fresh and empty. You heard it here first, folks.

So does that mean you steer clear of sodas across the board? No, if I drink a Coca-Cola, I can't drink it with a straw, though, because that seems to make my stomach pop out. But if I do it without a straw, I seem to manage it. Now you know even more about my stomach situation. Very interesting. So straws of the actual, which is good news that they're trying to get rid of straws anyway, right?

Yeah, that's good news for me. And good news for the planet. Yeah. In that order, though. In that order. Yeah, definitely. Which is like, yeah, whoever, even the person who cares about the environment,

you know, more than anyone else, probably would still put things in that order. Yeah, I think so. Themselves first. Yeah, I think so. Save yourselves, man. Yeah. Like, Papa Dom's on bread.

Papa Dom's on bread, Rose. Papa Dom's on bread. Papa Dom? Very good answer. You're a fan of Papa Dom's. I do like Papa Dom. I like non-better, but you didn't offer me non. You said bread.

Well, non falls under bread. It does fall under bread, but it's a specific kind of bread. So I was imagining either Papa Dom or like a nice crusty sourdough. Right, yeah. OK. Well, if we told you you can have any bread. I would do butter non.

In the world or any Papa Dom you've ever had. Oh, but bread. So you would still go for the bread? Yeah. You would go for the bread. Now that I know that I have a wide open bread range. Yeah. Yeah.

Now I can just imagine instead of cows on a range, I just see bread everywhere. Or do you see them like, yeah. Walking around. Yeah, on the field. All the different types of bread all in the same field. All in the same free range bread. How are they all behaving?

How's the sourdough? What's a sourdough loaf up to? Crusty and sour and in a bad mood all the time. Just walking around in a bad mood. Just parking with a pinched expression on their face. Oh, but look over on the hill. There's some brioche. Oh, hello, brioche.

How's that behaving? It's just laying there taking in the sun. Yeah. Of course it is. Getting nice and golden. Yeah. Oh, yes. Absolutely.

Of course it would. Oh, but if you look over there, you've got some. What kind of bread could you have? Help me out here. Well, the naan's got to come in at some point. What's a naan bread doing? This naan, yeah, this naan bread. The naan bread is just puffy and happy

and just running all over the land, I think. It would be a bit more, yeah, running around. Are you going to have to go and wrangle it in? I'm going to wrangle with my lasso. I'm going to, it's going to be like the Wild West, except for with bread. I'm going to use a pasta noodle as a lasso. Perfect.

Ideal. This is the first time I've ever thought we could do a whole podcast about bread. Yeah, this feels like it's a whole world, we have a whole universe now. It's the whole universe we have. Another show for us. This one's for the cartoon network.

Yeah, bread farm. Bread farm, yeah, I like it. Good bread farm. So your bread that you would like is the naan bread, is that right? Yes, please, butter naan. Butter naan bread. Is there a certain place you've had it,

the best you've ever had? Probably in India, in Delhi. Oh, lovely. I would say, but I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was, you know, ground zero for naan, probably. Right, yeah. So, you know, best go to the source. Yeah.

And we can do that because he's a genie. Because he's a genie. I'll get it for you from wherever you're at, Cass. I'm a genie in a bottle. Had I rubbed me the right way. That was me singing for the listener. The listener might not know you. James, you really should sing more.

That was absolutely beautiful. Well, you know, my pleasure. Especially for a race. Just keep singing Christina Aguilera. Yeah, yeah, only Christina, obviously. Only Christina. Xtina. So we move on to your starter.

My starter, OK. My starter would be probably a lovely, I already mentioned it, but a buffalo mozzarella with some nice thinly sliced tomatoes and a lovely Italian olive oil with some balsamic. Really simple. And then we go to Tuscany for this. We're going to Tuscany for that. Not to America for that.

Not to America or no offense, England. I don't think that people of England would take offense to the quality of their mozzarella. Yeah. Although there are some, there's some places that make good buffalo mozzarella. There's Lava Stock Farm, I believe it's called, makes a lovely English buffalo mozzarella.

I've never had an English buffalo mozzarella. Well, I have from Lava Stock Farm. It's very, it's good. Delightful. It's nice. Although I wouldn't claim to be an expert on buffalo mozzarella. So where's Lava Stock Farm? Is Lava Stock Farm a farm where buffalo mozzarella

are running around? Yes, they're all running around. Buffalo cheese. Yeah. They're all in a big pond and they'll, they climb out when they're ready. They're next door to the bread farm. Yeah.

Like, like, laughing. Yeah, but to me, I think that's asking for trouble, isn't it? That is. Putting those farms neighbouring each other. A lot of strange sounds come from each direction. Yeah, yeah, if they get winds of what's over the fence. What's going to happen to them and how they're going to, did you guys see Sausage Party, the movie?

Yes, I did. So that's the animated film where they figure out they're going to be eating all the food. Yes, yes. And now I'm imagining all the bread screaming and running away from the bread slaughterhouse. Yeah, but only to run into the cheese farm. Only to run into the cheese farm?

No. I don't know if I'm going to explain to the cheeses, which, you know, I do like the thought of the Buffalo mozzarella climbing out of the pond. That sounds nice. That sounds nice. I saw it in a more romantic way. I was thinking that one of the mozzarella

falls in love with one of the breads over the fence. And then the end is they end up as a sandwich. So you're a romantic. I'm a romantic, you see. At the end, the mozzarella ends up in between the bread in a lovely sandwich and they're together forever more. Together forever more. Is that the same?

Until they're digested. Yeah, until they're digested and then that's the sequel. Which is something else entirely. Yeah, yeah. Which, which. No, we don't need to go there. And James can sing Christina Aguilera's dirty for the theme tune to that.

Dirty! Yeah, I'll sing it now. Go for it. All I know is dirty! That's all I know. Well, that was me singing it just for everyone. That was James again. Yeah, I sang that.

That's the best I've ever, and that's quite a fresh starter as well. Because see that Aguilera? For a while, she was like one of the judges on the voice. Wasn't she? I think she was, yeah. I didn't see it, but I... I got quite addicted to watching the blind auditions

on YouTube. Oh, are they gray? I just, you know, where you kind of want to watch stuff just to make yourself get emotional. And it works. Ah, it really works. Every time. Because most of those talent shows,

it's like, you know, if it's Britain's got talent, America's got talent or whatever, people go on and if they're not good, then the judge does the X. So the judge only presses a button if they don't like it, and it's all negative. Whereas the voice, they press the button if it's good, and if they like it, and then they turn around,

and the singer gets to see one of their favorite... No. So the voice comes out of something that usually doesn't match... Yeah, sometimes the idea is like, oh, the music industry's based on the way people look, and this is supposed to be to counteract that, and it's just all about the voice.

