Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast back with guests from Tony Blair to Elton John
A new season of Ruthie’s Table 4 has launched, where a range of guests take a seat at the iconic River Café and have a conversation on their memories of food.
The guests are invited to reminisce about family suppers and first dates; what they cook; how they eat when performing; the restaurants they choose; and what food they seek when they need comfort.
The new series features conversations with a range of extraordinary people chatting with Ruthie Rogers including Guillermo del Toro, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tony Blair, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Ian McKellen and Elton John.
The first two episodes are now available, with Tony Blair featuring in the latest. The former Prime Minister reminisces about food in politics, from the ‘memorable’ meals he made his children at Chequers, to dining with Heads of State, including the late Queen Elizabeth II and former President of France, Jacques Chirac.
He discusses his childhood, remembers the food his mother cooked in the 60s and 70s and going to the Glasgow meat market with his step-grandfather. He also discusses with Ruthie the importance of childhood nutrition and education, as well as the future of farming and food production.
While talking about his recipe choice of grilled and roasted wild sea bass and how he cooks it, Sir Tony reveals the reason he chose it.
“If I’m in a restaurant, we’ll order fish, just simple fish. And especially when you, if you get a nice white fish, which I’ve just been in Greece recently, and they do that very well, you know, they take it from the sea. And it’s, it’s a white fish. You add a little bit of olive oil and, and lemon. And it’s, it’s, it’s very simple, but it’s beautiful and tasty,” he says.
He admits that he’s not a great one for very fancy sauces and adds: “I always say to people, ’cause sometimes people will say to me, “What’s your favourite type of cooking?” And I say, “I don’t have one.” I mean, I like good food. I appreciate good food, and I could eat Thai, I could eat Japanese, I could eat French, I could eat Italian, I could eat Greek, and I could eat English or Scottish.”
Before going into Downing Street, he says his family had a much more structured life and reveals: “When my kids knew I was coming on this podcast, they said to me, “Are you going to tell them that you used to cook for us and that your cooking was terrible?”
Discussing his upbringing, Sir Tony says: “My mum cooked curries, which is quite unusual for British people to do in the 1960s. She introduced me to Kedgeree. She did a wonderful toad in the hole.
“I always remember when we would go to the seaside, it was not so far away from us in the Northeast of England, and we’d occasionally go up from Durham to Northumberland and get by the seaside. And the great treat (laughs) was to have fish and chips in the car at the end of a day when usually it was too cold to swim.
You can hear the full interview with Tony Blair and other episodes of Ruthie’s Table 4 available on all major podcast platforms.