Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - Emma Grede

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

We have CEO and entrepreneur Emma Grede joining us for lunch this week. She is the star of both Dragons’ Den & Shark Tank, and also co-creator of Skims, Good American & Safely (all created with the Kardashian family!). Over a delicious Ravinder Bhogal chicken dish, Emma taught us the details of her Thanksgiving ham recipe, talked about cooking and learning with her friend Mrs Nancy, creating her ‘’A Seat At The Table’ events, investing in the Lumberjaxe boys on Dragons’ Den, juggling being a mum and an entrepreneur, her love of an M&S cheese & celery sandwich, and we discover the best trivia about brown sauce! Emma thank you so much for joining us, hope the food on the flight home was the curry you were looking for! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Munters. I'm Jessie Ware and I am in Lenny's living room and I've done Diddley Squat and I'm sorry. It's fine, you don't need to be sorry. I just got back from Los Angeles. The guest that we've got on today lives in Los Angeles, however she's an East Londoner. You didn't cross paths as you were flying in and out. No because she was here doing business. We've got Emma Greed coming on, who is,

if you don't know who Emma Greed is, well, you'll definitely know of some of her brands. She was one of the founders of Skims, which is Kim Kardashian's shapewear company. She's also partnered with Khloe Kardashian for her jean denim company called Good American, which is all about size inclusivity and it's hugely successful. She has a plant-based cleaning range with Chris Jenner called Safely.

She's just launched a new clothes brand called Off Season. She's just done Dragon's Den. She's just done Dragon's Den. She's just done Dragon's Den. She's a guest judge. She's been a guest judge before in Dragon's Den. She's also been the first black female in Shark Tank, which is like the Dragon's Den in the States. And she does guest Dragon's Den slots.

And so we watched her last night. We're recording this today, the day after she's, her episodes come out where she invested in a... The Lumberjacks. a the lumberjacks, which was like barbecue sauce, barbecue, seasoning, seasoning, two brothers. And it was really lovely. And she's just she's quite fabulous. She's also I've been following her for ages on Instagram. She's also got very good food tips. Oh, great. So we've got Emma Greed. She did say her name was Greedy on the thing last night so I'm going to have to find out. Yeah, she said Greed and Greedy.

Tell us what's on the menu. I've made an aromatic coconut chicken and potato which is a Ravinda Bogle recipe. Lovely. My lovely Ravinda who I adore. My lovely Ravinder. No, she's mine now. I love her. She sends me little messages on Instagram. We Instagram each other. So I've made that and I've made yottam, otolengiz, yogurt, orange yogurt cake. Yum. And the icing is just yogurt and orange curd. Yum. Yeah. It smells great. Everything smells great, don't you think?

Yes, it's sweet. Walked in at Smart Heavenly. Good. Very excited to try them. Emma, is it greedy or greed? Because in the episode last night you said I'm greedy. It's so true. It's actually Swedish so it's gridae, but most Americans say greedy and in England they say greed, but the correct pronunciation is gridae, but who's going to do that?

I'm just going to call you Emma G. Most people call me Emma Greed. Okay fine, Emma Greed. Yes, I mean you do not need to go there. Can you speak Swedish? Yeah. Not a sausage babe. Who would want to speak Swedish?

I don't know. Bjorn from ABBA. How does like sexy Swedish sound? I don't know. I have no idea. He's never whispered sexy Swedish. I can, yomels. Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty.

Hold on, I know, I know. Yomelskade. Oh that's it? I love you. I love you. I like it. And my kids say that, which is actually a very cute, like, that's cutesy and sounds so nice. How do you know that, Mum?

Cause I had a Swedish fellow I met in Ibiza and he told me Jomelskade. Absolutely starting on the right track. I've had my day, darling. Hang on, we've never discussed that you've been to Ibiza. You haven't? No. I've been about four times there when I was younger. What?

No, it wasn't like that. I didn't stay in that bit of Ibiza. No, you were in the light island. She was meditating under a sweet. No, I wasn't. Meditating under a sweet. With a crystal. Yeah, clearly.

Clearly. Emi, you've asked for a very strong builder's tea. I have indeed. And I'm very happy to say I got what I asked for. And you brought some M&S snacks. Listen. I mean, not that I gifted, those were for me. The M&S snacks were for me.

I hope you guys thought them amazing because that's, you shouldn't turn up empty handed. But the M&S snacks are my childhood. It's like my whole being. So as soon as I get here, I buy a sandwich, a cheese and celery sandwich from Marks & Spencer. Cheese and celery? I didn't even know they did them. That's what everybody says and it's been there since it must have been there for 35 years because I've been having it since forever. So do they grate the

celery? No it's very thinly cut and the cheese is sliced thinly but piled up high on like you know that Marks and Spencer's kind of like not white not brown bread so it's that and then I buy all the tops of the chocolate covered cornflakes and then that's that keeps me going. And they're not for your kids? Absolutely not. You've seen I'm guarding them from everyone. I know. Where's my cats? So and you're going back to LA where you call home? Yes I'm going I actually flying back momentarily. So what will be your order on the plane? Are you going like will you eat the plain food? Do you know what? I'm not a big playing food person what I do like

I will tell you I like the curry on BA that is in economy But let's be honest. It's like I'm not sitting in economy So I usually try and do a deal with whoever's on the plane I'm like, can you get me a meal from down there? Because no, I don't want like the chicken feet and the scarlet one, 100%. But it's like, I don't want the fancy first class food. I want the back of the house food. I'm sure someone in the company will swap with you.