It's happy. But when they don't press the button, I'd say that's sadder than when they get voted off that Britain's got talent, because then they're just performing to the backs of chairs, and then it just finishes. It didn't even make it as far as the turnaround. Yeah.

Ouch. But then, they do turn around, and they're very nice to them. They don't turn around and say they were awful. They turn around and be like, here's what I liked about it, but here's what I think you could work on. And then they...

It's a good chat. Sounds like a positive experience, ish. Especially when one of them is Christina Aguilera, and sometimes she's got up and she's sung with them. She would sing a song with them out of nowhere, and then they don't expect that. Yeah. And she only knows that bit as well.

She only knows that bit as well. Yeah, and they're like... They're like, Christina, you write this. Can you write one more lyric? Yeah. Just one more word. No, no, I'll just sing dirty for the whole thing. But yeah, it's...

I mean, that's my... Do you have anything that you go to on YouTube to make you cry? I watch crime scene reenactments on YouTube. Nice. And Boston Terrier puppies. Those two things are really big in my household. I hope there's no crossover episodes.

No, not yet, but that would be really sad. Unless the Boston Terrier was like the detective. Yeah. Yeah, that would be all right. That would be awesome. I'd watch that. That's my impression. That's the impression of a Boston that works.

As a detective, yeah. If you don't know what a Boston Terrier is, they're black and white with googly eyes. Very cute. They have googly eyes. They have real googly eyes. I had one, and their eyes went in different directions and blinked at different speeds.

Amazing. They're quite epic. So one after the other, it would do closer to size and open. Well, it would also lay between you and someone else, and it would be like, is he looking at you? Yes, he's also looking at me. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, you're never losing affection from the dog. You're never alone.

Yeah. There's always one eye on you. It's like a scary painting. His name was Fester. Bless you. Perfect. The Addams family can't. But I actually named him because he always looked like

he was getting fired from a job or something. So it looked like he had a festering wound in his psyche. So it was more about that, but sure, Addams family. Yeah, sure. I think you can see why we thought Addams family, but I prefer your reason. Yeah, he had a festering wound in his psyche. I'm sorry. My dog has a festering wound in his psyche.

It's not your face. It's just how he looks. So I love the idea of a dog always looking like it's getting fired from a job. Oh, my God. It's like the pink slip of life was just coming at him every moment. I was like, I know you're happy and have a good life,

but you really don't look like it. So try to put a little jolly face on so people don't think I'm abusing you or something. Poor thing. Having that pet talk of your dog? Yeah. Every day. It's calling to its boss's office and just like,

come on, you haven't cracked any cases in weeks. You're the worst detective on the force. Step into my office. Why? Because you're fired. There you go. Yeah, you leave here with that festering wound in your psyche. It's looking all sad. Aw.

That's not a very cute dog. Festering the dog. Festering the dog. I've never heard you talk about having pet said. What would you like to hear? Have you ever had a pet? I had a cat called Bruno. Aw.

He was very sweet. What was it called? Was it a family cat or yours? It was a family cat when I, yeah, I lived at home. We had a cat called Bruno. He's called Bruno because we got him the same week that Frank Bruno won the heavyweight championship of the world.

Okay. So we called him Bruno. Because it was a big moment in Britain. Different reasons for naming pets. You're going for the positive. I'm going for the, you know, some Kafka-esque sort of thing. Yours is inspired by Kafka as well. Oh, yeah, of course.

Yeah. The sequels are massive. The box are redded in the ring. Yes. Yeah. Only the first page, unfortunately, because the gloves meant he couldn't turn. Yeah, gloves off.

Yeah. Very, very true. That's the curse of being a boxer, isn't it? Curse, you can't read. It's really hard to turn the page. You can't turn pages. Can't text. Can't text.

What else can I eat today if you're a boxer? I mean, most things I'd say. Most things. No, you can really only punch people. Yeah. No wonder that's the profession they went into. It works well for them. Yeah.

Kind of true. I'd say it's a violent sport, but what other choice do they have? Yeah, there's really none. They can't, there's nothing. You can't even hold a pencil. Yeah. That's why they just bump each other.

With their fists. Yes, at the start. Buffet mozzarella, your dish here. It does seem like it's such a simple dish. It is. I like about three to four ingredients, Max. Yeah. That's fair enough.

Because that has just been quality ingredients. Exactly. And that's kind of, that's one of the things I notice in London a lot. They put a lot of ingredients in one dish. I don't know. But in most places, really, they do, except for Italy, which sticks to the three to four rule.

Yeah. Because like, what's it, it's the Italian flag. Red, white, and green. And is that, that's what represented in a pizza. I mean, I don't know, the flag came first. That's the margarita pizza. Just so you know. I think they have a pizza flag.

Yeah. But the flag came first. The flag came first. Just checking. I don't know. I don't know. I think the dish was created for someone specific and it was supposed to represent the flag.

It really is just the tomato, the cheese, and the basil. Yeah. That's their flag. That's the flag. Yeah. Because if it was the pizza, then the flag. It might be, though. Italy only became, even though it was always called Italy,

it was, and not always, but it was. It was only, I think, in the 40s that they became kind of all one dysfunctional situation together. Oh. I guess if the pizza came first, the flag would be round. True. Maybe we can just cut off its edges with a pizza cutter. Yeah.

Yeah. If we were to make a flag. Say you've got your own country, guys. Yes. It would be orange. The flag's orange. Florescent orange. Is this based on the American cheese again?

No. I really like fluorescent orange. Not as cheese, per se, but as a color. So you just have a fluorescent orange block. One just fluorescent orange flag. No, I think I'd have, like, probably a fist in the middle of it, a fist up. My dad said I was born with a fist raised in the air,

so I'd have to have something like that. Oh, yeah. That's a very, what an image of that. It's like you're flying like Superman. No, it's more of like a power fist. Like the Regi against the machine logo. Kind of, yeah. Oh, yes, thank you.

Ed, no one had to translate something for me there. Remember your teens? The bads that I like. It's like the fistagon, the Regi against the machine logo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But here's who was the full question I was going to ask, but I like that we've got that from you. If there's a flag and it's based on, like, a food thing,

like your national dish of your country. A Taco Bell flag? See, it just did a Taco Bell logo. My flag is the Taco Bell logo. Yes. Is it? That's fair enough. Yeah.

