1 00:00:02,210 --> 00:00:03,670 Lucy: This is Lecker. 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:05,170 I'm Lucy Dearlove. 3 00:00:07,100 --> 00:00:09,930 This is July's installment of the Lecker book club. 4 00:00:11,180 --> 00:00:15,000 Each month an episode highlights a recent food related publication 5 00:00:15,019 --> 00:00:17,689 through an interview with the person responsible for writing it. 6 00:00:19,020 --> 00:00:20,570 This one is a little bit different though. 7 00:00:20,860 --> 00:00:24,879 Firstly, because this book isn't technically fully recently published. 8 00:00:25,870 --> 00:00:29,790 London Feeds Itself was first published back in September 22, a 9 00:00:29,790 --> 00:00:34,100 collaboration between Vittles founder and co editor Jonathan Nunn and the 10 00:00:34,109 --> 00:00:35,979 architectural charity Open City. 11 00:00:37,089 --> 00:00:40,540 Through 25 essays by different writers, including Jeremy Corbyn on 12 00:00:40,540 --> 00:00:44,530 his allotment and Claudia Roden on Hampstead Garden suburb, threaded 13 00:00:44,530 --> 00:00:48,059 together by notes on restaurants, areas and communities by Jonathan. 14 00:00:48,385 --> 00:00:54,665 He explores eating and cooking and being fed and feeding within the city. 15 00:00:54,925 --> 00:00:58,824 The first edition, with its striking purple cover, library book esque 16 00:00:58,864 --> 00:01:02,425 perspex dust cover, and pull out poster of a huge, beautiful collage 17 00:01:02,454 --> 00:01:06,884 map of London by Anna Hodgson and Harry Derby, sold out almost immediately. 18 00:01:07,345 --> 00:01:10,985 But anyone who missed out would have been happy to hear the news of version 2. 19 00:01:11,035 --> 00:01:14,855 0, published in collaboration with Fitzcarraldo in March this year, 20 00:01:15,215 --> 00:01:17,415 with a new cover and two new essays. 21 00:01:18,765 --> 00:01:22,674 The idea of centering the architecture of London's spaces for eating and 22 00:01:22,674 --> 00:01:26,425 cooking is unusual in food writing, restaurant writing in particular, 23 00:01:26,815 --> 00:01:30,019 where food and stories from the table can exist nakedly on the plate. 24 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,089 Divorced of any physical or emotional context. 25 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:39,069 Instead, London Feeds Itself embeds eating as part of the city's physical 26 00:01:39,070 --> 00:01:44,099 culture, and so expresses without ambiguity how the politics, geography 27 00:01:44,100 --> 00:01:48,689 and economics of life affect what we eat and those who produce and cook it for us. 28 00:01:50,274 --> 00:01:54,225 As the back cover of the first edition put it, this book shows that the true centres 29 00:01:54,225 --> 00:01:58,845 of London food culture can be found in ever more creative uses of space, eked 30 00:01:58,945 --> 00:02:00,914 out by the people who make up the city. 31 00:02:02,534 --> 00:02:06,695 This is particularly evident in Melek Erdal's essay, The Warehouse. 32 00:02:07,534 --> 00:02:09,914 Hidden people, hidden spaces, it begins. 33 00:02:11,185 --> 00:02:16,175 In it, Melek, a Kurdish chef, writer and storyteller, Born in Istanbul and 34 00:02:16,175 --> 00:02:20,375 who moved with her parents to London as a child, describes the physical 35 00:02:20,375 --> 00:02:23,645 shock of the experience she had accidentally going back to one of the 36 00:02:23,645 --> 00:02:27,495 northeast London warehouses where her parents worked in textile factories. 37 00:02:27,904 --> 00:02:30,904 Melek: It felt so surreal sitting there and I think I felt 38 00:02:30,925 --> 00:02:32,225 even more resentful about it. 39 00:02:32,900 --> 00:02:38,480 having a flapjack when I knew the incredible meals that happened in that 40 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,570 space, in that secret space, you know? 41 00:02:42,179 --> 00:02:44,690 Lucy: Honestly, I've wanted to interview Melek for ages, having 42 00:02:44,690 --> 00:02:46,279 loved her writing for a long time. 43 00:02:46,759 --> 00:02:50,810 Her poetic, meandering recipe column in Vittles is something I 44 00:02:50,829 --> 00:02:52,620 drop everything to read every time. 45 00:02:53,140 --> 00:02:56,190 And so I jumped at the chance to have breakfast at her house and 46 00:02:56,220 --> 00:03:00,119 talk about her London Feeds Itself essay, and also more broadly about 47 00:03:00,119 --> 00:03:01,870 London and about Kurdish food. 48 00:03:02,965 --> 00:03:06,954 Melek: There's absolutely no way you're coming to, like, to my home 49 00:03:06,954 --> 00:03:10,795 and not being fed, that's like, absolutely ridiculous and rude. 50 00:03:11,235 --> 00:03:14,935 You're coming to my home for the first time, and you've schlepped 51 00:03:14,945 --> 00:03:19,435 all the way from, like, not even Lewisham, like, further away from 52 00:03:19,595 --> 00:03:20,765 that, actually, when we think about it. 53 00:03:20,785 --> 00:03:24,415 Lucy: Yeah, I mean, technically, but, you know, I'm glad to be here. 54 00:03:24,685 --> 00:03:26,765 Melek: Of course I'm going to feed you, of course. 55 00:03:26,765 --> 00:03:28,844 Right, 56 00:03:30,905 --> 00:03:31,945 regular tea? 57 00:03:32,474 --> 00:03:33,075 Lucy: Yes, please. 58 00:03:33,075 --> 00:03:33,505 Like, Fiji tea? 59 00:03:33,505 --> 00:03:33,559 You're welcome. 60 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:33,810 Pidgey tips. 61 00:03:34,359 --> 00:03:34,879 What was that? 62 00:03:34,879 --> 00:03:35,350 Pidgey tips? 63 00:03:35,350 --> 00:03:35,909 Yeah, great. 64 00:03:36,159 --> 00:03:36,359 Perfect. 65 00:03:36,769 --> 00:03:37,230 Melek: Great. 66 00:03:38,570 --> 00:03:43,130 So, I went to Green Lanes, you know, my favourite, uh, street. 67 00:03:43,539 --> 00:03:46,950 I love going there for like, me time on the weekend. 68 00:03:47,279 --> 00:03:50,789 So I have like these favourite grocers for different things. 69 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,075 So like, every grocer, uh, has something that I love. 70 00:03:54,075 --> 00:03:56,385 So there's Doslar Supermarket. 71 00:03:56,584 --> 00:03:59,674 They get like their spring onions from allotments and their cucumbers. 72 00:03:59,755 --> 00:04:00,864 So I go there for that. 73 00:04:01,025 --> 00:04:01,595 Lucy: Cucumbers as well. 74 00:04:01,815 --> 00:04:02,274 Yeah, yeah. 75 00:04:02,275 --> 00:04:03,484 Cucumbers are your thing. 76 00:04:03,545 --> 00:04:04,475 They're my thing. 77 00:04:04,984 --> 00:04:05,345 Melek: Yeah. 78 00:04:05,565 --> 00:04:10,874 Like what I call regular size cucumbers, but what you like in the UK might not, you 79 00:04:10,874 --> 00:04:17,485 in the UK, I'm from the UK, but here in the UK you might consider mini cucumbers. 80 00:04:17,584 --> 00:04:19,300 For me, It's regular. 81 00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:20,634 They're normal cucumbers. 82 00:04:20,634 --> 00:04:24,680 Because it's so weird to get one giant cucumber. 83 00:04:24,719 --> 00:04:25,460 It's so weird. 84 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,470 You don't get one massive. 85 00:04:27,650 --> 00:04:31,209 You get loads of like regular sized cucumber, which tastes more amazing. 86 00:04:31,479 --> 00:04:31,849 I was gonna say, 87 00:04:31,849 --> 00:04:33,559 Lucy: they have more flavor, don't they, those little 88 00:04:33,559 --> 00:04:33,819 Melek: ones? 89 00:04:33,820 --> 00:04:34,160 They do. 90 00:04:34,219 --> 00:04:35,049 They have more flavor. 91 00:04:35,129 --> 00:04:39,619 You can just eat it without peeling it, like, you know, just, just grab it and go. 92 00:04:39,620 --> 00:04:41,979 It's a very, very Kurdish thing. 93 00:04:41,990 --> 00:04:43,240 Iranians love it too. 94 00:04:43,250 --> 00:04:45,820 Often, it's those sized cucumbers are called. 95 00:04:46,450 --> 00:04:47,773 Iranian cucumbers for 96 00:04:47,773 --> 00:04:48,819 Music: some reason. 97 00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:53,230 Melek: But yeah, so I got, uh, cucumbers and spring onions from there, and 98 00:04:53,230 --> 00:04:55,580 then I got rocket from Hello Haringey. 99 00:04:55,580 --> 00:04:56,879 Nice. 100 00:04:56,879 --> 00:04:59,999 And then I went to Yashan Halim, which is like the old, like the 101 00:04:59,999 --> 00:05:02,229 longest running grocer in Greenlands. 102 00:05:02,689 --> 00:05:09,900 They're a Turkish Cypriot place, and I got some tomatoes and some black olives from 103 00:05:09,900 --> 00:05:14,020 there, and I got this special bread called Saman bread, which I'm gonna show you. 104 00:05:14,150 --> 00:05:20,645 So basically I wanted to do a traditional breakfast that's just loads 105 00:05:20,645 --> 00:05:25,375 of little fresh bits that you pick and you make your own like, sandwiches. 106 00:05:25,755 --> 00:05:26,765 I'm so excited! 107 00:05:26,765 --> 00:05:27,214 Yeah. 108 00:05:27,214 --> 00:05:28,505 Lucy: So what's this? 109 00:05:29,085 --> 00:05:30,954 Melek: Oh, so this is sivribiber or külbiber. 