Every single time. They usually have an extra curry, so I get my own way. How different is the first class to the business class? It's different. It's a very different service. And they serve whatever you want. Yeah, they serve whatever you want and you get the tablecloth and you get real China and you get you know salt and pepper, silver on it's own, it's very different.

But you just want the curry in the tin? I just want the curry and a cup of tea. You know I am a fancy food girl, I love a bit of fancy food but not on a plane. Fair enough. We know. We heard about your fancy food. Your batayga turkey. I love that. That's so good. I love that batayga turkey. It's taken me a long time to perfect the batayga turkey. I think I've had a lot of dry turkeys, but I've really nailed it now.

You on the Gram, I mean we're going to talk about you being kind of an incredible entrepreneur and CEO and all of these things, but the food thing, you do good content with food. Well do you know what it was accidental, it's just that that's what I actually love doing the food and I just you know it's just one of those things that to me is like so giving and loving and you know I had to learn to do Thanksgiving because of course we don't do Thanksgiving in England and what I learned is that it's a very different depending on where you're from is a very different way of doing Thanksgiving and so I really had to learn it from someone so my trainer's mother Mrs Nancy

she's just like an unbelievable cook and so she spent the time we're now in our fourth year this year was our fourth year together and so she's really taught me how to cook thanksgiving. So Miss Nancy comes for the thanksgiving? Absolutely and she's amazing she cooks with me for a solid two days like like a full day and she's not missing about she's there with her hair and hair she is like presiding over every part of the meal she's the real deal. And what has Miss Nancy taught you? Well, the first thing she taught me was collard greens. Because I'm pretty good with large joints of meat. But collard greens, we don't do it. Even in the black community, we don't do that in England.

They do. It's not hard. It's a bit like spring greens. It is a bit like spring greens. Or chard. But, I mean, the ingredient is, but the preparation is different. And they cook them for hours and hours.

And you've got to have the right type of ham hock You're gonna have four different types of greens. You have collard greens and you have Mustard greens turnip greens and another greens. Maybe it's three. I don't think we can get all them green. No No, I don't even think I can you take can you take us through because actually what we realized that we had Zoe Saldana on And she talked about how she cooked her rice Loves her food and was telling everybody about her rice and everyone loved it. So if you were going to tell us an Emma Speche, which one would you tell us how to do? Would it be Miss Nancy's collard greens? No it wouldn't. Okay. I've got to be honest with that. It would

probably, it would either be my ham or my roast potato because I think those are the things that I don't let anyone else touch. All right. So I do a very good like Christmas slash Thanksgiving full like bone in gammon. Right. Has to be smoked. I get it from Virginia because that's the place where the pigs are very well looked after in America.

So the ham comes in and it's like smoked but the preparation is like crazy. So I cook it for three and a half hours I've got the hat like this handpan it's like a hand child in there and you put in nigella seeds mustard seeds fennel seeds a bay leaf you do an onion don't take the skin off so you cut a red onion you cut a white onion you have a carrot in there you do a fennel bulb so you're basically just creating like a very aromatic pot. Stalk. Ham goes in. Hands cooking.

Oh, I forgot there's star anise and cloves in there too. Oh, okay. Yeah, that brings like the warmth. Okay, gorgeous. So you know you're getting like the warmth and the Christmassy vibes and it's all happening. Ham goes in three and a half hours. You make a glaze and I do my glaze with like a dark demerara sugar, a bit of like a red currant jelly we say in America, but you know, redcurrant sauce basically,

a thick cut marmalade, you make a beautiful glaze, ham comes out of the pan, you're taking the entire skin off, then you're gonna, you sometimes need to trim the fat, but not always, then you're gonna do like a beautiful diamond pattern all over it, you put all the cloves in, in the middle of each diamond, and then you've got your oven on,

and you're gonna baste the whole thing with the beautiful glaze that you've made. That then goes in the oven, cover the ham, goes in the oven and it just looks like the most beautiful festive, it's like a movie, it's a movie of a ham. But it makes the house smell delicious. The house smells delicious, also it lasts for days so it's one of those things because I always think it's about the leftovers so when you do a sandwich with that ham and you've got this beautiful sourdough bread and the right pickles and like onion marmalade. Are you adding cheese to that? Because I married a Swede they would always add cheese to it.

Where did you meet the Swede? I met him at work. What do you mean at work? We were working together. Well, we were working together. He was my first investor, actually. Okay. Yeah, yeah, double down. You invested well, didn't you? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. In all the ways. How long have you been together?

16 years now. Oh, yeah. 16 years and four kids later. And I, yeah, still love him very much. Yeah, four kids. I got three and did you, it is. Do you feel like going from three to four like simplified it or completely? I didn't go from three to four. I'm not i'm not two to four because oh you've got twins. They were twins

Absolutely, and I had my twins by surrogate and so it was Even more strange in the sense that I didn't carry the twins the twins arrived and of course, you know with ibf You're putting twins in so, you know what you're getting but you can never you can never fully appreciate what two babies at the same time is like even if you've got two kids. Yeah yeah okay yeah that is and having them last as well like yeah yeah. But they're amazing you know now you just you've got four kids you just have to do things differently. How old are the twins? Three. Three years old. Three. And they're adorable. Absolutely adorable.

So do they miss you when you're away? I mean, I'm sure they do. Oh, Mum, I'm just going to ask you. Keep her. This is what she learned to me. No, no, no. Here's the thing. This is the important thing. I'm sure they do, but that's not something I let trouble me.