The Taco Bell logo. Race fist still? Race fist in the middle of the taco. Punching us. Hard shell taco. I'll hold it. So you move on to your main course. OK.

My main course. Very exciting. OK, my main course, I'm going to be really honest. I like mushy food. I don't like chewing that much. I find that is also boring. I don't like chewy food. So I'd have to go with just a spaghetti with tomato

and a pasta with a tomato and basil, cooked al dente with some lovely fresh tomatoes and a sprinkling of Parmesan. But they kind of slivered kind, not the powder kind. Right. Now what? The powder kind of Parmesan is awful. Awful. It is awful, right?

It's awful. It's like the dust from the bottom of a cage. Yeah, it's horrible. Yeah. It's like a hamster cage. Yeah, it shouldn't happen. No. I can't believe we've not had that as one of our ingredients,

our secret ingredients. Each episode we have an ingredient that if the guest says it, we chuck him out the restaurant. It's always an ingredient we don't like. And that is a very good one for a future one. Yeah, I think so. That is, yeah, that's... If they pick that, they chuck him out the restaurant.

Chuck him out on the next. Can you chuck him out of the podcast? Yeah. Wow. That's tough. We're hoping it doesn't happen, really. You know, you're going to send me to some restaurant with foaming food.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, here's the thing. Yeah. And that is perfect. Your episode, our secret ingredient that we would have chucked you out for is foam. Really? Yeah, that was what it was going to be.

And genuinely, it was going to be foam. Yeah, it was genuinely foam. And you have just... And now you've come out against foam, so... I'm against foam, so... And you own the restaurant now, too. You basically, you're my boss now. That's very good that you're just completely on the same page.

That's really true. Yeah. That's amazing. That was our, it was foam for your episode and you have made it very clear that that's the last... I'm anti-foaming. That's just your idea of hell. It kind of, I'm not into it.

Yeah. It is my idea of hell. Little tiny things that are foaming, not so much. No, I mean, what's the point? Exactly. That's what I think. When they go on about, we watch one of those shows and they're like, we've added some foam and you're like...

You're like, why? Yeah, just put the actual ingredient on. You don't, why foam? I don't want to be in a bath. It's like... No, I think they're trying to be very creative and I appreciate the look of things. I just don't want to eat the thing.

No one's walking around going, I'm really hungry. What do you fancy? Oh, I see, yeah. Green foam, if you can swing it. Yeah, yeah. If there's any foam around, then... God, there's only foamed... What are you craving tonight?

Foam. Just a big... But sometimes you just want a big bowl of foam, don't you? Really take the edge off. So you've got fresh tomatoes in your pasta as well? Yes. I have a question about the pasta though. Yes.

First of all, the basics. I like the guinea. You say you don't like chewing though. And you've had it cooked al dente, which literally means to the teeth. But that's a soft chew. It's not like... That's a very good thank you for that translation.

Thank you. I thought I should let you know. Not going to Italy for a while. Yeah, you already grew up there, Rose. You probably don't know. It was for the listener, not for Rose. It's not as chewy as a steak, right? Or something that you have to really masticate.

I just wanted to use that word. It's very good. Thank you. In terms of chewy foods, what's your nightmare? My nightmare of chewy food. I think it'd be probably steak with gristle with the fat in it. Because then you're just chewing and chewing, and then you have to spit it into your napkin

and hide it in the plant. It's a whole stretch. Well, you don't have to do that. I do. I do. It's a many little chewed up gristle napkins. Many chewed up. Yeah, I've left many little

Hansel and Gretel chewy things in my wake. Just growing a little gristle tree out of the plant. Yeah, that's nice. They wonder why their plant is doing so, so well. And growing a steak off its leaf. Once, when we were kids, my brother once just, I think we were told like, you've got to finish your main to have dessert at my auntie

and uncle's house. And he was eating a particularly, it was a chewy bit of gristle, and he was just there for ever. And so, you know, people noticed and were like, you don't have to eat. Like, he thought the rules were, yeah, he took the rules very seriously.

You've got to clean your plate. I think he was just there just steadily chewing this bit of meat for like, just probably approaching 20 minutes. It was a very long time. Oh, wait, have you ever eaten tripe? It's disgusting. I was forced to eat that and I took one bite

and that was chewy hell. And also it's cow's stomach lining. I mean, mm. F off. And I was 11. It just didn't go well. Oh, that's too young for tripe. It was a tripe at 11.

What was this? Mean, cruel people. Yeah. My mother. Well, did your mother like it? I guess so. But it's the only time I remember her ever making it. So maybe she didn't like it that much.

Oh, she made it. So this is a home cooked tripe. Yeah, home cooked tripe. Was this in Italy? No, this is when we came to America, which is even worse. American tripe. American tripe.

That's sounds like the new Green Day album. That's what they could make. Chewy songs. Chewy songs. Yeah, that doesn't sound nice. So tripe is your nightmare. That is a nightmare. Nightmare chew food.

Chewy food. Yeah, that's a nightmare. Because I think you just keep chewing and nothing happens. It doesn't get any softer and it doesn't go down. And it's ugly. Yeah. Whereas with a pill. That works neatly and you only need water.

Sometimes even without water. Straight down. Straight down. Taking care of all of your needs. Would you want the pill to be flavored? Or would you need that? It's literally just the pill. Just pop it down.

No flavor. Not like a Willy Wonka situation where it develops. That would be nice. Like if it were like a lemon drop or something like that, that could be nice. It could be a dissolvable. I haven't thought on it that much. But now that I think about it,

yeah, so lemon drop would be nice. A dissolvable. You don't even need to swallow it there. No water. It's perfect. Sublingual. Yeah, no chewing at all. Although some liquids, it's good to chew them.

I beg your pardon? I was told of wine. It's good to chew wine. I don't know. Because it releases the flavor. Is that true? Someone's having you on there, mate. Someone told you that?

I told it by a sommelier. Chew. Chew the wine. You probably mean just swill it around, right? No, no. You do a chewing motion. Like you're chewing it. It works.

Is that why every time we go out, you end up just spilling wine at your mouth? Yeah. Is this why you've had no second date? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's chewing wine with my mouth open. I was told. I mean, feel free to write in if you are a sommelier.

But as far as I know, I don't think you're supposed to chew wine. I think you're supposed to chew wine. Are you thinking of wine gums? I'm not. So unattractive. Oh, you mean I thought you meant when you drink the wine and your gums turn purple.