110 00:05:31,855 --> 00:05:38,025 So It's green pepper that is really long and thin and kulbubar means hair pepper. 111 00:05:38,075 --> 00:05:41,444 So it's like, like strands of hair, yeah, like thin like strands of hair. 112 00:05:41,495 --> 00:05:41,625 And 113 00:05:41,965 --> 00:05:43,034 Lucy: they're so beautiful, aren't 114 00:05:43,034 --> 00:05:43,224 Melek: they? 115 00:05:43,255 --> 00:05:48,144 And I find that they've got a lot more flavor in them and you don't have to de 116 00:05:48,144 --> 00:05:49,825 seed or anything because you can't anyway. 117 00:05:50,024 --> 00:05:53,615 So much like, I would say they're much like a padron pepper in flavor, 118 00:05:54,315 --> 00:05:55,815 where they're not too fleshy. 119 00:05:56,260 --> 00:06:00,913 But they just pack so much flavor, and they're sweet, they're not, um, too long. 120 00:06:00,913 --> 00:06:03,949 And these are great fried as well, or in food. 121 00:06:03,950 --> 00:06:09,330 But I'm literally going to wash this fresh rocket, these savoury 122 00:06:09,330 --> 00:06:12,349 pepper cucumbers, and I'm just going to slice, drizzle with olive oil, 123 00:06:12,359 --> 00:06:17,950 salt, Have good bread, feta cheese, olives, and good tea, and that's it. 124 00:06:18,750 --> 00:06:20,570 Oh, oh, I forgot about the gözleme. 125 00:06:21,610 --> 00:06:25,710 I got gözleme from the best place to have gözleme, which is Hala. 126 00:06:26,460 --> 00:06:26,950 Yes! 127 00:06:27,210 --> 00:06:27,639 Yeah, yeah, 128 00:06:27,639 --> 00:06:30,659 Lucy: I've been to the restaurant, but not to Yeah, yeah, Hala, 129 00:06:30,689 --> 00:06:35,000 Melek: the aunties, well, Hala means auntie, and the aunties at Hala make 130 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:36,420 the best, because they're not greasy. 131 00:06:36,420 --> 00:06:40,250 I find that a lot of places over grease, um, Mm. 132 00:06:40,510 --> 00:06:42,239 These are great. 133 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,289 So yeah, I'm just gonna wash these and we can, yeah, get going. 134 00:06:48,090 --> 00:06:48,580 Brilliant. 135 00:06:48,979 --> 00:06:50,059 Come smell the rocket. 136 00:06:50,369 --> 00:06:52,590 Like, the minute the water hits you can smell it. 137 00:06:53,420 --> 00:06:54,129 Can you smell it? 138 00:06:54,130 --> 00:06:54,480 Right? 139 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:57,249 This is like my, this is proper rocket. 140 00:06:59,595 --> 00:07:02,365 Lucy: So, how long have you been going to Green Lanes to shop? 141 00:07:03,585 --> 00:07:07,795 Melek: Since I've, since I've been in this, um, country since I was four. 142 00:07:07,995 --> 00:07:11,174 Well, when I say since I was four, like when I asked my mum about 143 00:07:11,185 --> 00:07:15,714 what was available, like, from our regions back then, it was very, very, 144 00:07:16,445 --> 00:07:18,495 Yashar HaLim was the only place. 145 00:07:18,585 --> 00:07:19,255 Oh, wow. 146 00:07:19,265 --> 00:07:20,554 So, Yashar HaLim. 147 00:07:20,835 --> 00:07:24,895 the Turkish Cypriot place because there was a migration of Turkish 148 00:07:25,305 --> 00:07:31,855 Cypriots way before like mainland Turkey or Kurds or, um, political 149 00:07:31,855 --> 00:07:34,594 exile, like, you know, happened. 150 00:07:34,875 --> 00:07:38,474 So Turkish Cypriots I think came, there was a wave that came in the 151 00:07:38,474 --> 00:07:44,405 50s and 60s, so as far as back then, some even have earlier heritage. 152 00:07:44,405 --> 00:07:49,735 So the kebab shops, the first kebab shops, like in London, I think were 153 00:07:49,930 --> 00:07:52,309 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot. 154 00:07:52,310 --> 00:07:56,510 And then yeah, and Yashar Hailem was the first grocer that we could go to 155 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,549 and find things we recognized, you know. 156 00:07:59,589 --> 00:07:59,739 And 157 00:07:59,740 --> 00:08:01,390 Lucy: that's, that's so important, isn't it? 158 00:08:01,410 --> 00:08:04,690 When you arrive somewhere and everything's unfamiliar. 159 00:08:04,870 --> 00:08:10,079 Melek: It's, I mean, it becomes an event, like the whole community will very quickly 160 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:12,240 find out where something is, you know. 161 00:08:12,290 --> 00:08:16,570 It's like, they've got salto, which is sun dried tomato and pepper paste, 162 00:08:16,700 --> 00:08:21,560 which is basically the base of all foods, you know, from our Eden. 163 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,740 It's like, so integral to all of our soups and stews. 164 00:08:26,230 --> 00:08:33,079 So I remember those firsts, there were so many firsts in those times, like, 165 00:08:33,430 --> 00:08:36,270 and communication was really important. 166 00:08:36,289 --> 00:08:41,434 So one person discovering something, And letting everyone know, so everyone, 167 00:08:41,745 --> 00:08:45,074 but even if it's a bad thing, like, oh, don't do this, it's against the 168 00:08:45,074 --> 00:08:46,625 rules in this country to do that. 169 00:08:47,324 --> 00:08:47,655 A weird 170 00:08:47,685 --> 00:08:48,365 Lucy: unspoken 171 00:08:48,385 --> 00:08:48,505 Melek: thing that, yeah. 172 00:08:48,505 --> 00:08:52,734 Yeah, you'll end up in prison, like Uncle Suleiman ended up in prison 173 00:08:52,734 --> 00:08:54,394 for that, don't do that, you know. 174 00:08:54,725 --> 00:08:58,444 It was like this pre mobile phones, but people were so interconnected, 175 00:08:58,444 --> 00:09:00,045 we did everything together. 176 00:09:00,574 --> 00:09:04,285 And food was at the heart of that, you ate communally. 177 00:09:04,295 --> 00:09:04,665 So. 178 00:09:05,319 --> 00:09:09,530 And then once we started opening up our own businesses, they were food 179 00:09:09,530 --> 00:09:12,990 businesses, and it was because, you know, there wasn't space to do other 180 00:09:12,990 --> 00:09:14,159 jobs when you first moved here. 181 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:19,240 It didn't matter if you were an engineer in Turkey, you couldn't be that here. 182 00:09:19,270 --> 00:09:26,439 So food businesses became the thing that, you know, was our entry into this 183 00:09:26,439 --> 00:09:31,370 country before we had a grasp of the language, before we had a grasp of the 184 00:09:31,370 --> 00:09:39,525 rules, and also it was a Perfect business because also it meant we got to the food. 185 00:09:39,625 --> 00:09:45,805 Yeah, we were familiar with you know, yeah Yeah, so I'm cutting up some 186 00:09:47,005 --> 00:09:50,324 a packet of that backpack or black 187 00:09:50,344 --> 00:09:51,655 Lucy: olives lovely Yeah, 188 00:09:51,655 --> 00:09:54,804 Melek: so these are traditional to have for breakfast. 189 00:09:54,884 --> 00:09:55,684 Lucy: Okay, and 190 00:09:55,685 --> 00:10:00,855 Melek: they're not in A jar or in brine, so they're not, uh, sour. 191 00:10:01,615 --> 00:10:01,905 So that's the 192 00:10:01,905 --> 00:10:02,454 Lucy: difference. 193 00:10:02,455 --> 00:10:02,675 That's 194 00:10:02,675 --> 00:10:03,175 Melek: the difference. 195 00:10:03,175 --> 00:10:07,754 They're just in, they're oily there, but they're not actually soaked in olive oil. 196 00:10:07,815 --> 00:10:10,934 They're just backpacked, so it's their own oil around them. 197 00:10:11,365 --> 00:10:15,455 If you have nothing for a traditional breakfast, you have tea, you have 198 00:10:15,494 --> 00:10:18,895 strong black tea, you have olives and feta cheese and bread and that's it. 199 00:10:19,175 --> 00:10:21,865 And that would be your, that's our croissant in the morning. 200 00:10:22,365 --> 00:10:25,995 I love what a breakfast says about. 201 00:10:26,375 --> 00:10:30,295 a country or a people, because everywhere in the world, I'm so, 202 00:10:30,365 --> 00:10:33,324 I'm always so curious, what is the breakfast culture in a place? 203 00:10:33,355 --> 00:10:34,125 Lucy: Me too, yeah. 204 00:10:34,464 --> 00:10:34,494 Right? 205 00:10:34,785 --> 00:10:35,155 Yeah. 206 00:10:35,155 --> 00:10:35,425 Isn't 207 00:10:35,425 --> 00:10:36,245 Melek: that amazing? 208 00:10:36,245 --> 00:10:37,755 Like, it's so, so interesting. 209 00:10:37,785 --> 00:10:38,185 Yeah. 210 00:10:38,355 --> 00:10:40,744 But then like, yeah, cause when you actually, when you go to a 211 00:10:40,744 --> 00:10:43,915 place like Spain where they eat really late, like they'll, right, 212 00:10:44,605 --> 00:10:46,005 their evening meal is what? 213 00:10:46,005 --> 00:10:46,605 10, 11? 214 00:10:46,834 --> 00:10:47,084 10, 215 00:10:47,145 --> 00:10:47,824 Lucy: yeah, at least. 216 00:10:47,825 --> 00:10:48,105 It's like, 217 00:10:48,175 --> 00:10:48,204 Melek: what? 218 00:10:48,584 --> 00:10:53,505 My, my temperament could not, constitution could not handle. 