And I'll be really honest about that, because I do think that, for someone like me, I have a lot of businesses, I have a lot of priorities. You're travelling all around the world. I'm travelling all the time but the truth of it is I choose to travel, I choose to leave them. It's not like anyone's like, you've got to get on a plane. That's my choice. That's my ambition that does that.

And so I'm really honest about the fact I'm usually quite happy to leave them in a way. It's so funny because a couple of months ago, my daughter said to me, my eight year old daughter, she was like, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry that you have to go to New York. And I was like, why? And she said, well, it must be so lonely. And I was like, no love, I have an amazing time.

I think she thought when I travel, it was a hardship. I was like, babe, I sleep diagonal. I'm in a hotel suite all by myself. Mommy really loves it when she leaves you know and she's like oh you do I was like yeah and actually I think it made her feel a little bit better about things but you know I do you know I try presents when you're away besides chocolate cornflakes well they're not for them they're not even know no do they not know about Percy pigs no my kids don't eat candy which is the weirdest thing

How do you know she's in sweets? They're just not into it. I don't know what it is I've took my elders to a kind of fussy eaters, which was someone like me who's a real foodie It's like pay me. Yeah, man Also when you grew up with like not enough food and now we have plenty and I'm like and you lot are not eating properly Like what is that? So I've got two that are amazing eaters and two that are a little bit true. But back to your children and working because I had so many friends of mine that passed around your your woman's hour interview that you did and that you said and as somebody that does work hard that's just been away for

10 days that my eight-year year old was less forgiving about it. She was like... Torturing you? She was just, I mean FaceTime's annoying anyway, isn't it? FaceTime is annoying, because you can get them in a wrong moment. You have to like, the FaceTime I try to ease up on. But I think that she kept on seeing me like,

with the blue sky behind me and she'd be, and she was confused because she was like, I thought you were supposed to be working. And I'm like, yeah, I'm waiting for a bugger to wake up in Los Angeles. They start so late in Los Angeles, music people. It's so annoying. Oh, okay, because we are the early birds of life in LA.

Yeah, it's so, yeah, but it's, they're like, yeah, should we start at two? I'm like, God save the two. Jump's at six. But anyway, she was just, I think she was kind of confused, but I remember your women's hour interview that you did, I think maybe a year or so ago. I think it was like a year ago and and you talked about being the parent that

isn't gonna be at every pick-up and drop-off at school and for somebody who punishes themselves a lot of the time for not being able to do it all the time I found that yeah but I felt I felt so many of my girlfriends really it resonated really well with them and it was passed around as like, oh, thank you, I'm a forever fresher. Well, I think with it, motherhood is one of those things that there's such an expectation. And in my experience is that everyone

has a totally different experience and a totally different set of ways that they mother. And for me, it's always been about, well, my ambition didn't disappear when I had kids. In fact, I remember having gray and feeling like the most ambitious I ever was when I sat in that hospital bed. Cause I was like, well, now I know what it's all for.

Now I've got this like living, breathing human being that's gonna rely on me. And so I was like, get me out of this bed. I've got to get back to work. But I think on the mothering thing, like, I'm really honest, I think about myself as like a three hour mom. It's like, I'm really honest. I think about myself as like a three hour mum. It's like, I'm really great for about three hours.

And after that, I'm kind of over it. Like noon on a Saturday, I'm like, I'm ready to do my own thing. And that's just my choice. And that's just the way that I feel. And I think a lot of people feel guilted into feeling like every waking hour that they need to be somehow in service of their kids. It's like, I just don't feel like that. And I also think kids are super resilient.

Like my job is not to usher them through life and figure out everything for them. It's like, we're here together, I'm in an experience and they need to see me. I think that, you know, we mostly think about raising our kids and leading by example, right? It's like you behave a way that you want your kids to behave. If you're empathetic, they're going to be empathetic. If you're a good person, chances are they will model

that behavior. And so me being ambitious, me being unashamed about what it is that's important to me, I think it's just teaching them to prioritize what they really want to do. So I don't get that like pang of guilt about it because I'm like, this is just us being honest with each other. Have your kids told you what they want to be when they're older? Do they want to be CEOs? No, do you know what? It's so funny. So my it's really, it's actually really funny. My oldest son is 100% going to be in some kind of creative business.

If you ask my daughter, I'm always like, do you wanna come and like, you know, come to the office and be with mommy? And she's like, no, thank you. I wanna write my own story. Ooh, is that the eight year old? Yeah, the eight year old. She's fierce, like really, really fierce. So I don't think that they're going to do

anything like what I do. I think they're really like individual and very independent kids. Can we talk about your growing up, you were raised by your mum in East London. That's right. And what did she, mum said that she worked for Morgan Stanley, was it?