Oh, yeah, no, that is unattractive. Yeah. Wine gums are a type of sweet, which are also probably quite unattractive. But yeah, the red wine mouth is not good. Not so good. No, no. Bless.

It's a real, uh... It's a turn on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. After chewing at his mouth open and his gums and teeth turn purple. Yeah, I'd like to see a fellow chewer. Welcome to it. No, it really undermines the person

because they don't know it. They don't know it. And you're trying just to look in their eyes because you don't want to look in their mouth, but you can't help it. Because they look like a monster. Kind of, yeah. A scary monster.

Scary monster. Especially if they are a bit tipsy. And they're tipsy, but they're kind of trying to carry themselves like they're completely not. And yet there's this dead giveaway all over their mouth. All over their mouth. And usually they're lips too.

Yeah. So they're just trying to be like... It's getting better and better, isn't it? For you home visualizers. Yeah, this is the most, yeah, most visual episode. Don't chew your wine. Don't chew your wine. No, do chew your wine.

No, don't chew your wine. Don't chew your wine. Chew your wine. Look, we're divided on this issue, but like... We're divided. It's two against one. Yeah. I haven't tried chewing other drinks,

but maybe if I did, it'd be good. But I don't know. Releases the flavour. Don't chop your water. You chop it up first. Dice your water up so it's in little chunks for you. No, not so you've got to chop it up first. Just saying, you know, when it's in your mouth, you can chew it.

Don't chop it up. Oh, only a bad man would try and chop up that drink. Do you make pasta at home? I do. Do you throw it against the wall? I don't. How do you test it? With my mouth.

Throw it against your mouth. I throw it against my mouth. If it sticks to the roof of your mouth, that's right. If it sticks to my face, it's ready. Yeah. I didn't say I open my mouth, I just throw it against my mouth. It's just there, close mouth, pass it on your face

and then someone comes up with a red wine lip so you go, it's really quite undignified. It's really quite undignified. Match your wine for you. Oh, yeah, for you. It's a check of its, yeah. So you just pop it in the mouth. Pop it in the mouth.

No, no thrown it against the wall. No, I think that's a wives tale. Yeah? Plus you get stuff on your walls. Yeah, sure. You then got to clean the wall up after. It's a whole situation. It's a long climb down, isn't it?

It's a long climb down from the ceiling. So what was in this pasta again? I'm just trying to remember now. Just tomato and basil and parmesan. Really simple. Maybe linguine or an angel hair. So why is that your, one of your favorites? I just like it because it's so simple

and if they're really good ingredients, I'm what they call a super taster. I have extraordinary taste buds, but no, but things that are very mild tasting to other people taste like a lot to me. Oh, is this an actual thing I've never heard of a super taster? This is an actual thing.

It's an actual thing. Diagnose thing as you're a super taster. Yeah. Yeah, so things like tapioca, which tastes like nothing to most people, I think tastes like a lot to me. Wow. So this kind of explains as well

why you don't like Too many ingredients. Gourmet food, too many ingredients and stuff like that. It's literally too much for me almost. Yeah. When did you find out you were a super taster? About five years ago. I did a series of tests at Harvard actually

because I lost my smell in a freak accident, my sense of smell, but they were studying me because I could still taste. Right. It's just normally interrelated and I got hit in the head with a car door in a freak valet accident in Los Angeles. You know how that happens.

Yes. And it knocked, if you get hit, I guess, because I know a snowboarder, the same thing, he hit his head in this one same spot and it just, he could still taste as well. Right. But he also hit his head again like a year later and it came back.

So I'm hoping that if I just get in the freak car accident again. Just keep looking for clumsy valets. Just keep looking for clumsy valets. Yeah. Wow, so your, so car door hit your head, you lost your sense of smell, but then is that when you became a super taster,

were you a super taster before? I think I might have been before, but you don't notice it as much with a sense of smell. It's a cool origin story if you became a super taster because of the car door. I think I did because before I never noticed, but afterwards everything became kind of like a taste explosion and too much.

There's a comic book in that as well. It's as close as I thought the sense of smell. It is. Enhance would make things taste small. They're connected, right? Yeah. But instead of losing it, made you the super taster. For me, yes.

Wow. But that's also why they were studying me at Harvard Medical School because, but then my doctor died of a brain tumor and that study ended, sorry, rest in peace. Wow. Now you know the saga. What a twist, you did not build us up to that

in any way. Now I'm sorry, I just, just brought Debbie down or right there. Yeah, okay, right in there. Right in there. But so you thought you got to Harvard, how often would you have to go there for tests? I would go like once every couple of months.

I was in New York. So just go down to Boston, which is like a couple of states away. And what would they do? What were their tests? They were just, they would have like strips on my tongue, like seeing like the acid levels

and trying to get me to smell things, I think, but I couldn't, I can smell oranges. Okay. Which is good since that's my favorite color. Yes. My orange flag. The flag will smell of oranges as well. But it is really interesting.

Not being able to smell is, I've had to get, you know, like gas monitors from my house and things like that. Because I accidentally left the gas on one night and didn't know because I couldn't smell it. There are some inherent dangers that come with not smelling. Absolutely.

But then, you know, you're so... And I can only use all the same bath products I've always used because I don't know what else, you know, I don't want to smell like, I don't know, Axe Cologne or something on accident. Of course, yeah. Is that your sponsor? Yeah, yeah, they are also our sponsor.

And Popchips. Yeah. And they're interchangeable. You can use them both for the same thing. Spray your Popchips with some Axe Cologne. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They're going up pretty smooth.

Right, so you won't appreciate that this genie, for your episode, I smell like chocolate. I'm sorry. I thought I'd smell like chocolate for this episode. Hot chocolate. Yeah, chocolate genie. Hot chocolate's nice, so I like the way it tastes. Yeah, I always smell different.

That's what people don't know about the genie in this thing. I always smell different for each episode. Chocolate's a day, isn't it? For the guests, yeah. I always put a different, like, different scents in here. Yeah. Yeah, I smell hot chocolate today with marshmallows.

I've only got four senses. Yeah. Yeah. But one of them is great. One of them, I've got four and a half. Yeah. You get one, your taste is one and a half, right? Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Here's the thing. Let's say I get another genie in, who deals in other stuff, not just food. And this genie can bring back your sense of smell, but... I have to trade something else? Yeah, just trade a different sense. Or you get the super...