219 00:10:53,735 --> 00:10:54,195 Lucy: Yeah. 220 00:10:54,694 --> 00:10:58,199 Melek: I don't know if that's, The Britishness in me now. 221 00:10:58,869 --> 00:11:01,630 Like, because I don't know how it is, like, at home. 222 00:11:01,689 --> 00:11:04,670 I don't think they eat late either, because rurally it 223 00:11:04,670 --> 00:11:05,819 wouldn't make sense, because you 224 00:11:06,109 --> 00:11:06,439 Lucy: Yeah. 225 00:11:06,479 --> 00:11:06,680 In 226 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:07,829 Melek: rural regions you You've got 227 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:09,439 Lucy: to get up early, so Yeah, you've 228 00:11:09,439 --> 00:11:12,770 Melek: got to get up early, and also it's not practical with, like, you 229 00:11:12,770 --> 00:11:14,780 know, sun, sunset and everything. 230 00:11:14,780 --> 00:11:15,569 Lucy: Yeah. 231 00:11:15,659 --> 00:11:18,839 That's so interesting though, and that must be, like, a tricky thing to 232 00:11:18,839 --> 00:11:22,040 navigate, like, being part of two places. 233 00:11:23,534 --> 00:11:25,964 And being like, which is, what, from where? 234 00:11:26,334 --> 00:11:28,854 Melek: It's the challenge of my entire existence, Lucy, 235 00:11:28,904 --> 00:11:32,644 like that's Like, I don't know. 236 00:11:32,644 --> 00:11:35,574 It's like, I'm, it's, it's going to be the thing, uh, that I 237 00:11:35,574 --> 00:11:37,064 battle with, like, my entire life. 238 00:11:37,114 --> 00:11:40,474 Like, it's a constant, like, where does this sit? 239 00:11:40,494 --> 00:11:41,714 Where do I sit in this? 240 00:11:41,755 --> 00:11:47,695 And my understanding, my sense of self, it's, it's, it's, you know, 241 00:11:47,765 --> 00:11:50,265 you come into terms of your identity. 242 00:11:50,775 --> 00:11:55,975 And it, I think that's a question for everyone constantly, right? 243 00:11:56,315 --> 00:12:00,185 But I think it just becomes more nuanced and complicated when you're 244 00:12:00,185 --> 00:12:04,545 not from one, one place, or maybe you're not even from any place. 245 00:12:05,015 --> 00:12:11,215 That's what, like, I think, that's what I kind of had to come to realize, that 246 00:12:11,225 --> 00:12:16,739 I'm not, It's like, being from somewhere is quite an abstract thing for me because 247 00:12:17,290 --> 00:12:23,250 whilst I was born in Turkey, Istanbul was not, like, I was born in Istanbul, 248 00:12:23,250 --> 00:12:25,089 that's not where my family were from. 249 00:12:25,109 --> 00:12:30,389 They were uprooted from their rural lives, moved to Istanbul, and, and 250 00:12:30,389 --> 00:12:36,149 also, you know, we, we, we were kind of secondary as citizens from, because of our 251 00:12:36,860 --> 00:12:39,340 Kurdishness and also our Alevi culture. 252 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,430 So you had that as well, where your language. 253 00:12:42,724 --> 00:12:47,964 You already don't have the language, your mother tongue, and then you move here 254 00:12:47,964 --> 00:12:52,865 and then you, you're like another step away from that mother tongue, because now 255 00:12:52,914 --> 00:12:53,064 Music: you 256 00:12:54,294 --> 00:12:56,604 Melek: have to figure out English when you, like parents were 257 00:12:56,605 --> 00:13:00,154 figuring out Turkish, so no one speaks anything in English. 258 00:13:00,235 --> 00:13:01,205 particularly well. 259 00:13:01,875 --> 00:13:07,545 So actually, language isn't the superior, most superior form of communication. 260 00:13:07,785 --> 00:13:11,505 That's why food is, because it's kind of, it can't be 261 00:13:11,505 --> 00:13:14,024 misinterpreted as easily, right? 262 00:13:14,445 --> 00:13:17,505 Lucy: Yeah, that's such, like, that's kind of like a heart 263 00:13:17,525 --> 00:13:18,915 stopping way to put it, like that. 264 00:13:18,945 --> 00:13:22,145 Actually, I think we, I think maybe in this country there is a kind of 265 00:13:22,145 --> 00:13:26,194 like understanding of Language and specifically like often written language 266 00:13:26,194 --> 00:13:29,115 as being like the highest form of that's the official communication. 267 00:13:29,115 --> 00:13:33,395 Nothing else really matters unless it's Expressed in words in that way, but 268 00:13:33,625 --> 00:13:37,434 that's such a beautiful way of putting it And like the idea of yeah lived 269 00:13:37,435 --> 00:13:42,104 experience and the things that you make for each other to eat being more important 270 00:13:42,804 --> 00:13:46,290 Melek: Yeah, I mean written language is never being a superior 271 00:13:46,290 --> 00:13:50,060 form of communication, I think, in our culture and our people. 272 00:13:50,060 --> 00:13:53,150 And I write about that in my, like, Vittles columns a lot. 273 00:13:53,150 --> 00:13:57,509 Like, I think the whole premise of the Vittles column came about because, 274 00:13:57,509 --> 00:14:01,560 you know, of this conversation of, for us, food being a superior form of 275 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:08,920 language and then it actually being the vessel with which I Grasp, like 276 00:14:08,930 --> 00:14:13,330 I could hold on to parts of Kurdish language, a language I don't know. 277 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:13,860 Yeah. 278 00:14:13,870 --> 00:14:20,170 By having the idea of food being a conduit to trace back to your roots and 279 00:14:20,210 --> 00:14:22,039 being able to do that with a word too. 280 00:14:22,070 --> 00:14:27,059 So I pick a word that I really like because I get to like words 281 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:31,324 because I don't know Kurdish I get to look at it from the outside and 282 00:14:31,324 --> 00:14:36,295 go, Oh, I really like that word and really explore it like it's new. 283 00:14:36,734 --> 00:14:38,135 And so I pick a word. 284 00:14:38,504 --> 00:14:42,865 I write about the etymology of the word and the roots and what it means. 285 00:14:43,194 --> 00:14:48,454 And I love that there's no direct little translation for a word because it's 286 00:14:48,454 --> 00:14:50,615 so much from the earth it comes from. 287 00:14:50,974 --> 00:14:52,875 much like food is, right? 288 00:14:53,175 --> 00:14:53,925 Produce is. 289 00:14:54,234 --> 00:14:59,085 So I love like aligning the two and kind of weaving them into each other 290 00:14:59,175 --> 00:15:00,745 and then just coming up with a recipe. 291 00:15:01,035 --> 00:15:05,454 And it's been my way of, again, like coming to terms with 292 00:15:05,694 --> 00:15:07,615 what my identity means to me. 293 00:15:07,625 --> 00:15:14,050 And, and now I'm in a place where I think it's exciting that I'm this, 294 00:15:14,050 --> 00:15:16,770 like, would vagrant be the right word? 295 00:15:16,770 --> 00:15:17,120 I 296 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,560 Lucy: think it's a nice, yeah, I feel like maybe it has a derogatory connotation. 297 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:21,110 Doesn't it? 298 00:15:21,110 --> 00:15:21,420 Does 299 00:15:21,420 --> 00:15:21,729 Melek: it? 300 00:15:21,729 --> 00:15:22,039 But 301 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,640 Lucy: I think that's probably a reflection on us. 302 00:15:24,689 --> 00:15:25,100 Right. 303 00:15:25,100 --> 00:15:29,770 The people that have decided that it's negative to move around. 304 00:15:29,779 --> 00:15:30,109 Yeah. 305 00:15:30,109 --> 00:15:32,419 And have no fixed sense of home. 306 00:15:32,590 --> 00:15:33,040 Yeah, 307 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:37,319 Melek: so it's like, although I have a very fixed sense of, I'm from London. 308 00:15:37,390 --> 00:15:37,910 Yeah. 309 00:15:37,970 --> 00:15:41,029 I don't have a fixed sense of, like, what that means. 310 00:15:41,030 --> 00:15:41,620 Yeah. 311 00:15:41,700 --> 00:15:42,270 And. 312 00:15:42,569 --> 00:15:44,800 It just means that you, you're just resourceful. 313 00:15:44,849 --> 00:15:49,709 I feel like it's just, it means I'm resourceful and just throw 314 00:15:49,709 --> 00:15:53,479 whatever at me, I'll, I'll make it, like, I'll root it in something. 315 00:15:53,490 --> 00:15:54,030 Lucy: Yeah. 316 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:59,039 I love how you approach your columns so much because I think so much. 317 00:15:59,255 --> 00:16:04,065 A food writing is about authority and being like an expert on something and I 318 00:16:04,075 --> 00:16:05,485 think there's absolutely room for that. 319 00:16:05,925 --> 00:16:08,114 I think there are some, I think there are some writers that do it badly, 320 00:16:08,645 --> 00:16:10,825 but I think there are some writers that do it really beautifully. 321 00:16:10,985 --> 00:16:14,454 But I also think there's so much space to like sit between things 322 00:16:14,784 --> 00:16:17,960 and be like, you know, I don't know, but this is how I feel. 323 00:16:18,460 --> 00:16:18,990 Melek: Right? 324 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:25,040 And I get to, yeah, like, I love that, because how can anyone be the, I find 325 00:16:25,050 --> 00:16:29,430 it all so absurd, like, assuming you're, you have authority on anything in life. 326 00:16:29,430 --> 00:16:30,880 Yeah, I agree, yeah, I totally agree. 