August 11, 2025 • 22 mins
On this week’s episode, recorded in 2021, Victoria Beckham reveals the secret use of her mother’s microwave, the diet best for a Spice girl, and the thrill of her first taste of Cristal Champagne.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
We have good news. Ruthie's Table four is launching on YouTube.
Well you'll find full episodes, clips, and some of my
favorite moments from the series. Guests like Kate Blanchett, Francis
Ford Coppola, Sienna Miller, so We Saldana, and many many more.
To watch. Go to YouTube dot com slash at symbol
(00:23):
Ruthie's Table four pod. I can't wait to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
There, Ruthie.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Here's a story my mother. You know what she uses
her oven for?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Let me guess by her stockings.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
No, she used it as a filing cabinet. Oh and
a filing cabinet. Yeah, if he didn't go in the microwave.
Missus Adams wasn't interested in it. But this was the
eighties and I was growing up. But it's all about
microwaveable food and all being super super quick. So you know,
as I began my life in the Spice Girls, we
(00:59):
were eating our a lot, going to lovely restaurants, and
that was something really quite new.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
A fashion designer, cosmetics entrepreneur, dancer, business woman, a mother
of four, a singer. There are few women who have
seven or more adjectives attached to their name, and one
of them is Victoria Beckham. When Victoria comes to the
River Cafe, there's no fuss or privilege. She comes in
(01:29):
with just her family, her close friends, and her colleagues.
She arrives early so she is there to greet them,
and the quiet time before they come is spent discussing
with us what is on the menu, how it is prepared,
and what she would like to order food. How it
affects our performance, our health and happiness, and how it
(01:53):
is shared is important to Victoria Beckham, and Victoria Beckham
is important to us. Thank you, you are well.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I mean, maybe I'll make more fuss when I come
the next time if I'm that easy.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, you can.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
You can do whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
But you are and our side to think that there
are other people, but very few who always arrive before
their guests arrive. And I think it's a real act
of kindness. It shows that you're kind of putting your
time aside so that you'll be there to greet them.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
It's very very nice. I like it.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Well, I'm not sure if it's an act of kindness
or if it's just that we're a desperate to leave.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
The house and have a night on our own.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Okay, or b that we're just super excited to get
here because we adore the experience of coming and the
food is always incredible, and the wine is wonderful and
the people watching is just everything good.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Well, we're also here to listen to you read the
recipe that you've chosen for today.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Okay, So my recipe is roasted sea bass.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
The ingredients are.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Two kilograms of sea bass, scaled and cleaned, one hundred
gram fenyl seeds, two sliced lemons, a few parsley stalks,
two fennel bulbs trimmed and sliced, the juice of one lemon,
five tablespoons of olive oil, and seventy five millimeters of
(03:24):
white wine. So you preheat the oven to one hundred
and ninety degrees centigrade.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Preheat the grill.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Put half of the fenyl seeds inside the cavity of
the fish and seasoned generously. Brush the skin with a
little olive oil and grill for about five to six
minutes on each side until lightly charred. Place half of
the lemon, slices, parsley, fenyl, and the remaining fennel seeds
in a roasting tin. Lay the fish on top and
(03:56):
cover with the remaining lemon, parsley and fennel, over the
lemon juice, olive oil, and wine, and bake for about
thirty minutes or until the flesh is firm to the touch.
Serve either hot or cold with south a birdie.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
So, Victoria, of all the recipes that you have in
our books and what you eat in the River Cafe,
why did you choose sea beasts.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I'm a very fussy eater. I like things to be
cooked in a very simple way. I don't like oils
and butters and sauces. So to most restaurants, I'm probably
the worst nightmare. But you guys are always so accommodating
and always cook the food exactly how I like it,
very simple, very clean, incredibly fresh and just perfect. And
(04:47):
then you know, I love some steam vegetables on the side,
some balsomic vinegar, and then to season myself.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Did you come to this way of eating or did
your parents cook that way? Did you grow up with
very healthy, clean food? Oh gosh, no, quite the opposite.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I'd always been to nice places with my parents and
been taken on lovely holidays, but I'd never been to
the level of restaurant I was going to when I
was with the Spice Girls, and it was all very exciting,
and very quickly I came to the conclusion that unless
I adapted a very healthy way of eating, I would
just be more inclined to sit there and eat the
entire contents of the bread basket, which when you're eating
(05:24):
out regularly is probably not the healthiest, not when you're
on tour and you're expecting so much from your body.