I think it's probably the best sense to lose, if you have to lose one, which I'm not saying, you know, I'm being very jokey about it, but it was quite devastating. Yes. Apologies for turning it into a fun or hyper pet. No, it's okay. But I don't think there's another sense

that I would trade for that. No, I think it makes New York in the summer on the subways totally palatable and okay. Oh, yeah. I sat down next to a lady and I was like, oh, a free seat. And I looked at her and I believe she was covered in feces. And I thought, oh, well, I'll just sit here.

This is great. This is fine. Really lucked out. Everyone else is like hiding in the other end of the cab, but I'm okay. Is there a hug in that lady? I gave her a kiss goodbye. Yeah, yeah.

Thank you. What's been in it? Thank you. But she had lost her sense of hearing, so that was the... Yeah, so yeah, she couldn't hear that. She was just like, who's this strange person trying to kiss my feces?

Yeah. Let's move on to your side dish now. I would say spinach sauteed with a little bit of garlic and olive oil. Very simple. I have a very simple palate. Yeah, but it's not simple in a kind of like, it's a, these are still like pretty delicious.

Yeah, absolutely. These aren't for kids. Yeah. I like spinach even when I was little. Really? Because of Popeye? No, I never saw a Popeye. I grew up in a commune,

so we didn't really have much exposure to the outside world for like the first 10, 11 years of my life. But I liked spinach then, and I like it now. I didn't know spinach was a thing that kids weren't supposed to like. No one ever told me, I see. Right.

That's probably a big part. I think that's true about spinach. I think you hear you're not supposed to like it. Yeah. People are like, yeah, spinach, you won't like that. I got told that a lot as a kid. You won't like that. And I did, I did like quite a lot of things.

So I used to try and prove people wrong by enjoying it. Spinach especially, once in the Caribbean, and I got brought this thing called Kalalu, which is like spinach soup. And I was little and I said, oh, it's spinach. Oh, yeah, I'm not supposed to like spinach. And my mom said to me, you know, Popeye eats spinach and it makes him really strong.

And I ate the whole bowl. Did you get strong? No, unfortunately not. I did not. I knew James would enjoy that story. Did your muscles snap out of your t-shirt as a nine-year-old? Really weird, muscly looking kid.

I really like it that you fell for the old Popeye line. I know. I'm trying to be strong like Popeye. Yeah. And was it, is this a dish that, like, do you have this quite regularly? Or is it something that you... At restaurants, I've never really made it for myself.

I'm always shocked by the amount of spinach it takes just to make a little spinach blob. Oh, it's crazy. It's like an entire bag to make a small, like half a fistful. Yeah. It's a trick. It all just tribbles down.

Yeah, you think you've bought your dinner, but no, no, you bought half of a side dish. Right, yeah. It doesn't feel economical, does it? It does not. It's like, yeah, that's the whole bag. I think, you know, that'll be three days. It fills me every time as well.

Yeah, it's a deep trick. Because it takes up so much room in the fridge, as well as like putting a whole put pillow in your fridge. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I sleep on, my spinach pillow. Yeah, in this fantasy farm that we create. There's fantasy farms.

Everything's made of food. The farmer sleeps on a spinach pillow. Yeah. And it is, we put, like, getting a wok full of spinach and just watching it all. Because to begin with, as well, I tend to overload it, the wok. So there's too much spinach in there.

And then it goes down to nothing. Yeah, but, originally, I think I've really messed up. Oh, I've really done it. This is it. Because also- Are you a good cook? Do you cook? No.

I try and cook, but I'm not good. But- A for effort. Because I've made it, it tastes good to me. Aw, yeah. I wouldn't cook for other people. But I mean, it'd go in like, ah. Well done, well done, me.

This is great, yeah. I feel good about myself. But also, you said about pasta earlier. That's the opposite I'd say to the spinach. Pasta, I always put some, I never think I've done it, I put in nothing. So I put the pasta in the water, and I look in, I thought that I've not put enough in there.

And then it grows. And then I put some more in, because I think I've not put enough in, and then when I get it out, I'm like, this is enough to feed the entire school. Yeah. You really need, like, if you're making an O with your hand, like, that's about the amount of pasta for one person.

That's a good tip. Really? Yeah. If you make an O and you fill- Fill your O. Fill your O. That didn't sound right either. That's a Christina Aguilera song, right?

I believe so on The Voice, especially. Yeah, she didn't spill your O. Because there's those proper pasta measures, right, that you can buy. Yes. But they're just basically different size O's. Those are different size O's. Yeah, you're being fooled at your money there.

Yeah, I think that's right. You've got your own O right here. I don't think any self-respecting Italian would go with the pasta, whatever it's called. No. So you just got a bit of garlic in there, a bit of olive oil. I always burn garlic.

I try and make spinach and garlic quite a lot at home, and I've never not burned the garlic. Really? Yeah. Do you just, does your attention span laps between the white and the light browning? Oh, absolutely.

It's like I black out momentarily and then wake up. Wake up and your stuff's burnt. Yeah. Burnt garlic isn't really very good. No, it's horrible. It's bitter. No, not a fan. Not a fan of burnt garlic, no.

In this particular dish, you slice it, you chop it into little cubes. I'm leaving these ones kind of whole. I don't necessarily chew them. I just use them for the flavor. Oh, interesting. That sounds like a better idea, because then you can't burn it,

because you're chucking it away. So you just put it in the pan. Yeah, you still can burn it. You have to not burn it. But you don't have to eat it. But you don't have to eat it. That's clever. And imagine burnt garlic as a supertaster

would be an absolute nightmare. Yeah, that's a nightmare. Oh, I forgot you're a supertaster for a second. So this particular dish, is this a good for other supertasters out there? Would you recommend it? I would recommend it. Are you not other supertasters?

No. I'm sure they're out there. Yeah. We've got to get... Do you like coriander or cilantro? I hate it. I don't love it. I don't mind it.

A lot of people say it tastes of soap. For me, I've had soap in my mouth. It did not cure my bad potty mouth, but I've had soap in my mouth, and I can testify that it tastes exactly like Irish spring soap. Really? Specifically Irish spring soap.

Specifically, which is the worst soap in America. It's green and nasty to taste. That's all I've said. Was it to stop you from swearing? You got washed out with soap? So that's probably like, I've heard that phrase. I've heard that phrase. You had that.

My friend's mum did it to me. Oh my God. Your friend's mum? Really, really staunch Catholic woman, and we were literally running around the house swearing because we were like, it's great, right? Me and my friend, and she came and washed our mouths out. Both of you.

