Three Food Memories
The things you find out when you ask people about their food memories can be soulful, spicy, sensational, sour, and sublime. Often you'll discover something you never knew about the person you asked - and this is what the Three Food Memories podcast is about, how every food memory is linked to a moment in time.
Three Food Memories is hosted by Savva Savas, dad of twin boys, entrepreneur, caterer, and creator. In each episode Savva chats with a guest who shares three food memories and a social cause close to their heart, revealing far more about themselves than what they’ve tasted.
Be prepared for some hilarious and otherwise never-heard-before stories, and if you love listening - please tell your friends (and like, subscribe, and follow for all the goodness!)
Three Food Memories
📘Frances Whiting (bite-sized) 🍜
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On author and journalist Frances Whiting's menu:
Sunday roast, down-stairs Chinese, and Kolaczki (Polish cookies)
To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas @threefoodmemories
Email us at threefoodmemories@plated.com.au, we'd love to hear from you!
TFM is produced and edited by Lauren McWhirter with original music by Russell Torrance.
So let's take those potatoes to this first food memory. The Sunday roast in the waiting home.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I grew up in Indrapilly, Clarence Road, and my food memory, the one when you asked, was very much Sunday afternoon, mum cooking in the kitchen, putting the lamb leg in the oven, putting the potatoes on the boil, putting the beans. And it was for me when I think about my family, that's what I see. And it was when we were at our happiest, and it was when we were at our most together, because families fracture as you get older. Not necessarily in a bad way, but you you grow apart or things happen, um, or maybe there's no one still sitting at the table. So it would be dad down that end, mum down that end, my brother Michael there, my sister Rosemary there, my other sister Louise and me. And my memory of that table is that it was at a time in our life, a golden time, when we were all kids, we all got on really well, you know, apart from kicking each other under the table and all that sort of stuff. And then mum would kind of serve the roast and it would smell amazing. And I just, for me, it just when I close my eyes and think of that, is what my family were once in their most golden kind of time. And so now the table would have two empty seats, and my dad died 20 years ago, and my brother died about five years ago. And I often, you know, I just I love and it was a Laminx table, quite small. The biggest thing was we'd eat our food, would always argue over who got the Lamleg. Always. Who got it? Uh always my other sisters and brother, never me. That's my that's what I would always say. Um, but then after we ate dad, my dad, Paul Whiting, he was a total academic and book person, and he would say it's quiz time, and he would be the Sunday afternoon quiz master. And oh my gosh. So he would go around the table, or we'd have to buzz in, and it would be like, What's the capital of Australia? How do you spell uh orangutan? Just ba da da da da. And it was so competitive, but we loved it, and it was nice to see dad very relaxed and happy and at the head of his table and just really enjoying his family.
SPEAKER_01So, which takes us to your second memory, the first Chinese restaurant that you ever ate at. Now, how old were you?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna say 13.
SPEAKER_0113.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I grew up at Indrapilly, and we had one cafe called the Pasadena that was down the end of the street, and they served very bad food. Um, cinnamon toast, raisin toast, veggie bite toast, lots of toast. Uh was not exotic. And then Pizza Hut came, it was very exciting. Then Kentucky Fried, I think.
SPEAKER_01When did you get Sizzler?
SPEAKER_00Later. Sizzler came later. But then I think when I was about 11, 12, Dad said, We're gonna have Chinese. And we drove to St. Lucia. David's restaurant was downstairs, which made it exotic straight up. So you had to go down the stairs. You remember? And then I remember walking down the stairs in this room and my brain exploding because I had never, they had the red lanterns, pretty sure they had goldfish, they had red carpet, round tables with red tablecloths, and it was it was like going to literally another world. I'd never seen anything like it. And I think the reason it's burned into my memory is that when we sat down and I had the lemon chicken and the the uh fried rice and the I can't remember the fair thing was, it was like a uh anyway, the lemon chicken and the fried rice. I distinctly remember, although I don't think it was a conscious thought, just realizing that there was a whole world outside Clarence Road in Dripelli. I really did.
SPEAKER_01I remember thinking, oh let's move on to your third food memory. Now, this kind of ties into some stuff that we spoke about. Yeah. Read the book.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Okay, so there's a character in Pulowski, and she's Polish. And when I say characters come into your room, you've got no idea. Nina arrived Polish. She arrived with thick black, like very traditionally Polish looking, thick black plaits her mum made her wear with red ribbon. And her mum is Alini. And Alini is pretty much everyone's favourite character. She's not a nocturnal, she's one of the mums. But she's a really mum mum. She smells good, she's lovely, she wants to hug people all the time, she wants to feed people all the time. Um, so her way of showing love is through food. So she's just constantly cooking. Um so then because she arrived as a Polish woman, this was tricky for me because I don't know any Polish people, I don't speak Polish, I've never been to Poland. So what happens? You just sit up in bed and you go, oh wow. Usually just at the typewriter. Typewriter? Keyboard. Keyboard. Um Yeah, I was just like, I don't know. They just come, I don't I can't even explain. It's very odd.
SPEAKER_01Because they are imaginary, but they're have you did you have imaginary friends growing up?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, god yes.
SPEAKER_01Were any of them Polish?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I don't know, I don't think so. Um so then, of course, when that happens, you have to research. So then I did my research. Like, what would a Polish person, where would they come from, what perfume would they wear, but most importantly, what would they cook? So for me, that was learning about um pierogis, which is the Polish dumplings, um, with cheese, and then kopcha, which is the Polish dumplings with egg and potato, and then the biscuit. Which you have in that your little box, which is uh a Polish biscuit, um, and it is they all have um different, like a fruit gel, so whether it's blackberry or raspberry or um yes, I was learning about that, and then so the the book should you buy it, you don't have to, um you know, like the mother, you know, if she wants to help her daughter get into a school or whatever, she'll always bring someone a plate of this food, and it's that hole you catch more flies with honey. So she actually says to Nina, you catch more flies with um copture. Um, so that was interesting for me going through that hole, and then a friend of mine baked some of them for me because I did not know what they would taste like. They're excellent.