327 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,629 And so, like, anything in life, so, I How could you have the audacity? 328 00:16:34,690 --> 00:16:39,340 Yeah, I love that word, actually, because I think immigrant energy, as I call it, 329 00:16:39,420 --> 00:16:45,864 is, like, Like having the audacity to exist, having the audacity to, to try to 330 00:16:45,864 --> 00:16:50,444 speak English and like, do it confidently and just be creative and resourceful. 331 00:16:50,474 --> 00:16:56,094 And when it comes to authority, that is just like authority over anything. 332 00:16:56,135 --> 00:16:59,675 I think it's, we learned, you know, we've had to learn quickly that 333 00:17:00,545 --> 00:17:04,474 it's absurd and it's corrupt often. 334 00:17:04,805 --> 00:17:06,665 And so just to be able to. 335 00:17:07,030 --> 00:17:08,589 Move around and be flexible with it. 336 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:12,140 I think of the first interview actually before I had the column 337 00:17:12,140 --> 00:17:18,920 like Jonathan the editor of it tools Reached out wanted to do an interview 338 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,999 and we actually did the interview on Green Lanes In the Albuquerque 339 00:17:23,010 --> 00:17:29,020 restaurant, and he said he asked me at the end I think towards the end of 340 00:17:29,020 --> 00:17:31,379 the interview, what is Kurdish food? 341 00:17:31,909 --> 00:17:34,919 He asked me, and I said, it's anything I make. 342 00:17:36,439 --> 00:17:37,020 Right. 343 00:17:37,030 --> 00:17:40,770 It's anything I make, because I'm Kurdish, so it's Kurdish food. 344 00:17:41,159 --> 00:17:45,489 And I had, I guess I had the audacity to say, I had to have the audacity to 345 00:17:45,489 --> 00:17:50,270 say that, because who else would give me that right or that authority otherwise? 346 00:17:50,270 --> 00:17:50,699 No one. 347 00:17:50,909 --> 00:17:55,945 If I gave my authority and my autonomy to someone else, They would say I have 348 00:17:55,945 --> 00:18:00,754 no right over anything because I don't have a, an official place I'm from. 349 00:18:00,885 --> 00:18:04,804 So I have to grab that authority and that autonomy and that audacity to 350 00:18:04,804 --> 00:18:06,374 say, well, it's whatever I cook, mate. 351 00:18:11,024 --> 00:18:14,385 Lucy: So you talked about when you started going to Green Lanes and you 352 00:18:14,385 --> 00:18:15,514 said that there were loads of firsts. 353 00:18:16,825 --> 00:18:17,305 Melek: Yes. 354 00:18:17,374 --> 00:18:20,005 Lucy: And I wondered if there were any other like notable firsts 355 00:18:20,065 --> 00:18:21,435 that you wanted to talk about? 356 00:18:22,055 --> 00:18:22,685 Melek: Absolutely. 357 00:18:22,695 --> 00:18:27,509 My, my first first in London, like my, my first My earliest 358 00:18:27,659 --> 00:18:33,760 very distinctive food memory, I would say, is, I think I was five. 359 00:18:34,060 --> 00:18:36,209 So, we came here when I was four. 360 00:18:36,570 --> 00:18:41,529 I think I was five and my parents, um, were visiting a 361 00:18:41,529 --> 00:18:44,560 friend who had a calf in Archway. 362 00:18:45,590 --> 00:18:49,560 I just remember being a kid being taken around places all the time, right? 363 00:18:49,990 --> 00:18:51,890 The things adults needed to do. 364 00:18:51,970 --> 00:18:56,925 So, it was like not a childhood of like, What children wanted necessarily, 365 00:18:56,925 --> 00:19:00,665 it's just like, yeah, they were figuring out work and where to live 366 00:19:00,665 --> 00:19:04,395 and all this, like trying to figure, so it's all by, like, word of mouth. 367 00:19:04,455 --> 00:19:08,834 You hear someone's got a job somewhere and you go, and I remember, like, 368 00:19:08,845 --> 00:19:14,735 all my early memories of London when we first arrived was, like, grey. 369 00:19:15,350 --> 00:19:19,300 Harshness, everything felt harsh, like people felt harsh and every, 370 00:19:19,570 --> 00:19:24,500 because it was so unfamiliar and our massive family wasn't around us. 371 00:19:25,089 --> 00:19:30,200 So it felt cold and harsh in loads of ways and grey, like the colour feeling grey. 372 00:19:30,819 --> 00:19:35,660 And then so we went to this caf and so we were sitting at the table and mum and dad 373 00:19:35,660 --> 00:19:38,430 were talking to this guy who ran the caf. 374 00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:42,610 And on the table I saw this bright yellow jar. 375 00:19:42,610 --> 00:19:45,625 And Of, like, English mustard. 376 00:19:46,705 --> 00:19:51,835 And I was so curious, because it was so bright and so yellow 377 00:19:52,555 --> 00:19:55,725 in this, like, grey place. 378 00:19:55,904 --> 00:19:58,675 You know, like, what felt, it was the brightest thing. 379 00:19:59,005 --> 00:20:03,205 I, like, it was so, I was like, and it's on the table, and it's on all the tables. 380 00:20:03,235 --> 00:20:08,775 And I just remember the adults speaking and thinking, Okay, no, you can't, you 381 00:20:08,775 --> 00:20:10,095 can't touch it, you can't touch it. 382 00:20:10,925 --> 00:20:12,565 They'll notice, they'll see you. 383 00:20:13,395 --> 00:20:16,050 And I'm thinking, No, but I'm so cu what is it? 384 00:20:16,060 --> 00:20:16,580 What is it? 385 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:23,749 And then as they were talking I grabbed it and I opened it and it 386 00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:26,510 just was like a punch in the face. 387 00:20:26,579 --> 00:20:28,070 It was so abusive. 388 00:20:28,639 --> 00:20:34,869 It was so violent and I was like, this is England. 389 00:20:36,919 --> 00:20:38,490 Now I absolutely love it. 390 00:20:38,490 --> 00:20:44,229 Like I mix it with yogurt and lemon and olive oil and make it into And so it's 391 00:20:44,230 --> 00:20:51,060 like It's actually a story of how I have become more British and the UK has 392 00:20:51,060 --> 00:20:56,370 become more Kurdish for me, like yogurt, the most significant, the most Kurdish 393 00:20:56,370 --> 00:21:00,840 thing possible, meeting mustard and it working and it being delicious together. 394 00:21:01,219 --> 00:21:05,699 But that was my first meeting of mustard and it wasn't friendly. 395 00:21:05,899 --> 00:21:06,270 It is 396 00:21:06,270 --> 00:21:06,870 Lucy: really abusive. 397 00:21:06,929 --> 00:21:08,389 It is, too, because 398 00:21:08,410 --> 00:21:11,440 Melek: It's not like horseradish does, right? 399 00:21:11,530 --> 00:21:13,660 It's got that same quality. 400 00:21:14,030 --> 00:21:16,890 And now I'm like, please put mustard in my burger. 401 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,270 Please put it, you know, in my bagel. 402 00:21:19,620 --> 00:21:21,690 I love the intensity of it. 403 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:23,110 I love it so much. 404 00:21:23,129 --> 00:21:24,129 I love the color. 405 00:21:24,190 --> 00:21:26,240 I like, Mustard yellow. 406 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:26,649 Lucy: Yeah. 407 00:21:27,179 --> 00:21:27,729 Melek: Tablecloth. 408 00:21:27,730 --> 00:21:27,979 Oh my 409 00:21:27,979 --> 00:21:28,540 Lucy: God. 410 00:21:28,550 --> 00:21:28,560 Oh 411 00:21:28,669 --> 00:21:29,669 Melek: my gosh. 412 00:21:30,850 --> 00:21:31,320 Wow. 413 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:31,570 Wow. 414 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:32,450 This is dramatic. 415 00:21:32,450 --> 00:21:33,009 This is England. 416 00:21:33,010 --> 00:21:34,360 This is England. 417 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:34,700 Yeah. 418 00:21:35,070 --> 00:21:36,340 I upset the English clouds. 419 00:21:40,419 --> 00:21:45,590 Literally a rural breakfast is you're just tearing things, right? 420 00:21:45,949 --> 00:21:51,280 Just placing them on a plate and you leaving it to you to just construct 421 00:21:52,179 --> 00:21:54,300 however you want to eat it, right? 422 00:21:54,540 --> 00:21:59,129 So it's literally, you don't do much to it at all. 423 00:21:59,139 --> 00:22:05,630 So I'm cutting off the roots from the rocket and the spring onion and I'm just 424 00:22:05,630 --> 00:22:09,440 going to place it on the plate like that. 425 00:22:12,340 --> 00:22:17,210 People might be shocked by like having whole spring onion for breakfast. 426 00:22:17,540 --> 00:22:18,210 Lucy: No I love it. 427 00:22:19,980 --> 00:22:20,720 Melek: for the support. 428 00:22:22,430 --> 00:22:26,140 So with these I'm just gonna, with the peppers because they're 429 00:22:26,140 --> 00:22:28,510 quite, you just slice them. 430 00:22:30,990 --> 00:22:31,660 Down the middle. 431 00:22:37,510 --> 00:22:39,030 And you wouldn't use a chopping board. 432 00:22:39,390 --> 00:22:46,600 So, you don't, that's, you don't intervene any more than what you 433 00:22:46,609 --> 00:22:49,469 can do with a knife in your hands. 