Can you tell your mother? Yes. Or she mad? Yeah, I think she was pretty mad. She didn't show me that necessarily, but I think she was pretty mad at the time. We don't see those people anymore. No.

No. That's full on, right? That's crossing a major line. That's kind of a light form of child abuse, I would say. Yeah, I would say, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like neighbor abuse. Yeah, I would agree. I'm going to join that.

I don't know if it was Irish spring, so I can't testify to whether it was... It was yardley. Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's why you don't like green foam because it reminds you of Irish spring. Probably, possibly, because it did foam. Yeah.

It foams that soap in your mouth. Yeah. I see I never had that. I'm the only one out of the three of us. Yeah. Benito, have you ever eaten soap? Me and Benito. Me and the Great Benito.

We have never had soap in our mouths, and you two have. This is where the... Well, there you go. There's the divide. Maybe you're a super taster, too. Maybe it was the soap. Maybe.

Yeah, and you don't know. You have two superpowers. What's your other one? Diabetes. I've told you, James, type one diabetes is not a superpower. James, type one diabetes is a superpower. One of the Thames who got diabetes.

That's the two events were not connected. The two events were not connected. The soap didn't cause. The soap didn't cause the type one diabetes. Neither did falling in the Thames. Neither of the... Did you fall in the Thames? Yeah.

That's how we got diabetes. I used to row on the Thames, and we capsized and went in the Thames. And James swears, blind, that that's how I got type one diabetes. Is the Thames dirty? Awful. Awful.

Yeah. Do not... Full of sugar? Go for a little swim in the Thames. Do not go for a swim in the Thames. Note to self. Right. And especially as a super taster.

Not a good swimmer. So that would also... There's no roughly mozzarella climbing out the Thames. I'll tell you that. No. It's brown mozzarella at that point. Yeah. Very sad brown looking mozzarella.

But maybe when you got your mouth washed out with soap and water, then you got super taster. Yeah. I washed out all my bad taste buds, and now I've only got the good ones left. Yeah. Is that... Yeah, yeah.

That could have been how it was. Maybe that's it. Super tasters. I want you to meet more super tasters, Rose. I think this is... I'll get back to you. It's quite exciting that you... We haven't had a super taster on the podcast before.

Maybe you go to the Gourmet restaurants with other super tasters, and then you all go on and there's too many ingredients in this to the Michelin-starred chefs. Yeah, I don't think we would like it. No. But I do think it would be cool to do a show where Michelin-starred chefs

were trying to force me to like their food. Absolutely. Especially as a super taster. Because I'm also very stubborn, and I don't know how well it would go for them. Right. You would just... No.

You'd just say no. Would you be quite harsh as well if your criticism of their food? Yes, even though it comes from a place of not being a foodie. Yeah. I would be like, as a non-foodie, here's what I have to say to you. Yeah.

Because most foodie people are like, oh, Michelin-starred. Yeah, sure. But you can be like, look, I'm a super taster. Like, you might be a Michelin-starred chef. But I have super taste. My tongue is better than yours. Your tongue is better than mine.

Yeah, my tongue is better than yours. My tongue is better than yours. We move on to your drink now. Oh, my drink. Yeah, this is your dream drink for the meal. See, none of my food... Well, it kind of goes together. I like lemonade an awful lot,

but that would be strange with these dishes, wouldn't it? So I'm going to go a nice glass of... I like opus one, that red one. It's a mix. It's like a super tuscan. So that would be really nice. A super tuscan for a super taster. This is absolutely perfect.

And we say it's a mix. What is it? I don't really know what the mix is. I just know it's a mix. I've never chewed my wine, you see. We've not been able to give you a knife and fork for this wine, by the way. Please do. Get you a knife and fork if you like.

You want to cut up nicely. There's a brand called Label called Gaia, and it's G-A-J. Have you ever had that one? No, no. It's incredible. Right. Someone once bought me a case of it, which is very nice,

because I never would have bought it for myself, because it's around $600 per bottle. Wow. Yeah. That person was rich. Yeah, keep that personally if you like. So I did not buy it for myself. I'm like, I'll top out at like $30, $40 a bottle.

Yeah. I think you can get really nice wines for that price, right? This should be fine. Surely, once you get above $100, it's gorgeous. But there are those people that are the... What's the word for them? Oh, no files? For people that love wine?

Chewers. Chewers. Chewer files. Chewers unite. Yeah. I think they have no price limit on their thing. Sure. But I think they also must be rich,

because I don't know that that seems like an awful lot of money for a bottle of wine that is just... I'm always like, I could buy a shirt for that or two shirts at least. Yeah. Yeah, that's how you think of it is in shirts. I think of it in clothing. Yeah.

Yeah. I think of it in clothing. I was like, I could buy a pair of shoes probably for that or more. Because you were at a fashion event last night? Yesterday day, I think. Right. And what was it?

It was for Vivienne Westwood. It was her first show in London in a long time. She's been showing her collection in Paris for a while now. So it was her return Dame Vivienne Westwood, I should say. And it was kind of a global call to action on climate change. And I went out and talked about needing more heroes, things like that. Right.

While wearing quite the get-up. I was wearing a pillowcase that had a neck slit and arm slits. And it had a hand-drawn caricature of her on it. She drew it. And then some silver thigh-high boots and a big crown that said Angel on it. But it was a paper crown. And then it had silver tinsel hanging from the crown at one point.

So it was quite a fashion look. Let me tell you. Wow. It's such a fashion. You wouldn't understand. Ed is wearing that right now. Yeah. I can't believe it.

I thought I was being unique. And here we are. Yeah. That is a great outfit. Whenever I see really high fashion things like that, I just think I could get a bottle of wine for that. Yeah. You could buy a nice bottle of wine.

Yeah. You could buy a nice bottle of wine for that coat. Yeah. Did you do a speech about climate changes? Tell them about how that bread running in the fields. No. I actually talked about the financial system. Right.

And how obviously something called rot dollar, that's what she calls the evil rotten financial system. Rot dollar is the mechanism that favors the already rich by taxing the already poor. That is one of my direct lines. Right. So there's that. And it's funny to say all that to a fashion crowd who's like,

got a lot of fancy clothes on it. Yeah. Sure. They're like, this might be directed. Is this directed at us? Excuse me. I'm like, yes. Yes, it is.

Yes, it is. Have you always been into wine since like, you know, I don't know. Actually, no. In Italy, they start you at age five. It's around age five and they give you a glass of water and they put a couple of drops of red wine, but they have an incredibly low incidence of alcoholism

in Italy. Right. Like very, very low. And I think it's because they normalize it and it's not like something that's kept from you. Like that you're meant to go binge on. Right. Yeah.