So I just decided from that point to really try
and eat in a clean way. Lots of fresh vegetables,
lots of fish. I don't have any dairy at all.
I haven't eaten red meat since I was about seven years.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Old, before I even go to that. I'd love to
know I your mother. Do you think that she put
her filing in the oven or didn't use the oven
because she was doing other things? Did she think cooking
was just something she had to do rather than wanted
to do?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Do you think do you know she was always a
great mom and a great wife. She was always busy
doing something, but you know, cooking was never really her thing.
It's never really her passion. If you liked she found
her much better abuse of her of her.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Oven, and so that myself.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
But did she do the cooking or did you have
somebody else?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
No, no, she she did do the cooking. But you know,
this was when I was younger.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
This was, you know, when it was all about microwaveable food.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
You know, it was a real thing.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I remember when I was growing up, so many adverts
on the television. It was all about food that you
could put in the microwave fast.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It is absolutely no effort and get out of the kitchen.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Yeah, And being seven and vegetarian, do you remember what
made that happen?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I was at school and I was in a home
economics lesson and they were telling us about what was
what was it? I think it was either hamburgers or
sausages or something like that. And I was absolutely horrified
and haven't eaten meat since that day. And I have
to say, I mean, I don't miss it. I ate
lots of fish and I have a very very healthy
way of eating. But no, I haven't touched me since then.
(07:06):
The children do, and David does. And it's not something
that I did for any reason other than the fact
that I just went off of it when I learned
what was in it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
The show's a kind of determination of a child at
that age to do that. Oh, it's a principal. It's
a kind of view. So you must have been.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Strong, k I mean I am, and the way that
I'm very very disciplined, and I think, you know, even
Gordon Ramsey, who's a very good friend of ours, has
said he's never known anybody be as disciplined about the
way that they eat, you know, because for me, it's
just it's who I am. I expect a lot from
myself being you know, a working mom for children, and
(07:47):
I work out a lot, and I eat very very healthily.
That's just who I am. And that's just you know,
I'm not the most exciting eater. I like to have
a drink with my dinner and then I can become
a very good dinner guest.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
The drink to make you a good dinner dress, sure,
everything else, But I think that it is interesting to
hear that trajectory as well, that you you know, and
the discipline. So you don't because we've all been on
diets and we all know what it's like to deny
ourselves food, and I know that you know when you
hold back sometimes on food, you hold back sometimes on
(08:22):
fun or conversation. But that I think that your description
of your discipline rings true.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I absolutely don't deny myself anything. You know, if I
wanted something, I have it.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You know, I just it's just who I am.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
You know, I have this healthy way of eating that
works for me. You know, when I was growing up,
I used to have really bad skin as well, and
I went to see numerous dermatologists over the years, and
no one could ever figure out what was wrong with
my skin where I had such terrible, terrible skin. And
again that all just cleared up when I started eating
in this very clean, healthy way as well. And also
(08:58):
I feel that I have great energy, and so I
just figured out, you know, well, I'm happy the way
that you are happy.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
And what about when you were growing up? Where would
you eat? Would your family all eat together? Did you
have family meals? Did you sit in a living room
or I'm in the kitchen or the dining room? What
were meals at the Adams House like.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Well, we always sat together and we'd eat in the kitchen.
You know, meal time has always been important. Is it
an important time when you're you know, when you're all
together reflecting on your day. And that's something that we
do even now, you know, unless myself or David are
actually traveling, we always make sure that we are home
at the same time and that the kids are always there.