Yes, she did, absolutely. My mum was a banker, so she, it's really interesting, actually, because she started her career as a window dresser, so she was a creative person. And I think she just ended up in banking because she needed something that was secure and she needed something that felt like her version of like this is what you're supposed to do when you're a grown-up and I don't think she felt like she could rely on a creative career like as in those days it just

wasn't so defined and so solid and so she thought like working in a bank was what you do when you're like a responsible mom of four kids. And I don't know that she had that much choice. She just, you know, like a lot of people fell into a job and went with that job and went with the momentum and ended up at Morgan Stanley. And she made a great living, but I think it was a very hard place to be,

like in banking 30 years ago as like a woman. A woman, yeah. Yeah, it would have been tough. She would have had sausage party in there. 100%. hard place to be like in banking 30 years ago as like a you know a woman yeah would have been tough. Sausage party in there. 100% It's full of willies mum. Oh my god is that what you call it? Yeah. That's a good one. It is. It would otherwise sound like a party we would definitely want to be at because I love a sausage. Love. I have two sausages every morning when I'm in England. Do you? Yeah, and brown sauce, that's my breakfast every day. Ooh, you know what, I have to say,

I think that, I'm sure you're gonna say you're a HP girl because like, I mean, however, may I just put in front of you the Simon Rogan, who is an amazing chef, his brown sauce, it is a different texture and it's slightly sweeter, but it's heaven on earth. Like different texture, like It's in a jar. Oh okay so it's harder. It's a bit harder, a bit firmer. I mean I'll try it. It's stunning. I'm not gonna you know fully step in and endorse it or anything. It's HP, it's HP. HP I've just got. It's classic also do you know what I really

enjoy the way that looks. Me too. It's like it's such an aesthetic. Hasn't it got the Houses of Parliament on the front? I think you're right. I think you're right. Very English. I wondered if it was that. I didn't know this. It's got Big Ben hasn't it? No it's not. That's a great pub quiz question. No it's not Houses of Parliament. I'm like a white. Hold on. Hang on. It's her house. What? Is HP what it stands for? Please no. No, no. Our whole lives. We've just got the houses of Parliament from the front. No, but it's HP.

Houses of Parliament. Yeah, I told you. No, that's such good trivia, mum. I need to leave immediately. That's a lot of information for me right now. How have I eaten that my whole life? No one saw Big Ben. With zero curiosity for what it actually stands for either. That is very. Information for me right now. How have I eaten that my whole life? No one saw me bent. No one saw that.

With zero curiosity for what it actually stands for either That is very No seriously. Are you impressed? Yeah The breadth of my knowledge is incredible I was already impressed by you after the Swedish Ibiza story but now Actually let's talk about some other sources Please can we Okay so we watched, we're recording this the day after your

episode of Dragons Den went out You're a guest judge again, and you invested in Two brothers. Yeah the best Lumberjacks lumberjacks What was the ginger one called Jaden Jaden they're just the Jaden's not the 21 year old. Wait a minute. Jaden and Brendan. Brendan's the oldest one.

Brendan's the oldest one. Who just sobbed the whole time. I mean he was literally. But he looked. He's a father of five. He's 30 what? He's 31 and a father of five. He was just tired.

He was just tired. I can't believe all these kids. No, I have to tell you. I mean first of all, their pitch, they're exactly the reason to do a show. Yeah. Of Dragons, right? Because you're talking about two boys raised by a single mum, there's four brothers, they are just unbelievable.

But the energy from the younger ones. Could you feel it? So smart. Wow. I mean, so smart and so informed. Probably had so little opportunity as well. Well, that's the whole point. I mean, and you look at what they've done,

they put 100 quid each into this brand and they are foodies. They grew up with a granddad that was obsessed with barbecue and fighting over bits of chicken. And so when it came to starting a business, the whole thing was like, this is what we know. And this is like, we wanna make it like easy. This is different branding.

Emma, Emma got her way. I went straight in. I was like, we gotta make that look relevant for today's audience. In this sense, they are experts when it comes to food and flavor profiles. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs believe they have to be good at everything. And you very rarely are.

Use the knife, darling. I think they're amazing because they actually listened. And they were like, you know what, Emma, you're right. It does, it looks better. Look at this, this is gonna jump off the supermarket shelf. Oh, Brendan's kind of still on there. He's just now got a brown figure instead of a ginger.

Yeah, you know, I've reached to hold him. You reached to hold him. You gave him the glow up. But how gorgeous is this? Has he still got a plaid shirt on? He actually does, for sure. I've been with him a couple of days this week. And have they moved their premises to a bigger place?

Well, they're doing a couple of things because you have to find, they've got to find a lot of distribution. And he is hoping that, you know, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Asor, Morrison's, wherever you are everybody, come and knock on my door because these guys need to be in a major supermarket and that is what I'm excited about. Are you going to be using the Louisiana Cajun and the occasion mac and cheese bag?

A thousand percent, but you know the one I love is the moonshine magic. I like that name. That is, what is in that? This is the mango one. moonshine magic it's over that is and they go yeah so it's like a really gorgeous like fruity spicy have a little and that's actually the biggest seller oh really yeah that's the top seller which is actually so interesting but you know it's like I love the tins I love what they do they're really great flavors it's good no oh like And they go really good on a bit

of fish or on a bit of chicken. It is good. It is good. I'd definitely put that on chicken. You definitely put it on chicken. And it's so nice because these are clean because what you have to imagine like a lot of seasonings are full of fillers. If you can't read the ingredients on the back we know we shouldn't have it and there's very little salt content, very little sugar content, all natural ingredients, no fillers, no stabilizers, no nothing. No that is remarkable. Very very good. What were you eating when you were growing up? So your mum was working full time.

I cooked for the kids. I assume you cooked for everyone. That's how I learned. Are you the oldest? I am, I'm the oldest of four. Of four. Mm hmm. And was your dad around at all? He was not around at all, you know, I rekindled with my dad in my kind of late teens

So maybe like 18 19, but he wasn't present for my childhood now. We're great friends He calls me every week on a Sunday just before lunch, you know chats to my kids But I didn't grow up with him But I did have like a lot a lot of, my dad's black, my mom's white, and I had a lot of people around me in terms of friends of my mom's that really kind of kept that culture, and especially that food culture in my life.