It's not really the look there, the binging not so much. England and America and Australia, they love a good binge. And probably some other places too. Sure. Because obviously we're told to stay away from that. It's bad. Oh, be careful. Right.

So then you get a chance and you're like, oh, it's on. I was the same with like, I think it's the same with anything. It's the same with like junk food and things like that. If you grow up being told that it's really bad and you can't have it, as soon as you leave home, you're like, I can do it. Well, that's kind of what happened to me. Yeah. We were, my father was definitely, he was like farmed

a table before that was ever popular and we were only allowed to have cereal that came in paper bags. Right. Nothing was plastic. So that was the head of the curve. So no BPAs or whatever the hell that's called. And, but then when I left the house, I was like, hello, Taco Bell, what is your name?

Hello Taco Bell, what is your name? It's such a great order to say it in. Wow. Paper bags. I'm not familiar with this. No. You have to go to the hippie store for that. No.

Right. Deep hippie. And what kind of cereal is it? Puffed rice. Oh. It tastes like cardboard. There's puffed rice. Puffed rice with soy milk.

Whoa. Yeah. We were never allowed to own a microwave. We didn't. Nothing like that. I mean, this is in the commune still as well. No. This is even in America.

Right. So even, so also the commune was in. Italy. Italy. Yeah. If I was being offered puffed rice with soy milk for, I'd be a pill person. Yeah.

I mean, it's quite a food journey you've had of like. Yeah. Like. To go from the best food ever in Tuscany to, to American fried fluorescent colored weirdness to then trying to be an adult out in the world, but never having learned how to cook. It's, it's a little unmanageable. And then becoming a super taster.

And then becoming a super taster. I mean, the narrative of the whole thing is like, yeah, that's. That's why I like rice pudding so much. Oh, really? Not with cinnamon. That's too much for me. I mean, we're coming to your desert. Not with raisins.

We're coming to your dessert now. I'm not throwing you for a curve with my dessert. Oh, is your dessert not going to be rice pudding? No. Do you want to throw rice pudding in there as an honorable mention? Rice pudding, definitely. If it's done right, it gets an honorable mention. Not with raisins.

So I don't like the raisins in it. No. Raisins scram. And no cinnamon. No cinnamon. Just straight rice pudding. Straight up rice pudding. Yeah.

That's how I like my drink. Oh yeah. I can chew it. Yeah, you've got to chew your rice pudding. A little bit. Not much. Oh, that's what I was going to say about it. Rice pudding, not wine.

I'm looking forward to this curve ball now. This is where I go into the deep south in America. I like red velvet cake. Oh, yeah. And that's, I make it actually, and I make quite a good one. The secret is putting in two giant bottles of red food coloring so it looks just like blood. And then you have a white cream cheese frosting, which is delightful.

And it's just like red and white, but really red. And kind of a German chocolate base, which is kind of a milk chocolate. Right. So it's not like, a lot of people use like a dark chocolate base and that just makes your cake look muddy instead of bloody. Yeah. You want bloody, not muddy. Bloody, not muddy.

Bloody, not muddy. I always remember that kids. That's the rule. So you got a germ. I've always been, I think I've had good red velvet stuff and not so good. I've had not so good too. Yeah. But when you get a good one, you're like, that is delightful.

And it was Elvis's favorite. Was it? Yeah. I didn't know that. I'm not sure that's a good thing for a food. I think it's the best thing for a food. Being Elvis's favorite. Yep.

He also liked fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, which I've tried. Not fried, but I toasted them. That's quite good. I bet that'd be absolutely delicious. A fried peanut butter. Oh, the things he liked. Look, if those things ended up, you know, cut his life short, they must have been good. I think it was more the pills, but probably the, that stuff didn't help either.

He was a pill person. Yeah. He was a real pill person. He was a real pill person. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe, yeah. I mean, individually, they sound nice.

I guess it's just the quantity that Elvis may be struggled with. I went to Graceland actually. Oh, yeah? And at first I thought, ha, ha, ha, isn't this funny? And then by the end you're crying because I didn't realize he's buried in the backyard. Oh, right. And that was a shock. I was like, oh.

And then, but as you start going through the house, it gets kind of more and more depressing in a weird way. There's this room because he was so isolated from humans. Other than, you know, if he had to go to movies, he would rent out the whole movie theater, but he would go in the middle of the night. He couldn't, obviously it was Elvis. So, you know, and he was hugely famous, especially in America. And by the end, there's this one room, his TV room, and he had a whole wall of TVs, but

they have gunshot holes in them because you would get mad at the TV and shoot them. Oh my God. Wow. And then you go out in the back to his grave. And that's Graceland, everybody. Yeah, that's a heavy end to the day out. It is. I was like, oh.

Shot the TV. What shows would make you so angry that you would shoot the TV? Well, apparently you prefer The Voice to America's Got Talent. So maybe America or Britain's Got Talent, you would shoot your TV? I would shoot the TV for that. Every time they hit an ax, you pull the trigger, right? Yeah. Pull the trigger.

Yeah. Red velvet. Now, red velvet cake. I've had nice red velvet cake, but it doesn't, the flavor is... It doesn't go with the rest of it. No, no, no, not at all. And it doesn't have to go with the rest of it. This is your dream meal.

Yeah, yeah. It's not a particular flavor, is it? The red does not. No, I think it's psychological. Right, okay. One time I made a green velvet cake. It was the ugly, I ran out of red food coloring and it was someone's birthday. It was the ugliest cake you have ever seen.

It was bright green with white frosting. It was disgusting looking, but it was really good. It was probably my best cake. Right? Yeah. But the crowd was a little shocked. Yeah, this doesn't fit psychologically. It's a tough one to eat.

It was St. Patrick's Day. For St. Patrick's Day, it was not St. Patrick's Day. No, this was a friend's birthday. It was expected. Did you still call it a red velvet cake? Yeah. Yeah. With an asterisk.

Yeah, it's a red velvet cake. Also, if you didn't even reference it, it was green. They said, I've made everyone a really nice red velvet cake and then produced that. I didn't reference it, actually, and I did produce it. Did they say anything? Or did they go... There was a hush over the crowd. A little hush and then a bunch of talking.

Yeah. Then it started to worry about, oh, she's got color blinds as well now. She's color blind too now. Oh my God. She's a super seer. Yeah, yeah. I actually think it does go very well with the rest of your meal because there's something red in your...