(09:46):
And that's the time when we eat together and we
discuss our days, and I think it's very important.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And that's how it was when we were growing up.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
You know, I was always darting in and out and
dancing lessons and singing lessons. You know, my mum was
a taxi driver when I was younger, literally running myself
and my brother and sister around all the activities. You know,
my mom was a real hands on mom. That's probably
part of the reason why she loved the microwave meals,
because she was always so busy driving us around.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
And then sitting down to the meal.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
So I think whether the meal comes from the microwave
or or from the oven or from you know, brought
in the actually the idea that you would sit around
the table and talk my memories of my people always
ask me as a chef, you know what did my
mother cook? And she was a good she was simple cook,
but she was a teacher, so she would come back
from work.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
But what I remember is a conversation.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
You know, I remember the idea that we got around
that we had talk around the table, you know, politics
or the day, what you did during the day and.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
The time to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
You know.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
Did you go out to restaurants with your parents? Would
it be special occasion restaurants or would you go out?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Oh, I mean my mom and dad used to love it,
you know, on a Friday night, it was probably the
treat to go to the local restaurant. You know, my
mom and dad loved Indian food, they loved Chinese food.
And we traveled quite a lot, so we were always
very lucky to go on nice holidays and experience different
kinds of foods.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
We go to Spain most summers. My parents out a
house in Spain, so we were lucky enough to be
able to go there.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
And have you know, a foreign holiday. Every year.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
We go to Cyprus. We were lucky enough to go
to America a couple of times. Actually, we laughed a
lot and we had some great experiences together. And it's
nice now that I can do that with my parents. Yeah,
you know, me and the kids and David love to
take my mom and dad out. You know, it's a
real treat. Family time is so so important something that
(11:45):
we cherish.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
I was quite touched when you said that the pleasure
that you gave from actually being able to take out
your parents, Because there is that moment, aren't you, as
you're sort of growing up, when you realize that you
can actually, after years and years of them taking care
of you, that you can take care of them.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
So is that something that you associated also with taking
them out to restaurants something?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, because as you said, you know, if you have
three children, you know, it's expensive to go out and
eat and go on holiday. And I think that my
parents they were wonderful, wonderful parents. So now the fact
that we can treat them, we can take them on holiday,
and we can take them to lovely restaurants, really means
a lot. And that's something that me and David really
do enjoy with his parents as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, yeah, both sides are very very close.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Going back into the trajectory of your childhood and teenage years,
how old were you when you left home?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So I did my GCS, So I was sixteen and
I moved to Epsom in Surrey.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I wanted to be a dancer and a singer.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I wanted to go into musical theater actually, and I
took a place at Lane Theater Arts in EPSOM in Surrey.
So I was nervous about that and I didn't enjoy
that part of it. I was always a little bit
I wouldn't say socially awkward, but I was always quite
shy when I was a child, and as I was
growing up. I loved the dancing and the singing, but
(13:13):
again I never really fitted in that well. I don't
think I really knew who I was. It wasn't until
I met the Spice Girls and kind of accepted who
I was, and they brought me out of my shell.
If you like that, I really became who I am.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Now do you remember what you ate when you were
at EPSOM?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Oh gosh, yes, I used to eat supernoodles. I mean
very very student style supernoodles that.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You put in them.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
There we go again, micro But yes, when I was
at college, I would eat supernoodles. I would have frosty
you remember the cereal frostis bowls and bowls of frostis
with skimmed milk. And I used to eat those yogurts,
you know those muller like when you appeel the corner
off and you've dump a whole load of sugary you
(14:03):
know what into it. Yeah, I used to eat a
lot of that. But you know, this was the nineties
when I feel that it was sort of rammed down
our throats. You know, fat free, fat free, fat free.