And so for me, that's a huge part of what I love cooking. So where was he from the Caribbean? Yes, absolutely. My dad is actually Trinidadian. Oh wow. Yeah, who's Trinidadian? Does he sound like that? No, he doesn't. He sounds like a bloke from East London. He's been here his whole life. Oh, I love that Trinidadian. It's a good, it's like a sing-song accent. It's gorgeous. It's one of the best Caribbean accents. It is the best, I think. It's so true. And you just think of cricket whenever you hear it really. It's so true. That beautiful accent wasn't he never even visited no you know it's so interesting because you

always wonder you know my mom and dad broke up when I was like five or six and you know there was messy it was not like a kind loving you know what do they call it now they did not unconscious consciously uncouple yeah that was not it they very consciously very traumatically uncoupled and scarred the shit out of all of us. Having said that, I, you know, my mum was like a very, very, very strong and still is a very, very, very strong person. So I never felt like this big gaping hole of not having a dad. I had a granddad, I had my uncles, I had a lot of like men, male figures around me and I honestly, you know, I was very, very happy to reunite with my dad.

So culturally, food-wise, you were eating English food. You weren't eating... A bit of a mixture, actually. Yeah. Was your mum any good at cooking from the start? She said she's really not a good cook. My mum's not good at cooking English food, quite frankly. She's like a two-dish person. She wasn't going to branch out. She can cook jerk chicken and she can do an Irish stew. Yeah.

That's her two dishes. Do you have a good recipe for jerk? Because I don't like very hot. Oh, I understand. And I like Duns River the powder. Oh, you do? Yeah. No, I like a paste fresh.

Do they do a jerk? Do they do a... They do, they do. Yeah, because... And it's very good, but I never liked the sauce because, you know, so first I should say that I grew up with a Jamaican stepfather and I learned to cook jerk

from my step-granddad, if you like. But it was always about a paste, like you make a paste in a blender and it's very hot. I had to give it away to you because the paste was so hot. It made my eyes, I couldn't even eat it. No, you can't even, as a kid I remember the mistake of like putting your face like in the thing to sniff and it just burned your eyes off.

Just smelling it, the scotch bonnet will take your head off. It's so good. Whereabouts were you in East London? We were in Plastow. Okay. Yeah. So, a memorable meal from your childhood. I'm getting worried now.

Would it be the Irish stew or the jerk chicken or would it be something that you made for everybody that was a winner? I think it would probably be something, I or the jerk chicken or would it be something that you made for everybody that was a winner? I think it would probably be something I would say that would not it probably be something that I made I mean we grew up like, you know, very simple It was all like bacon sandwiches cheese on toast and like chicken rice and salad It was like very very simple and like as a treat you'd have a spaghetti bolognese or a roast dinner Like those were the things that I grew up having and a lot of takeaways.

Like I loved, yeah. Really? Really? A lot. Like we loved a Chinese, we loved an Indian. It was like so good. What's your Chinese order? That is probably my go-to meal of life. I like crispy aromac duck, you know,

with the pancakes and the plum sauce. That just to me is like the absolute best thing. And you know, I'd like an egg fried rice and I want a wonton soup and it's like I want the prawn crackers and chicken chowmein like the whole thing I need like the whole shebang and that's the problem with living in America you can't get that kind of Chinese food. No it's just different it doesn't well it just of course you probably can I should correct myself it just doesn't taste like I want it to taste. I want it to taste like the Chinese, like English takeaway from the Forest Gate roundabout. That's what I need with curry

sauce in a polystyrene cup, not a fancy Chinese. I was always touched when you look in the supermarkets, you can get Chinese curry sauce. You can. Yeah, you can buy Chinese curry sauce to make your Chinese curry chicken. You need to go back to make your Chinese curry chicken. Can you show that to the supermarket? I need to do another supermarket run. It's funny because it must emanate from being in takeaways.

In takeaways, for sure, 100%. I missed your seat at the table. I know, I so wanted you there. And thank you for the invite. Of course. I would love to know about how that started and also well who do you decide to invite and also cuisine wise how do you go with like the meals. So can you explain to people that don't know what you're at the table with. Absolutely. So I think honestly the the basic premise was that when

you are a young founder and you know, or like, you know, a young person starting their career, you're never really invited anywhere that's useful. And suddenly you get successful, and much like you, everyone invites you everywhere and you either don't really wanna go or you're too busy. And so the premise of a seat at the table was for me to bring together

people that are just getting started, founders that are just on their way that might have certain questions about what they're doing, and a lot of very, very established women. And when I say established women, I mean those that are established in their career, but also my network, my lawyers, my managers, people that have helped me get through tricky situations,

people that wanna invest in female-funded and led businesses. And so it's really about bringing a group of people together that can be useful to one another because I have this theory that women spend a lot of time thinking about networking but it's not networking that makes you successful it's knowing how to use the network knowing how to use people to your advantage and I think men do that much more easily than women do and I'm doing a big sweeping massive generalization on purpose because I'm

trying to constantly say to people it's okay to ask for stuff it's okay to not know and women you know in that pursuit of kind of perfection always feeling like you need to be the best at everything and certainly you shouldn't show your weaknesses or when you're not good or you don't know something we try to do everything in businesses and it's like no you shouldn't be everything you should be the best Podcaster in the world and then you should use other people to figure out what are the you know selling at the ads look like You wouldn't like try to light and film your own podcast any more than you should try to go out and raise the finance for it So it's really about

Extending the natural networks of women so that they can be successful and get shit done. Sorry, I keep tapping on the table. So that they can get shit done. No, you're gestural and I love it. And honestly, what I try to do, because I've done them in New York and in LA and in London, I'm really trying to force a conversation. And so at the start of those dinners, I actually tell everyone, like, the purpose today is

for you to get to know each other but to be honest about like where are you getting stuck like what are your problems right now because there will be someone in the room that's either been there or is willing to help you and then when you set that up when that's the intention what happens is that magic in the room and everybody speaks like two nights ago when we did this I think I had like 45 people in the room, I reckon 25 of them stood up and spoke. And then there was a lot of private conversations going on so no one just stays at the table. So it's just a really lovely thing that I started.