Oh, that's true. Thank you. Oh, yeah, that looks through the hole. Yeah. That's a good through line. Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, you get a very red meal. Do you want to change the color of your flag?

No. No. Still bright orange. Still bright orange. Red is... I like red, but not as... I wouldn't say that's my flag color. No, it's more flavor-wise.

My book cover is even fluorescent orange. Is it? Mm-hmm. Brave. By Rose McGowan. It is, fluorescent orange. I'll advertise it as much as I need to. Thank you, Pop Chips.

Oh, that's a fun, cool nickname. Right, then read your order back to you now, Rose. Okay. You would like still water. You would like some... A batonane as your bread. You would like, for your starter, mozzarella, tomatoes, and olive oil. Your main, you would like pasta with tomatoes, basil, and parmesan.

Side... Oh, you like... Also, you don't want that... Crumble, do you want that sliced up? Yes, slivered. Slivered. Side dish, you would like sauteed spinach with garlic and olive oil. Drink, an opus one, super tuscan red wine, and for dessert, red velvet cake made by your

own hands. Correct. That is a very nice red meal. That's a very red meal. Yeah. You didn't realize how red it would be, do you? I did not know. When Ed revealed the redness, you were like, that is red, actually.

Maybe that's a bit too red. I'm going to have to rethink it. But I think, no, it's good to go with one color. So, it's a beetroot? No, those are purple. They are purple, but they... They look red on the plate. Yeah, yeah.

I've got some bad news. A bull is walking past the restaurant. Oh, yeah? He's going to come crash it in here. Now he's seen your meal. We need our bread farm to distract him. Yeah. Get rid of him.

Well, thank you so much for coming, Rose. Thank you so much for having me. You've been a wonderful guest in the restaurant. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks for coming. What a brilliant menu from Rose McGowan. Simple and delicious.

Yeah, I love the sort of the three to four ingredients rule. Yeah, that's a very good rule. No one's really implemented that before on this podcast. And you know what? I wasn't spotting the revelation about the being a supertaster. Oh, I did not see that coming. It was a massive twist and fascinating. I want to meet more supertasters.

So fascinating. And the fact it only came up about halfway through as well. Yep. Whereas she was like, I'm going to keep that piece of information and I'm going to drop it in as a twist. Because if I was a supertaster and I went on a food podcast, first thing before the microphones were on,

I'd storm in and go, by the way, I'm a supertaster. Yeah, just so you know, I'm a supertaster. You're in the presence of a supertaster. Yep. I'm going to start saying that anyway. Yeah. Even though it's not true. You can't, people can't prove you wrong, can they?

No, they can't tell me what I can taste and what I can't taste. I mean, walking to a restaurant saying I'm a supertaster and get them on their best game. James, here's a point I'd like to raise. Yep. Rose McGowan is such an interesting woman and has done so much. And I don't think does a lot of podcasts.

Yeah, yeah. Very fair to get Rose McGowan on a podcast, actually. Do you think people are going to be angry that we literally talked to her about food for an hour? Oh, we didn't ask her about more interesting stuff. No. That has occurred to me. So I guess it would be quite, you could get quite,

you could talk to her about very many fascinating things with Rose McGowan. Yes. And we asked her, imagine if far more than animals are made of bread and what does the brioche look like and what's the brioche doing up on that hill? I mean, you are right.

There is a time I asked her, you know, what colours the flag of your country? Yeah. If you're going to make it, I wasn't really dealt with. I didn't go much in depth about things. But, you know, those are our interests.

But look, that's why we do a food podcast because we like food, guys. So, you know, we're not here to do a sort of interesting WTF-style podcast. We want to ask people, what's that brioche doing on the hill? Yeah, what's the brioche doing on the hill? And, you know, how do you think that the bread farm and the cheese farm would get on with each other

if they were neighbours? But a brilliant menu and a brilliant guest. And also, she didn't, not only did she not say the secret ingredient, I was very surprised that she actively came out against the secret ingredient. I was very happy with that. That means that's a lifetime.

You can come to this restaurant whenever you like. We'll always cook you whatever you want because you've, without even being prompted, said that you hate foe. Well, she's a stockholder in the restaurant now. Yeah, she's a stockholder in the restaurant. She's my boss. Silent partner.

Silent partner, Ed. And I'm completely happy with that. It was very heartening to have a guest call out the secret ingredient before we did. If you want to know what Rose thinks about some genuinely interesting stuff like bread farm based, you can buy her book Brave,

which I would highly suggest doing. Yep, that is out now. Also, you can catch up with us. We're doing stuff. Come catch up. Online. I'm on tour. If you go on to Ed Gamble Comedy

on Twitter and Instagram, or on to my website, edgamble.co.uk, you can find out about where I am, James. Yes, Ed. And I am jamesacaster.com. And there's stuff on there. Links on there to gigs,

to other stuff I've done. Books and online stuff. He's a productive man. There's a lot flying around. And James, we're having a little break, aren't we, from the podcast? Absolutely. Fair enough.

You can't come here every single week. We've got to have a holiday like anyone else. Look, with us, it's a dream meal, but not any dream we'll do. So we've got to take a little break and find us some more lovely guests. And also, you're going abroad for some shows, I understand.

Yeah, yeah. I'm going abroad for a bit. Melbourne, New Zealand. So. America. The problem with James as a genie is he's not one of those genies who can go from country to country,

so he doesn't need to get a plane. So we can't afford to fly the genie back for any more podcasts. Yeah. So when the genie is back in town, we'll be recording more and we'll be back for series two. But for now,

let's leave the restaurant, turn off the lights and lock that door. Keep tight, everybody. Hello, it's me, Amy Glentill. You might remember me from the best ever episode of Off Menu,

where I spoke to my mum and asked her about seaweed on mashed potato and our relationships never been the same since. And I am joined by... Me, Ian Smith. I would probably go bread.

I'm not going to spoil, in case... Get him on, James and Ed. But we're here sneaking in to your podcast experience to tell you about a new podcast that we're doing. It's called Northern News.

It's about all the new stories that we've missed out from the North, because, look, we're two Northerners. Sure. But we've been living in London for a long time. The new stories are funny. Quite a lot of them crimes.

It's all kicking off. And that's a new podcast called Northern News. We'd love you to listen to. Maybe we'll get my mum on. Get Glentill's mum on every episode. That's Northern News. When's it out, Ian? It's already out now, Amy!

Is it? Yeah. Get listening. There's probably a backlog. You've left it so late.