So we used to eat a lot of fat free
food without realizing how much sugar we were eating. And
I think that that probably didn't help my skin. Back
(14:23):
in the day, you know, there was so much attention
on eating fat free, and now what we know is
a complete opposite. Actually, I mean my diet now consists
of a lot of healthy fats. I mean numerous avocados,
for example, and seeds and nuts, and now we know
that fats are good, good fats. But back in the day,
we were terrified of them. Yeah, it's crazy. And like
(14:45):
I said, I think that that probably really didn't help
my skin as I was growing up, but we didn't
realize it.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
Then you joined the Spice Girls.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
What was food like there?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Well, you know, I mean it was so much fun.
But again, you know, we lived in a house together
and we ate like students. You know, I think I
was probably still on the frosties and the supernoodles and
all those kinds of all those kinds of things, sharing
the food and fighting over the food that was in
the fridge, like all kind of students do.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
And when I interviewed Paul McCartney last week, he was
describing that what was a very touching story about going
with John Lennon to Paris so the first time they
ever had a glass of wine because he grew up
in Liverpool and never had had wine. But he said
that there was a point when George Martin took them
to a restaurant called the Atwal in London, which was
(15:39):
a kind of a market, fancy French restaurant, and then
he knew what good food and good wine was. Was
there a moment when you were as a measure of
your success when you realized what food could be?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Oh got absolutely when we signed our record deal with
Virgin Records because to lovely restaurants. And I remember actually
when we signed our record deal, you know, they opened
a bottle of Christal champagne and again this was the nineties.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And it was like, wow that champagne got.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
How much I mean, this was just insanity, but so
much fun and not something that any of us had experienced.
And I was the poshwan and I came from a lovely,
lovely family. It wasn't as posh as people thought. I'd
never had anything like that in my life. And it
was incredibly luxurious. And we were going to wonderful restaurants
(16:33):
and eating wonderful food and experience and I'll never forget
not just in England, but you know, we traveled all
around the world. You know, we were selling records in America,
in Japan, we spent time in China.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
We traveled the whole world.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And I feel so blessed that I visited the most
incredible restaurants in the world.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Would you eat before a shaw or would you eat
after it? Again, as I asked people about actors, do
you even for them if you're doing a matinee which you.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Have lunch before breakfast?
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Was there discipline and rigor to the way you ate
and performed?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I mean, not with us, but then you know, we
we kind of just did our own thing ruthly, you know.
I mean, I remember once they introduced us to a
choreographer and we were like, what do you mean, you're
going to tell us what to do. We're just going
to get on stage and we're just going to jiggle
around and we're just going to do our own thing. So,
you know, yeah, we ate before the show, we ate
(17:31):
during the show, and we ate after the show.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
We ate during the show.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
That's really impressing in the middle of quick changes, you know.
I mean, Melanie c was the most disciplined, for sure,
but us not so much. I'm much more disciplined now
than I was then. You know, I was twenty years
old and we were on the road and we were
having fun, you know, and I was so much more
(17:57):
naive than I am now and and.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Just ready to just as you say, have fun and
not be not be held back by any you know,
but also with a huge rigor, I mean, to put
on those shows. You were not a twenty year old
just you know, having fun.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
You were working a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
We were working, Yeah, we were we were working really
we were working really really hard, and we did have
a lot of fun. We did.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
And then in the trajectory again of food and work
and discipline and rigor, you started a business, a business
of fashion and fashion and food and employing people is
something major, isn't it. Did you find the eating and
(18:45):
the food and the discipline and the rigor of being
an entertainer.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
That also go into being a businesswoman, do you think that?