And actually what I've seen is like, people are really making them work for them. Like they actually like get in that room and all these like friendships happen. And I'm like, that's exactly what I wanted wanted I wanted women to get together and actually figure out Wow mom how they help each other. That looks gorgeous. That looks insane. Is it mango? Oh my god can I just, it smells amazing. Mum and this is before you knew about the old moonshine magic. She's like chili... Is that mango?

Or is it potato? Oh my god, I'm so excited. There's no way I'm eating the shit on the plane now, am I? You don't need your curry now, Bates, do you? Well, it's a long flight. What are you going to be watching on the plane? Or do you want to go to sleep? I sleep and then I work.

I always do it that way around because on a long flight like that, if you try to work while you're tired, you're just not doing the best job. So it's like I'll sleep and then I work. I always do it that way around because on a long flight like that, if you try to work while you're tired, you're just not doing the best job. So it's like I'll sleep and then I'll choose. I'll bang it out for four hours. So you don't just have that time to just switch off. You're always on. Yes. That's the honest truth. Yeah. I'm not going to lie to you. I think that there's a trade off with all of these things, you know, and you have to be willing to do what other people won't do, and you've got to be willing to take a lot of shit that other people won't. And, you know, so I think that we shouldn't lie about these things.

Yeah, I work too much. I do a lot. And I'm probably not as rested as I could. But on the flip side of that, I really have an amazing life, and I love what I do, and I'm really happy to be in the position that I am. Have you ever reached burnout? Um, honestly no because I'm too selfish and that's the truth. I stop myself. Can I help you? I've been knackered. Oh yes please.

I've been absolutely at that breaking point but I think I know myself enough to pull it back. And I think that would have happened to pull it back and I think that would have happened to me when I was younger but certainly now it's like I schedule... I'm a witch but a chicken. On my other leg please. Thank you. Or any brown meat like I'll do a fire, I'll do whatever comes out. So you said schedule self-care? I really do. Every day? Every single day. I'm a meditator. What kind of meditation do you do? Transcendental meditation.

My friend wants me, for my 40th he said that he thinks it would be life changing for me so I need to do the course. I think it's life changing. I did the course. Me and my husband did four days. Yeah. Thank you very, very, very much. Thank you mum. So you and your husband learnt for four days? Yeah we did. Was it a full-time course? No and somebody comes to your house and it's very like ritualistic and it's for a few hours but actually really because I've been meditating for a long time but not and let me just be honest about the

transcendental you're supposed to do like two 20-minute sessions a day. So people are gonna be like, Emma, you're not trans in dental meditation because you're only doing one session. I do 20 minutes in the morning and sometimes maybe every 10 days, I get the second 20 minutes in. You could do it on the plane today though.

Exactly, and so things like that, I will do it on the plane or if it's a weekend, maybe I'll fit the second session in, but it's hard for me to get the second session. What's it like? Delicious, nice. Yeah, it's lovely. Absolutely, oh, and this has got's it like? Delicious mum. Yeah it's lovely. Absolutely. And this has got a bit of spice in it, you don't not like spice. I know she's got a lot in. Well yeah she

but mum tell her is it Ravinder Bogle? Yeah. Shout out Ravinder. Absolutely. Delicious. Giacconi? No I haven't. Is it delicious? It's amazing you've got to go. Where is it? In Marlabone. Just near Chiltern. So this is kind of coconut. Oh, what's that other Indian restaurant that I love in Marlabone? Trishna. Oh, I've never been. Oh my god, guys, it's amazing.

Was it? So it's done with coconut milk. Oh, it's absolutely. It's really lovely, mom. Can I tell you, it's absolutely delicious, I'm not joking. This is yum. Have you eaten well whilst you've been here mmm I really have I always go back to all my favorite restaurant

what's your favorite restaurant you know I'm a classic person I like Scott's I like Scott's fish restaurant yeah because I feel like the fish is so good in England last night I went to Arlington which is like a great a new spot isn't it's a new spot but all the old recipes you, all the stuff that we love. Great. Which was delicious. So when you get back home, what will be the first thing that you cook? Probably an omelette.

I'm one of these people that just loves an egg in any form. Babe, I wrote a food memoir called Omelette. Really? Yes, I did. And a good omelette is a thing of beauty, you know? Now are you one that likes to kind of almost scramble it first and you make it almost like a kind of a Japanese slash French? I do it like the chefs do.

I do like a semi scramble. And then I let it pool together and I'm not an overcooker and I'm a folder. Do you know what? I've tried. I cannot. I do a wooden spoon. A wooden spoon. A wooden spoon? Not even a spatula?