434 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,820 So, nothing that requires a chopping board. 435 00:22:53,139 --> 00:22:55,530 Lucy: I love that, you don't intervene with the produce. 436 00:22:55,949 --> 00:22:56,159 No. 437 00:22:56,209 --> 00:22:56,949 You just let it be. 438 00:22:57,250 --> 00:22:58,479 Melek: Let it be, if it's good. 439 00:22:58,645 --> 00:22:59,564 You can let it be. 440 00:23:00,215 --> 00:23:02,025 And look how gorgeous this tomato is. 441 00:23:02,085 --> 00:23:03,625 Lucy: That's beautiful. 442 00:23:03,715 --> 00:23:06,335 Melek: Dad, my dad would just tear this tomato. 443 00:23:06,335 --> 00:23:07,625 He wouldn't, he wouldn't cut it. 444 00:23:07,645 --> 00:23:08,715 He'd be like, what are you doing? 445 00:23:10,074 --> 00:23:12,334 I'm trying to be a little more civilized. 446 00:23:16,245 --> 00:23:16,815 Right. 447 00:23:17,984 --> 00:23:19,315 Lucy: That is the most beautiful plate. 448 00:23:20,945 --> 00:23:23,385 Melek: I'm going to sprinkle some olive oil, some lemon juice 449 00:23:23,385 --> 00:23:24,675 and salt on it in a minute. 450 00:23:25,095 --> 00:23:29,915 I'm just going to plate up some olives and feta cheese for us as well. 451 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:33,640 I'm going to cut this bread up and just cut some gozleme up. 452 00:23:33,830 --> 00:23:35,840 So let's take these to the table. 453 00:23:35,850 --> 00:23:37,800 Oh, let me drizzle it in olive oil actually. 454 00:23:42,889 --> 00:23:49,520 Yeah, a bit of olive oil on this and then I'm gonna actually put some black pepper 455 00:23:49,550 --> 00:23:51,839 and can you pass me the Aleppo chili? 456 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:53,099 Absolutely. 457 00:23:53,100 --> 00:23:55,490 It's um, that one, yeah, that one. 458 00:23:55,580 --> 00:23:56,760 So there's two different types. 459 00:23:57,614 --> 00:24:02,195 That one is a chunkier flake, and this, this one is, um, 460 00:24:02,215 --> 00:24:07,315 finer, um, and slightly spicier. 461 00:24:09,034 --> 00:24:11,715 But I feel like you can handle it, I just sense that you can. 462 00:24:13,064 --> 00:24:13,675 I'm honoured. 463 00:24:13,675 --> 00:24:16,104 A bit of sumac on the cucumber as well. 464 00:24:16,175 --> 00:24:17,154 Lucy: Ooh, yes! 465 00:24:17,215 --> 00:24:20,401 Melek: Ooh, I needed to boil some eggs, what's wrong with me? 466 00:24:20,401 --> 00:24:22,705 Lucy: What's wrong with you? 467 00:24:22,705 --> 00:24:24,024 Shall I put these on the table? 468 00:24:24,205 --> 00:24:24,534 Yes, 469 00:24:24,574 --> 00:24:24,995 Melek: please. 470 00:24:30,925 --> 00:24:35,750 So when we first arrived, we stayed for six months in my with my uncle 471 00:24:35,750 --> 00:24:38,680 who was in Edmonton, Enfield area. 472 00:24:39,140 --> 00:24:45,050 And then we got given a house, temporary housing in Muswell 473 00:24:45,050 --> 00:24:45,609 Music: Hill. 474 00:24:45,610 --> 00:24:47,630 Melek: So that was very north as well. 475 00:24:47,650 --> 00:24:51,749 And then, yeah, we got moved to Stamford Hill in, in Hackney, which is like kind 476 00:24:51,750 --> 00:24:57,040 of northeast, like the, the kind of edge of Hackney near Tottenham where I am now. 477 00:24:57,070 --> 00:25:01,780 So I've always grown up here, you know, Stoke Newton, Dawson, all the 478 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,170 Kurdish and Turkish community areas. 479 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:04,610 Yeah. 480 00:25:04,610 --> 00:25:04,700 It's. 481 00:25:04,959 --> 00:25:07,950 been where I always am. 482 00:25:08,389 --> 00:25:08,850 Yeah. 483 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:12,179 Lucy: And it's an area that's changed a lot, right? 484 00:25:12,460 --> 00:25:13,030 Melek: It has. 485 00:25:13,060 --> 00:25:17,849 It has changed a lot, but I feel like it stayed the same in a lot of ways 486 00:25:17,850 --> 00:25:20,049 as well because of the resilience. 487 00:25:20,679 --> 00:25:23,189 of the Kurdish and Turkish community that I know 488 00:25:23,550 --> 00:25:23,800 Music: where 489 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:25,649 Melek: they're always adapting. 490 00:25:25,689 --> 00:25:28,080 So they've not, we've not disappeared. 491 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:29,349 We've not drifted anywhere. 492 00:25:29,630 --> 00:25:34,199 We've just changed with the changing tides because there is such an 493 00:25:34,209 --> 00:25:36,360 entrepreneurial spirit in our community. 494 00:25:36,369 --> 00:25:39,299 So it's like, Oh, uh, you want a barista now? 495 00:25:39,389 --> 00:25:39,939 Okay. 496 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,690 We'll be the best barista you've ever seen. 497 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,440 We know how to grow a beard, a very perfectly cropped beard, 498 00:25:47,850 --> 00:25:49,470 and wear a trendy t shirt. 499 00:25:49,870 --> 00:25:53,839 We know how to, like, we'll, okay, we'll turn everything into 500 00:25:53,860 --> 00:25:56,380 organic wood, like, in our spaces. 501 00:25:56,429 --> 00:25:56,929 We're on it. 502 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:01,860 We'll, we'll, we'll start organic, uh, grocers, if you want. 503 00:26:01,860 --> 00:26:05,973 You don't need to go to Whole Foods, we've got Harvest. 504 00:26:05,973 --> 00:26:06,347 Right? 505 00:26:06,347 --> 00:26:09,339 And like, there's that ingenuity, there's that tenacity. 506 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:14,920 We've got that survival instinct, and I think so, in a lot of ways, community 507 00:26:14,930 --> 00:26:20,790 has stayed the same, as well, as it managed to survive and stay the same. 508 00:26:21,170 --> 00:26:24,970 Lucy: I feel like some of that ingenuity that you're talking about, I feel like 509 00:26:24,970 --> 00:26:28,969 some of that is, at least some of it is, sort of goes uncredited, right? 510 00:26:28,970 --> 00:26:32,220 And I feel like this is something you wrote about in the London Feeds Itself 511 00:26:32,250 --> 00:26:36,700 essay, sort of, in that you talked about how the kind of community that 512 00:26:36,710 --> 00:26:42,430 you and your parents, existed in when you first came to England and how 513 00:26:42,650 --> 00:26:46,740 people in those communities went on to start, like, incredibly successful, 514 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:48,230 often food related businesses. 515 00:26:49,390 --> 00:26:53,840 But it's almost like people kind of go to those restaurants and talk about 516 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:58,955 them and like, name drop them, but they don't necessarily understand the 517 00:26:58,955 --> 00:27:03,074 origin or the context, like, I feel like that was maybe something you were 518 00:27:03,074 --> 00:27:08,384 getting at in, like, people who go to, like, Mangle 1, Mangle 2, or whatever. 519 00:27:08,555 --> 00:27:08,805 Yeah. 520 00:27:08,835 --> 00:27:11,545 There's maybe like a bit of the story missing. 521 00:27:11,794 --> 00:27:12,525 Do you feel like that's 522 00:27:12,535 --> 00:27:13,055 Melek: true? 523 00:27:13,154 --> 00:27:17,555 Yeah, yeah, I do feel like the story's, uh, story's missing, and actually the 524 00:27:17,555 --> 00:27:22,935 essay came about because of that first interview with Jonathan, where he knew 525 00:27:22,935 --> 00:27:28,899 I was feeling like The Kurdish community specifically was invisible in talking 526 00:27:28,899 --> 00:27:33,929 about these restaurants that are great, but them being referred to as Turkish 527 00:27:33,930 --> 00:27:37,060 restaurants when they're Kurdish owned. 528 00:27:37,310 --> 00:27:41,060 The owners are referring to themselves as Turkish restaurants because it's 529 00:27:41,060 --> 00:27:42,559 more palatable and it's easier. 530 00:27:43,650 --> 00:27:50,035 I felt like the journey and that struggle is lost in simplifying. 531 00:27:50,045 --> 00:27:52,555 It's not as simple as it's just a Turkish restaurant. 532 00:27:52,875 --> 00:27:56,224 Yeah, they are Turkish restaurants because predominantly these are people 533 00:27:56,225 --> 00:27:59,845 from Turkey, but we're Kurdish, and actually the kind of specific food you're 534 00:27:59,845 --> 00:28:02,275 eating are from Kurdish regions often. 535 00:28:03,179 --> 00:28:07,600 As well, because actually Turkish cuisine is so vast and so broad, there's, you 536 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:13,029 know, Mediterranean influence, Circassian influence, like, the Aegean, all these 537 00:28:13,029 --> 00:28:18,150 different regions, because it's such like, the position, the, the geography of 538 00:28:18,150 --> 00:28:22,340 Turkey, like, you know, being exposed to Europe and Asia and all, like, you know. 539 00:28:22,764 --> 00:28:28,054 being part of the, like, silk route, as it's called, the trade, it does 540 00:28:28,054 --> 00:28:30,235 feel important to be more specific. 