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:55):
You know, at that point then I did start to
become more conscious of what I eating because I knew
that I was sort of demanding a lot from myself,
and so I was much more disciplined then, because you know,
like I said, I'd go into the stadium in a
pencil skirt and blouse and carrying a burkin, and then
I'd walk into the dressing room and put on, you know,
(19:16):
a PBC catsuit if you like, And.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Then I was a spice girl at night.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
And I knew that I was demanding a lot from myself,
and so therefore I think, you know, I'm a big
believer of if it's not just what you wear and
what you put on your skin, obviously, I mean it's
about what you eat and being healthy as well.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
And when you have a show, you when you finish,
do you celebrate, do you get go and have food,
do you go out to dinner? Do you have food
brought in? Or do you just everybody kind is so exhausted,
you know.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
It depends, it depends. I mean, actually, after my last show,
I came here actually with a few of my team
members and my mum and dad and my friend and
my sister, So we actually came here to River Cafe
to celebrate. But I'm looking forward to I'm looking forward
to the next show and business getting back on track. Well,
we're in the process of working on a pre collection
(20:09):
at the moment, and then we'll have our main collection
in September. But I'm looking forward to things getting back
to normal because I think socializing and eating and drinking
with friends and colleagues is so so important. Yes, it's
(20:30):
been a hell of a year, right.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Yeah, And so we think about you know, we've talked
about food and family and food and love and your
parents and exposure to new new places and travel. Food
also can give us comfort. And so my last question
to you and this very flustery River Cafe day is
to ask you what is your comfort food?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And this is where I sound even more boring in
the food department.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
You're not boring in the food department. You're interesting in
the food.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Okay, what do I like?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
You know, I like whole grain toast with salt on it?
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Good?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Is that really boring? Is that carby thing? Isn't it?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Is that carbohydrate that makes you feel comforted?
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And I love salt.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I'm a slavery person's opposed to a sweet person.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
I think that sounds like a very good comfort food.
And it's been a very very lovely conversation.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Thank you, thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
It was great. Is this for me? Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That's nice?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
What is it? I think it might be fount on it?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Very nice? Is that what you're having?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
There?
Speaker 4 (21:49):
We go having let's go in the afternoon.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
It's my kind of day to visit the online shop
of the River Cafe. Go to shop Therivercafe dot co
dot uk.
We have good news. Ruthie's Table four is launching on YouTube.
Well you'll find full episodes, clips, and some of my
favorite moments from the series. Guests like Kate Blanchett, Francis
Ford Coppola, Sienna Miller, so We Saldana, and many many more.
To watch. Go to YouTube dot com slash at symbol
(00:23):
Ruthie's Table four pod. I can't wait to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
There, Ruthie.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Here's a story my mother. You know what she uses
her oven for?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Let me guess by her stockings.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
No, she used it as a filing cabinet. Oh and
a filing cabinet. Yeah, if he didn't go in the microwave.
Missus Adams wasn't interested in it. But this was the
eighties and I was growing up. But it's all about
microwaveable food and all being super super quick. So you know,
as I began my life in the Spice Girls, we
(00:59):
were eating our a lot, going to lovely restaurants, and
that was something really quite new.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
A fashion designer, cosmetics entrepreneur, dancer, business woman, a mother
of four, a singer. There are few women who have
seven or more adjectives attached to their name, and one
of them is Victoria Beckham. When Victoria comes to the
River Cafe, there's no fuss or privilege. She comes in
(01:29):
with just her family, her close friends, and her colleagues.