A wooden spoon! Isn't that insane? Every time someone sees me do it they're like, what are you doing? And it works. And I have the most rank old wooden spoons as well that you'd look at and be like, what is living in your wooden spoons? And what frying pan are you using? I'm using like a lovely, I have like copper pans. I like a copper pan for an omelette, but you know, I'll go in some non-stick thing that my,

you know, whatever. ["Jingle Bells"] Can I tell you what is the magnificence of this curry that we're eating? The potatoes. Oh do you like that? Oh they are like cooked to perfection. I also like that you've left them in such big pieces. It's a really good recipe. What is this recipe? So Ravinda Bogle is one of our, she's been on our podcast, she's amazing. She's the one, she's the one that we want you to go to the restaurant, Giacchoni. I will, I will 100% go with this. She's amazing.

This is what I'm in for. She makes, she calls it immigrant home cooking and she, so it's kind of, she'll do the most, one of the sexiest starters in London, which is a prawn scotch egg with banana ketchup. It's unbelievable. Sorry, I'm sorry. One second. What happened? Delicious. It's a prawn scotch egg. So instead of the sausage, that's unbelievable. I'm sorry, one second, what happened? Delicious. It's a corn, scotch egg, so instead of the sausage,

that's like minced corn with an egg, and then a banana ketchup, it's, yeah, stunning. She's amazing. Why has nobody told me? She's amazing. Oh my God, that's insane. Do you always stay? I also love a scotch egg.

Me too. When a scotch egg is good, what is that pub that's like right by Scotch like on Mount Street? Is it the? We went last week. So good. What is it? Mount Street, Hoag's Hill. Is it on Mount Street? Yeah. Oh my goodness. The Scotch egg in there. We had it. You cut it and it's perfection on the inside. It's so good. Yeah, we love it. So we, this is delicious Ravinda you're excellent this is delicious mum thank you. It's actually it's really delicious. Do you want some more sauce?

I'll have another potato if it's going because I'm a carb person. I don't feel like I've eaten unless there's like a mixture of carbs in there. We ask everybody their last supper. Mm-hmm. So you've got to start a main food drink of choice. All right, start a main. Okay, so I've already spoken about my love of Chinese food, but I guess, oh my God, I don't know that my last supper would actually go together. It doesn't matter.

Does it not matter? It can just be like my favorite, like my absolute favorite thing. So all right, so I'm gonna, because I'm dyslexic, I'm gonna do it all the one way around. Okay. Probably would be curry go, rice and peas,

and fried plantains. Like that would be- That's the main? That would make me so happy. That would be my main. Then I would have a jam roly poly, you know, like the suet pudding, like old school, out of the oven. No ice cream, no custard, controversial.

I don't want anything. Maybe some extra thick double cream from Marks and Spencer's. So like not anywhere else, that combination. Where have you had this that you've loved it? All right, so let me just tell you, Marks and Spencer's used to do in a packet, you know like they do the chocolate puddings, they used to do it that way.

And like in a packet that you put in the oven for like 30 minutes and it would be crusty but then suey and squidgy on the inside and like loads of like raspberry jam yeah don't do it anymore so I learned to cook it pudding is not an easy thing no never quite got it to where I want it but it is delicious it's like a good dessert and then the starter what would I have as a starter honestly you know I like I'm a cured meat girl like I do like a good like if the parma ham is perfect and like the melon is perfect and the like you know it's like that's a kind of charcuterie board I used to work in a deli as a kid oh yeah and so I learned all about the different salamis, the different meats.

I would have to slice mortadella. It used to make me feel like... Oh, it's not gorgeous cooking, is it? But I liked the whole thing of all the different meats. So I'd probably do a charcuterie board, mixed some lardos, and delicious salami. I'd really get into it. It'd be very, it's a heavy meal.

And what do you, you're practically dying after that. That's fine. And then, drink, do you drink? Yeah, I love a drink. What's your drink choice? It's red wine, I love an Italian. But you know, like I punch in the face.

I don't want a Pinot Noir or something like, I want a Barolo or a Baboresco. Yeah, Monchi Pulici. Mm-hmm, Puccione. All the things. I can do a Bordeaux, but I really like Italian ones. Juicy. Mm.

Heavy. Have you had to deal with a lot of pinot noir in your time in the States? Yeah, they love a pinot noir on a plane, don't they? It's always that pinot or chardonnay. I'm like, neither. Do you keep your skins on when you're eating? Or do you have to take them off to get the room?

I will be really honest, I'm not like a shapewear everyday girl, I'm a shapewear occasion girl, but I wear skims undies, fits everybody, every single day. I'm gonna put it out there, skims, God bless skims that they came along and saved me with this shapewear. I wear their bras like I've got tiny little things. These ones, they're so good.

I love them. Have you got them on now? It's a great one. I haven't got Skims shorts on. Did you know you're gonna be eating a lot? No but that's fine. It expands with you. They're fine. Okay. There's different levels to the shapewear. You know you've got that and then you've got the ones I've had you try to not breathe to get them on Well, that's cuz you're Spanx. I mean, I don't say listen It's a new generation. I'll hook you up. Don't you worry skims is the greatest you worry the greatest gift I'm going to greatest gift to all my friends who are teachers or teachers or have never really had to wear shapewear as much as I have and they wore it for my 40th and I said just get yourself some bloody skims and I went through it and they were like what is this sorcery?

So would it, so it's not the same as wearing? No, it's just better. It's just better. So you don't have to, because I'm always worried when I'm pushing everything in it's not going to go through. No, no, no, no, it sucks it in and sometimes your belly that was the lower belly, sometimes you then have... It's higher. Look, it doesn't go up to your throat.