541 00:28:30,584 --> 00:28:35,714 And so the essay, the London Feeds Itself essay, was an opportunity to 542 00:28:36,169 --> 00:28:46,280 To be nuanced, and to kind of, a nod, an ode to that era, like, my parents 543 00:28:46,300 --> 00:28:53,290 era of migration here, that had to be private, and be in private spaces. 544 00:28:53,709 --> 00:28:58,760 In hidden spaces as I say in the essay for so long and it took a lot of 545 00:28:58,770 --> 00:29:01,179 struggle, a lot of beautiful struggle. 546 00:29:01,189 --> 00:29:02,679 It was a very special time. 547 00:29:02,679 --> 00:29:07,449 It was a close knit community then because of that mutual struggle but it took a lot 548 00:29:07,479 --> 00:29:14,209 of hard work to come out into those public spaces and be those public spaces people 549 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,459 know and love and have a right to love. 550 00:29:16,810 --> 00:29:19,810 But I just thought it's a way, here are the places you love 551 00:29:19,810 --> 00:29:22,449 and here's why you love them so much and here's an opportunity. 552 00:29:23,010 --> 00:29:24,840 To actually love them even more, 553 00:29:25,350 --> 00:29:25,630 Music: you 554 00:29:25,630 --> 00:29:26,162 Melek: know. 555 00:29:37,310 --> 00:29:43,859 in the 80s and 90s when a lot of, you know, Turkish political exiles and 556 00:29:43,860 --> 00:29:48,390 Kurdish immigrants moved here, there was very limited option of what the work was 557 00:29:48,390 --> 00:29:54,029 and it was a lot of textile factories and illegal textile factories often. 558 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:58,625 So when I say illegal, They were legal, but there was a lot of people 559 00:29:58,625 --> 00:30:01,845 working who didn't have work permits, who couldn't get work permits, right? 560 00:30:02,545 --> 00:30:09,214 So these warehouses were mainly in Hackney, some in Tottenham, Haringey, 561 00:30:09,214 --> 00:30:13,584 some in Edmonton, but mainly in Hackney warehouses, where you now know 562 00:30:13,584 --> 00:30:17,615 as Hackney, Wick, and Dawson areas. 563 00:30:17,985 --> 00:30:21,975 So the specific one I write about, well there's two that 564 00:30:21,975 --> 00:30:23,405 I write about in the essay. 565 00:30:23,780 --> 00:30:28,260 One is where Beyond Retro is now, that building. 566 00:30:28,445 --> 00:30:28,975 So 567 00:30:28,975 --> 00:30:32,465 Lucy: the one that's kind of like up from Dawson Junction? 568 00:30:32,475 --> 00:30:32,785 Yeah. 569 00:30:32,795 --> 00:30:33,235 That one. 570 00:30:33,735 --> 00:30:36,075 Melek: So the Simpsons house, I think. 571 00:30:36,075 --> 00:30:41,855 Um, um, and that used to be the top, the floors were factories. 572 00:30:42,365 --> 00:30:43,614 That's where my uncle was. 573 00:30:43,675 --> 00:30:45,464 And then where Yeah. 574 00:30:45,725 --> 00:30:52,795 Palm II Grocers is that building where now the the floor above the warehouse 575 00:30:52,825 --> 00:30:58,514 That's where like people hire out that venue for supper clubs and do yoga that 576 00:30:58,514 --> 00:31:05,385 used to be where my parents were and I talk about Those secret spaces now 577 00:31:05,395 --> 00:31:10,135 being, you know, these trendy places and even me having the experience of 578 00:31:10,135 --> 00:31:16,825 going back in such an unplanned like way and the visceral like reaction I had. 579 00:31:16,924 --> 00:31:25,125 I start the essay talking about how my friend Lee fancied this, this girl who 580 00:31:25,145 --> 00:31:31,610 was like running supper clubs, vegan ones and He was like, so I needed to 581 00:31:31,610 --> 00:31:37,670 be wing woman and go to one of these Christmas pop ups that she was having. 582 00:31:37,719 --> 00:31:45,355 So this vegan Christmas meal that we went to, which was like, It was like 7 65 quid. 583 00:31:45,415 --> 00:31:47,965 Was it like something like, look, I didn't pay for it. 584 00:31:48,025 --> 00:31:51,715 I would not have, I think it was something like that. 585 00:31:51,775 --> 00:31:53,505 Oh God, maybe I'm being outrageous. 586 00:31:53,510 --> 00:32:02,185 Maybe it was 45, but still, still still 45 for a flapjack with cold gravy. 587 00:32:02,605 --> 00:32:02,845 No. 588 00:32:03,145 --> 00:32:04,195 Was outrageous. 589 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:05,155 That's what we got. 590 00:32:05,335 --> 00:32:07,105 We were told it was a nut roast. 591 00:32:07,455 --> 00:32:08,945 That's a crime against nut roast. 592 00:32:08,985 --> 00:32:10,815 I've had good nut roasts, I have. 593 00:32:11,185 --> 00:32:15,895 That was a flapjack on the plate, and it was cold, I don't know, it 594 00:32:15,895 --> 00:32:19,885 was just nothingness, and I had to sit there, and then obviously 595 00:32:19,885 --> 00:32:21,285 we went for a kebab afterwards. 596 00:32:22,345 --> 00:32:27,285 But um, so he was like, Mel, we're going to this place, come meet me there 597 00:32:27,295 --> 00:32:31,395 and I hadn't, I didn't know, like I didn't think about where exactly it was. 598 00:32:31,405 --> 00:32:36,405 So I rushed, I was running late and then I rushed into this building and then I 599 00:32:36,414 --> 00:32:41,424 went up the stairs and it suddenly felt so familiar and it took me back to when 600 00:32:41,424 --> 00:32:49,325 I was like six and my dad taking me up these stairs when like after school 601 00:32:49,535 --> 00:32:54,760 suddenly through these like double doors and we walked The supper club venue, 602 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:59,120 but for me it was the factory where my parents worked, and I just reconstructed 603 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:04,830 that space, I knew where the sewing machines were, I knew where the makeshift 604 00:33:04,830 --> 00:33:10,329 kitchen was on the left, and where the steam irons were right at the back, and 605 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,854 yeah, it was just so emotive, and yeah. 606 00:33:14,385 --> 00:33:18,665 It felt so surreal sitting there and I think I felt even more resentful 607 00:33:18,665 --> 00:33:24,994 about having a flapjack when I knew the incredible meals that happened in that 608 00:33:24,995 --> 00:33:28,095 space, in that secret space, you know? 609 00:33:28,365 --> 00:33:32,384 There was a cutting table in the middle of the factory, so where all the pattern 610 00:33:32,384 --> 00:33:37,405 cutters would work and then give their cuts to the like people on the sewing 611 00:33:37,415 --> 00:33:41,945 machines and that at lunchtime would turn into the massive sharing dining table 612 00:33:41,955 --> 00:33:47,595 so they'd clear all the material off, dust it off and then put a massive cloth 613 00:33:47,625 --> 00:33:52,095 which was made from all the materials there and then everyone would share what 614 00:33:52,125 --> 00:33:57,225 they bought so like everyone had tins and containers of different dishes from 615 00:33:57,235 --> 00:34:02,240 dinner from the night before and it would be warmed up in the makeshift kitchen and 616 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,550 then brought and then you'd create this massive beautiful spread and someone had 617 00:34:06,550 --> 00:34:08,930 put the tea on which is like two pots. 618 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,230 Turkish tea is pot of water and the bottom pot and then tea leaves 619 00:34:13,610 --> 00:34:19,780 like soaking in the concentrate, concentrated water brewing for you 620 00:34:19,780 --> 00:34:21,530 know an hour before you serve it. 621 00:34:21,570 --> 00:34:26,950 So you have the tea on before lunch is ready and then just everyone gathering 622 00:34:26,950 --> 00:34:29,339 around and it was just the most magical. 623 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:35,310 table of food that these people who were living the most 624 00:34:35,310 --> 00:34:39,429 desperate times in their life were 625 00:34:45,590 --> 00:34:46,090 making 626 00:34:46,110 --> 00:34:46,850 Lucy: magic. 627 00:34:46,860 --> 00:34:49,400 Yeah, against all the odds. 628 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,839 Melek: Yeah, the most resourceful people. 629 00:34:53,160 --> 00:35:00,460 And that's, those are the people who made, you know, manga one and two and, 630 00:35:02,220 --> 00:35:07,029 you know, zero one, I don't know, and all these places, like, of course they did. 631 00:35:07,615 --> 00:35:08,565 Of course they did. 632 00:35:08,585 --> 00:35:16,285 If, if they could be in these secret, dusty warehouses where they had to 633 00:35:16,294 --> 00:35:19,494 like, cover the windows with newspapers so no one knew they were there, 634 00:35:20,195 --> 00:35:22,514 and they could create these feasts. 635 00:35:23,615 --> 00:35:26,225 Of course they could make these restaurants that everyone loved. 636 00:35:26,755 --> 00:35:27,135 Yeah. 637 00:35:27,225 --> 00:35:31,515 And it was just my way of going, Oh, you think this is amazing? 638 00:35:31,555 --> 00:35:33,335 This is how amazing they are. 639 00:35:33,385 --> 00:35:35,215 This is how amazing these people are. 640 00:35:36,225 --> 00:35:38,755 Lucy: I think it's, like, you know, hearing you talk about it now, and 641 00:35:38,994 --> 00:35:42,674 reading the essay as well, it made me think a lot about, like, I don't 642 00:35:42,674 --> 00:35:47,115 know, maybe, like, the intentions people have behind opening restaurants. 643 00:35:47,485 --> 00:35:48,625 Because, like, that Yeah. 644 00:35:48,905 --> 00:35:52,395 That, just, kind of, The restaurants that the people that you're talking about 645 00:35:52,435 --> 00:35:56,485 open, that came from a place of just wanting to feed and wanting to bring 646 00:35:56,485 --> 00:36:00,915 people together and kind of, obviously they were doing it to make a living, but 647 00:36:00,915 --> 00:36:05,554 there was, I feel like that's different from a lot of other restaurants. 648 00:36:06,705 --> 00:36:08,114 Maybe, I don't know. 649 00:36:08,115 --> 00:36:11,135 I don't quite know how to articulate it, but there's something that feels 650 00:36:11,775 --> 00:36:16,355 like it's just, it's a rich part of an incredible culture and it's wanting 651 00:36:16,355 --> 00:36:20,240 to, um, keep producing that, I guess. 652 00:36:21,140 --> 00:36:25,310 Melek: Uh, yeah, but I think that's like, that's true of a lot of communities, a lot 653 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:33,515 of, and, and I, I think it's so you, um, You know, when I think of the Bangladeshi 654 00:36:33,535 --> 00:36:38,745 community in Bricklay, so what's known as Indian food is predominantly was 655 00:36:38,745 --> 00:36:41,445 the, you know, Bangladeshi community. 656 00:36:41,544 --> 00:36:43,485 Yeah, that's a really interesting parallel. 657 00:36:43,485 --> 00:36:44,515 Yeah, of course. 658 00:36:44,565 --> 00:36:49,655 Lucy: Yeah, it's that erasure again of the, like, specificness of the thing, 659 00:36:49,724 --> 00:36:52,545 because people can't be bothered to 660 00:36:53,155 --> 00:36:57,515 Melek: No, it's not that people can't be bothered, like, I think it's You know, 661 00:36:57,725 --> 00:37:03,285 to be fair, it's just that, that time and what, um, what a community were up 662 00:37:03,285 --> 00:37:05,865 against and how they felt probably like. 663 00:37:06,385 --> 00:37:09,255 They had to kind of present themselves. 664 00:37:09,255 --> 00:37:14,575 What was easier, you know, I see in the I mean when you go to a lot of these like 665 00:37:14,585 --> 00:37:19,355 what I say, Kurdish restaurants, but it's hard like it is if they're presenting 666 00:37:19,355 --> 00:37:20,684 themselves as a Turkish restaurant. 667 00:37:20,874 --> 00:37:21,915 Who am I to go and go? 668 00:37:21,964 --> 00:37:26,724 Actually, sir, you're Kurdish, you know it, you speak Kurdish, you know, 669 00:37:26,804 --> 00:37:30,474 and when I ask you where you're from, you know, you're Kurdish, but you 670 00:37:30,474 --> 00:37:32,584 still say you're, you're Turkish. 671 00:37:32,604 --> 00:37:33,764 And who am I to? 672 00:37:34,065 --> 00:37:37,945 suddenly challenge how they identify themselves, right? 673 00:37:38,345 --> 00:37:39,095 Um, right. 674 00:37:39,145 --> 00:37:42,834 But you know, it is really interesting when I make, when I write these 675 00:37:42,834 --> 00:37:48,285 stories or like I do stories and videos with aunties and communities. 676 00:37:48,355 --> 00:37:54,525 Um, like I, I did this, um, video, uh, during the pandemic of these 677 00:37:54,525 --> 00:37:58,125 women who would get together in their garden to make bread together. 678 00:37:58,574 --> 00:37:59,914 Um, such bread. 679 00:38:01,525 --> 00:38:06,765 And you, you, you get together cause it's easier to make massive batches of 680 00:38:06,765 --> 00:38:09,395 this bread and, you know, for each other. 681 00:38:09,995 --> 00:38:11,095 That's like five women. 682 00:38:11,415 --> 00:38:17,485 And amongst themselves, they're, they're speaking Kurdish, you know, and I'll 683 00:38:17,485 --> 00:38:20,905 ask them what they're saying because they're like Roaring with laughter, 684 00:38:20,985 --> 00:38:24,465 you know, and you're watching them and you want to be in on it and you 685 00:38:24,465 --> 00:38:25,875 go Oh, what are you talking about? 686 00:38:25,875 --> 00:38:26,824 What's what's so funny? 687 00:38:26,865 --> 00:38:31,825 You know, it's not funny in turkish and they'll say it's not funny in turkish Like 688 00:38:31,834 --> 00:38:33,525 they'll refer to themselves as turkish. 689 00:38:33,525 --> 00:38:38,035 They'll go as turkish people and i'm like You, like, are you not 690 00:38:38,045 --> 00:38:40,415 aware of this, like, Contradiction. 691 00:38:40,425 --> 00:38:45,585 Contradiction, this dichotomy, and it's like, but who am I to raise that? 692 00:38:45,705 --> 00:38:48,134 Because there's so much complexity in that. 693 00:38:48,265 --> 00:38:49,965 Lucy: And you've talked about feeling that as well, right? 694 00:38:49,975 --> 00:38:50,855 Yeah, and I 695 00:38:50,855 --> 00:38:55,300 Melek: do, and this is what I mean about this, This constant 696 00:38:55,310 --> 00:38:59,850 battle that I, we always have with our identity, and that's okay. 697 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:02,470 Why do we have to sit comfortably with who we are? 698 00:39:03,190 --> 00:39:04,530 You know, it's not a given. 699 00:39:04,539 --> 00:39:07,190 It's not an inanimate object. 700 00:39:07,290 --> 00:39:13,799 Your sense of self is always changing and actually to be on your tippy 701 00:39:13,799 --> 00:39:18,780 toes when it comes to self awareness, I think isn't a bad thing, right? 702 00:39:18,835 --> 00:39:19,202 Right. 703 00:39:19,202 --> 00:39:22,055 Rather than it being too settled and it's like. 704 00:39:23,205 --> 00:39:27,325 Lucy: I think that's really interesting, particularly in the world that we live 705 00:39:27,325 --> 00:39:31,235 in where like, that we sort of live in an era of like a personal brand. 706 00:39:32,205 --> 00:39:35,105 And that feels like it's something that has to be quite fixed, 707 00:39:35,125 --> 00:39:37,145 otherwise people don't like it. 708 00:39:37,725 --> 00:39:37,904 Yeah. 709 00:39:37,904 --> 00:39:39,204 And that's really difficult, right? 710 00:39:39,235 --> 00:39:41,935 Like, for the reasons that you're saying, like, how do you navigate? 711 00:39:42,485 --> 00:39:45,995 Like presenting yourself as a particular thing when that's not fixed. 712 00:39:46,365 --> 00:39:52,145 Melek: No, it isn't it isn't but it's so liberating It's so liberating 713 00:39:52,185 --> 00:39:54,544 to have no fixed sense of self 714 00:39:55,295 --> 00:39:56,125 Lucy: Yeah, yeah 715 00:39:57,455 --> 00:40:01,254 Melek: It took a long time for me to see it as a positive thing. 716 00:40:01,655 --> 00:40:02,955 Lucy: I bet yeah Yeah, 717 00:40:03,005 --> 00:40:09,235 Melek: but it is it is and also it just makes you feel So open, I think, and 718 00:40:09,255 --> 00:40:13,209 really loving and accepting of anyone else and whatever they want to be. 719 00:40:14,110 --> 00:40:17,600 And that's why I can't tell those aunties, Auntie, um, aren't 720 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:18,920 you, I think you're Can ish? 721 00:40:20,070 --> 00:40:24,620 No, like, that's not my place. 722 00:40:25,610 --> 00:40:27,489 Auntie can be whatever she wants to be. 723 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:28,579 You know? 724 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:44,939 Another, like, really strong food memory is like, my mum's 725 00:40:44,980 --> 00:40:47,090 chickpea and lamb neck stew. 726 00:40:49,530 --> 00:40:51,940 Well Or cannellini bean and lamb neck. 727 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:57,600 So it's a really, it's one of the, like, when in those basically old warehouses 728 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:03,399 and community centres, one of the first dishes that was made and sold, like in 729 00:41:03,399 --> 00:41:08,680 the community centres, was cannellini bean with lamb neck on rice, right? 730 00:41:09,549 --> 00:41:11,010 On chickpea rice often. 731 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:15,650 And that was such a staple, and the Halkiv, the Kurdish community 732 00:41:15,650 --> 00:41:16,950 centre, was known for that. 733 00:41:17,660 --> 00:41:20,189 Was known for that. 734 00:41:20,240 --> 00:41:26,025 And It's just such a source of comfort and it's so, yeah, because I just 735 00:41:26,195 --> 00:41:32,505 think of what, so basically Beyond Retro was the Kurdish community centre. 736 00:41:32,915 --> 00:41:38,764 And it was that space where, uh, you'd go to, for people who helped you 737 00:41:38,775 --> 00:41:42,805 with your bureaucracy, like filling out forms, uh, you'd go if you had 738 00:41:42,805 --> 00:41:46,265 a housing issue and someone would say, oh, there's a, there's a flat. 739 00:41:46,515 --> 00:41:49,685 You know, that you could go to there or, and then you'd have 740 00:41:49,685 --> 00:41:51,145 like wedding celebrations there. 