Absolutely not. Promise you. Okay. Oh my god, mum, that looks gorgeous. What now? What is that? What is there? Do you need another cup of tea to go with this? Oh my gosh, yeah, maybe. I mean, I don't want to keep your mum

just moving the whole time. Thank you, mum. But go on. Yeah. Babe, should we put the cup up there? What are you setting up? Thank you, darling. It's, I forgot what it is.

It's a yogurt cake with orange and lemon and yogurt and orange curd with cure. Help yourself to fruit. Yeah I will thank you. Another delicious mouthful. Mum, you've absolutely killed the cooking today. I like it. First of all, the sauce situation on the top is heaven. It's gorgeous isn't it?

With that little crunchy almond. I also love that it's not too sweet because I love dessert, but I kind of want like a, I don't want to say savoury, like just not a crazy sweet dessert, you know? No. Like I'd rather have a piece of bread than a sweet, sweet, sweet thing. This is absolutely heaven. Whose recipe is this? Yotam.

Yotam. Oh, we love. My favourite. One of the things I miss most in England is Atalange. So he says to make the orange curd I bought Delce with organic and mixed it with the yogurt. You're forgiven. I think that's okay. That's very Nora Ephron of you. Yeah and it's clementine as well not orange. I still think it's nice We're enjoying it this is amazing mum Mmm this is it's honestly so delicious Yeah amazing um so you're gonna make an omelette when you get home

I will definitely make an omelette What will be in the omelette? Oh my god I don't put anything in No cheese nothing I don't put anything in. No cheese, nothing. No. Because in my house they're like why are you making an omelette instead of making scrambled eggs?

It's just a texture thing that I I don't want anything in an omelette. And when you say that to people they'll give you a little bit of cheese. No thank you sir. It's the omelette, salt, pepper, it's here. That's forgiven. I mean that's what I here. That's forgiven. I mean, that's what I like.

That's fine. That's just what I like. That's fine. Yeah, I don't want a ham, I definitely don't want an onion or a bit of green pepper. You know what you want, Emma. I'm very clear about what I want. And I'm the most specific person in the world.

Can your husband cook? No, he's a great sous chef. I mean, he can cook, but black. You know, he's not a... When I first met him I think I introduced him to food you know he's someone that thinks of food as fuel. Yes. And if I have one bad meal it ruins my day. Mate me too. So it's just a different level like he can cook a chicken he can cook a you know delicious mashed potato but he's not like winning any awards. Do you like a cocktail Emma? I love a cocktail.

I love a cocktail, I love a glass of wine. Yeah, but what's your cocktail? You know, I like tequila straight, like a good 1942. You and Ruth Rogers. Yeah, because it's all different. Yeah, mum, isn't it good for you? It's the 90.2. It's the 90.2.

When I supported Harry Styles, he left a bottle of that in my room. Did you drink it? I fucking down that shit. I didn't realize how expensive it was until I saw I had to buy another one. Can I tell you the same thing? I actually, it's really sweet because

1942 did the cocktails for this particular dinner and they give me a beautiful bottle which I left for my dad, who obviously immediately like Googled it and he's like, you know I'm not! So I was like, yes, and that's why it's a gift, be happy. Yes, exactly. No, it's a gift, be happy. Yes, exactly.

No, that's a delicious choice. Do you have it with ice or just? Yeah, but I like one block of ice, preferably like a ceiling. You know, it's like I'm on a circle of ice. One giant one. Where do you go for cocktails? That's where I keep ice in my fridge.

Where do you go for cocktails in LA? Beverly Hills Hotel or the Bel Air Hotel. Both of those have like beautiful bars that are so nice. And London? In London, I'm a Claridge's girl. I like the fumeur in Claridge's. We love Claridge's. Do you remember we used to go in there was a Gordon Ramsay restaurant.

Yeah, I think there still is. Yeah, we loved it. I think there still is. That's where I stay in London. I like the floor, it's black and white. It's just beautiful. It really is one of the best hotels in the world. Emma I don't really want you to go. I don't want to go. What's next? What's our next course? No, breakfast. That's it. Yeah breakfast. Stay over.

Thank you so much for coming on. You're completely fascinating and brilliant and inspiring and brilliant fun and it's just been a pleasure to meet you and pick your brains about bits and bobs. No, honestly I love you both for it this is like such an amazing dynamic and I got fed and I mean your kitchen I've had two cups of tea. I love that thank you for having me, this was amazing and delicious. Delicious. Thank you. She's a force of nature. She's so beautiful, so much energy. So dynamic. Fabulous. Generous. She's just an absolute delight, a gorgeous woman. Food was delicious, mum.

Thank you darling. Ten out of ten. Ravinda, darling Ravinda, that was the best recipe. Where was it? Was it in the garden? The garden. And the yotams delicious, that was amazing. Yoghurt cake. I may steal that to go and give it to my mother-in-law if that's okay.

It was so easy. That was lovely. You sift all the dry ingredients and then you just add the wet ingredients and it's not made with dairy, it's olive oil. Oh. But it's yogurt cake. Well you could use your synthetic, your coconut yogurt. I have cow's milk. Yeah no but if you wanted for a vegan you could have put delicious so delicious Yeah, and Emma, thank you for coming on. She's off to the airport now. I don't think she's gonna need to eat on the flight I don't think she will and do you feel like me me and you should get on the old Emails and laptop and start planning the next season now one. Yeah, I'd strategy for table manners You can see all her energy definitely is what's the ingredients for being a successful entrepreneur and CEO and her

enthusiasm. Yeah, big fan, big fan here. Love her. Thank you so much and we'll see you next week. Thanks for watching!