741 00:41:51,505 --> 00:41:57,065 You'd have like folk dancing classes and then you had the kitchen, the canteen that 742 00:41:57,065 --> 00:41:59,875 had The cannellini beans and lamb neck. 743 00:42:00,535 --> 00:42:02,565 And then mum would make it at home. 744 00:42:03,065 --> 00:42:07,924 And the secret was, with mum's one, was that she'd make it in a pressure cooker. 745 00:42:08,005 --> 00:42:09,045 Lucy: Mmm. 746 00:42:09,535 --> 00:42:11,585 Melek: So that made it extra special. 747 00:42:12,095 --> 00:42:17,270 And there's a thing That our community have with pressure cookers. 748 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:21,250 It's a big deal having every home should have a pressure 749 00:42:21,250 --> 00:42:23,769 cooker And it's an investment. 750 00:42:23,850 --> 00:42:27,750 They're not cheap and you get a good one and it's you have it for life 751 00:42:28,269 --> 00:42:33,620 And it's the first thing you you get if your child's getting married. 752 00:42:33,630 --> 00:42:36,030 It's the wedding gift It's the ultimate wedding gift. 753 00:42:36,100 --> 00:42:40,900 So like Sometimes someone claims like an auntie will go i'm going 754 00:42:40,900 --> 00:42:41,870 to get this pressure cooker. 755 00:42:41,900 --> 00:42:44,515 They'll claim it and it's like damn it You What am I going to get? 756 00:42:46,785 --> 00:42:52,154 So anyway, when I, back when I was married, no one got me a 757 00:42:52,155 --> 00:42:53,285 pressure cooker straight away. 758 00:42:53,295 --> 00:42:54,324 It was so crazy. 759 00:42:54,384 --> 00:42:57,955 I think mum really wanted to take her time to select the right one. 760 00:42:58,955 --> 00:43:05,955 Anyway, and my ex loved my mum's cannellini britter beans and lamb, but 761 00:43:05,965 --> 00:43:10,535 she took a long time to tell, like, so she didn't, she wouldn't tell him. 762 00:43:11,165 --> 00:43:14,425 The secret of, like, she makes it in a pressure cooker, right? 763 00:43:15,245 --> 00:43:18,895 But she loved him dearly and obviously this was my childhood, 764 00:43:18,895 --> 00:43:22,465 like, Sweetheart, we'd grown up together, that he was like a son. 765 00:43:22,785 --> 00:43:26,885 And then we married and she was getting ready, she was like, It's time to tell 766 00:43:26,885 --> 00:43:30,930 him, like, and, Because I've got to get this pressure cooker and I've Tell him. 767 00:43:31,150 --> 00:43:32,200 That's when I'll tell him. 768 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:37,790 And then, but four years into the marriage and she still hadn't like, told him. 769 00:43:38,330 --> 00:43:43,349 And then this one day, um, we went over and she had made it. 770 00:43:43,430 --> 00:43:48,789 And he was like, you know, Auntie, I love this so much. 771 00:43:48,820 --> 00:43:53,350 And he ate it and then he, like, he fell asleep on her lap. 772 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,660 She felt so like, oh, this is, you know, my son. 773 00:43:57,230 --> 00:44:01,190 And then we, like, so she bought a pressure cooker. 774 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:01,554 Uh uh. 775 00:44:01,725 --> 00:44:03,975 To give for our wedding anniversary. 776 00:44:04,985 --> 00:44:12,324 And Four days before our wedding anniversary, we broke up, him and I. 777 00:44:12,405 --> 00:44:17,785 And it was like, I was just plucking up the courage to tell mum and dad, 778 00:44:17,785 --> 00:44:19,694 like, that it's just over, right? 779 00:44:20,345 --> 00:44:25,465 And I'm like, trying to pull myself together to go tell them. 780 00:44:26,124 --> 00:44:29,744 I, like, went away for two weeks and they were like, what's up? 781 00:44:29,754 --> 00:44:32,234 Like, I've got this, you know, like, what's going on? 782 00:44:32,234 --> 00:44:33,194 Everyone's disappeared. 783 00:44:33,714 --> 00:44:35,204 So I pulled myself together. 784 00:44:35,690 --> 00:44:39,920 And was like, finally had the strength to go to mum and dad and go, you 785 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:42,180 know, like, when it's, it's done. 786 00:44:42,590 --> 00:44:43,610 I'll never forget that. 787 00:44:43,620 --> 00:44:49,910 I, I sat down and dad, like, when I told, and the minute dad heard, he was 788 00:44:49,910 --> 00:44:54,650 the, the dramatic, he took, one who got up and started pacing up and down the 789 00:44:54,650 --> 00:44:57,230 house going, I can't believe it, what? 790 00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:01,590 And then he, like, he disappeared down the corridor and then come back, go, 791 00:45:01,770 --> 00:45:03,230 and another thing, you know, yeah. 792 00:45:03,230 --> 00:45:04,629 And just, he was just had. 793 00:45:05,175 --> 00:45:06,625 An utter breakdown. 794 00:45:06,645 --> 00:45:11,595 And so, Mum and I were like silent, watching him like, just 795 00:45:11,605 --> 00:45:14,234 have all these different thoughts and these different emotions. 796 00:45:14,495 --> 00:45:17,685 One minute angry, one minute like, devastated. 797 00:45:17,704 --> 00:45:20,635 And the next minute going, we're gonna get through this. 798 00:45:20,675 --> 00:45:23,094 And then, and then we just let him calm down. 799 00:45:23,135 --> 00:45:26,174 And Mum was just like silent the whole time. 800 00:45:26,634 --> 00:45:27,394 The whole time. 801 00:45:27,394 --> 00:45:31,775 And then like kind of, half an hour in when Dad had calmed down, 802 00:45:32,905 --> 00:45:34,104 just there was this silence. 803 00:45:34,104 --> 00:45:38,360 And then Mum said, I'm so glad I didn't give him that pressure cooker. 804 00:45:40,850 --> 00:45:42,880 And so she's just like, she's happy. 805 00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:47,659 She's like, you didn't get the cafe, you didn't get that, but you got 806 00:45:47,659 --> 00:45:52,070 the pressure cooker, you got the secret to the stew, you're winning. 807 00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:56,040 Wow. 808 00:45:56,090 --> 00:45:56,660 Yeah. 809 00:45:56,910 --> 00:45:58,060 That's an important stew. 810 00:45:58,449 --> 00:46:00,770 It's a special stew and I never forget it. 811 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:05,680 But, and I never forget like, All the, like, all that it represents, 812 00:46:05,690 --> 00:46:09,820 you know, in our community centre and how precious that stew is and how 813 00:46:09,820 --> 00:46:15,700 precious a pressure cooker is, you know, and what it means and I love that. 814 00:46:22,540 --> 00:46:25,250 Okay, okay, we're ready, we're actually ready. 815 00:46:25,530 --> 00:46:26,140 Wow, 816 00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:27,440 Lucy: sorry that took 817 00:46:27,450 --> 00:46:27,929 Melek: so long. 818 00:46:28,059 --> 00:46:29,686 Lucy: Oh my god, no, not at all. 819 00:46:29,686 --> 00:46:30,836 This looks incredible. 820 00:46:30,836 --> 00:46:34,750 We can Look at this beautiful table. 821 00:46:39,020 --> 00:46:45,450 Lecker 822 00:46:48,350 --> 00:46:51,160 is hosted and produced by me, Lucy Dearlove. 823 00:46:52,770 --> 00:46:56,310 Thanks to Melek Adal for being part of this episode and for making 824 00:46:56,310 --> 00:46:58,770 me such an incredible breakfast. 825 00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:01,190 If you want to see photos of it, they'll be on the Lecker 826 00:47:01,190 --> 00:47:02,650 Instagram, at Lecker Podcast. 827 00:47:04,279 --> 00:47:09,045 The second edition of London Feeds Itself featuring, um, Mel's essay, along 828 00:47:09,045 --> 00:47:13,575 with so much other fantastic writing about food in London, is out now. 829 00:47:13,615 --> 00:47:16,294 You can find it online or at a bookshop near you. 830 00:47:17,745 --> 00:47:20,525 Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions. 831 00:47:20,905 --> 00:47:25,165 And before I go, a reminder that you can sign up as a paid subscriber 832 00:47:25,235 --> 00:47:28,805 to support Lecker on Apple Podcasts, Patreon, and Substack. 833 00:47:29,235 --> 00:47:30,415 Links are in the show notes. 834 00:47:31,035 --> 00:47:34,135 And to any paid subscribers who are listening here, thank you so 835 00:47:34,135 --> 00:47:35,585 much for your continued support. 836 00:47:35,625 --> 00:47:36,254 It means a lot. 837 00:47:37,325 --> 00:47:41,475 And if you're a Lecker listener that's listened to one or more episodes 838 00:47:41,495 --> 00:47:47,534 this year and you haven't left me a review on Apple Podcasts, even just a 839 00:47:47,535 --> 00:47:52,485 rating, then please take a couple of minutes out of your day to do that. 840 00:47:52,565 --> 00:47:57,115 It makes a huge difference in how people find the show and it really 841 00:47:57,115 --> 00:48:02,265 helps independent podcasters like myself find and expand a new audience. 842 00:48:03,085 --> 00:48:04,175 Thanks so much for listening. 843 00:48:04,185 --> 00:48:04,765 I'll be back soon.