She arrives early so she is there to greet them,
and the quiet time before they come is spent discussing
with us what is on the menu, how it is prepared,
and what she would like to order food. How it
affects our performance, our health and happiness, and how it
(01:53):
is shared is important to Victoria Beckham, and Victoria Beckham
is important to us. Thank you, you are well.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I mean, maybe I'll make more fuss when I come
the next time if I'm that easy.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, you can.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
You can do whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
But you are and our side to think that there
are other people, but very few who always arrive before
their guests arrive. And I think it's a real act
of kindness. It shows that you're kind of putting your
time aside so that you'll be there to greet them.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
It's very very nice. I like it.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Well, I'm not sure if it's an act of kindness
or if it's just that we're a desperate to leave.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
The house and have a night on our own.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Okay, or b that we're just super excited to get
here because we adore the experience of coming and the
food is always incredible, and the wine is wonderful and
the people watching is just everything good.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Well, we're also here to listen to you read the
recipe that you've chosen for today.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Okay, So my recipe is roasted sea bass.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
The ingredients are.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Two kilograms of sea bass, scaled and cleaned, one hundred
gram fenyl seeds, two sliced lemons, a few parsley stalks,
two fennel bulbs trimmed and sliced, the juice of one lemon,
five tablespoons of olive oil, and seventy five millimeters of
(03:24):
white wine. So you preheat the oven to one hundred
and ninety degrees centigrade.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Preheat the grill.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Put half of the fenyl seeds inside the cavity of
the fish and seasoned generously. Brush the skin with a
little olive oil and grill for about five to six
minutes on each side until lightly charred. Place half of
the lemon, slices, parsley, fenyl, and the remaining fennel seeds
in a roasting tin. Lay the fish on top and
(03:56):
cover with the remaining lemon, parsley and fennel, over the
lemon juice, olive oil, and wine, and bake for about
thirty minutes or until the flesh is firm to the touch.
Serve either hot or cold with south a birdie.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
So, Victoria, of all the recipes that you have in
our books and what you eat in the River Cafe,
why did you choose sea beasts.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I'm a very fussy eater. I like things to be
cooked in a very simple way. I don't like oils
and butters and sauces. So to most restaurants, I'm probably
the worst nightmare. But you guys are always so accommodating
and always cook the food exactly how I like it,
very simple, very clean, incredibly fresh and just perfect. And
(04:47):
then you know, I love some steam vegetables on the side,
some balsomic vinegar, and then to season myself.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Did you come to this way of eating or did
your parents cook that way? Did you grow up with
very healthy, clean food? Oh gosh, no, quite the opposite.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I'd always been to nice places with my parents and
been taken on lovely holidays, but I'd never been to
the level of restaurant I was going to when I
was with the Spice Girls, and it was all very exciting,
and very quickly I came to the conclusion that unless
I adapted a very healthy way of eating, I would
just be more inclined to sit there and eat the
entire contents of the bread basket, which when you're eating
(05:24):
out regularly is probably not the healthiest, not when you're
on tour and you're expecting so much from your body.
So I just decided from that point to really try
and eat in a clean way. Lots of fresh vegetables,
lots of fish. I don't have any dairy at all.
I haven't eaten red meat since I was about seven years.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Old, before I even go to that. I'd love to
know I your mother. Do you think that she put
her filing in the oven or didn't use the oven
because she was doing other things? Did she think cooking
was just something she had to do rather than wanted
to do?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Do you think do you know she was always a
great mom and a great wife. She was always busy
doing something, but you know, cooking was never really her thing.
It's never really her passion. If you liked she found
her much better abuse of her of her.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Oven, and so that myself.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
But did she do the cooking or did you have
somebody else?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
No, no, she she did do the cooking. But you know,
this was when I was younger.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
This was, you know, when it was all about microwaveable food.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
You know, it was a real thing.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I remember when I was growing up, so many adverts
on the television. It was all about food that you
could put in the microwave fast.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It is absolutely no effort and get out of the kitchen.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Yeah, And being seven and vegetarian, do you remember what
made that happen?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I was at school and I was in a home
economics lesson and they were telling us about what was
what was it? I think it was either hamburgers or
sausages or something like that. And I was absolutely horrified
and haven't eaten meat since that day. And I have
to say, I mean, I don't miss it. I ate
lots of fish and I have a very very healthy
way of eating. But no, I haven't touched me since then.
(07:06):
The children do, and David does. And it's not something
that I did for any reason other than the fact
that I just went off of it when I learned
what was in it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
The show's a kind of determination of a child at
that age to do that. Oh, it's a principal. It's
a kind of view. So you must have been.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Strong, k I mean I am, and the way that
I'm very very disciplined, and I think, you know, even
Gordon Ramsey, who's a very good friend of ours, has
said he's never known anybody be as disciplined about the
way that they eat, you know, because for me, it's
just it's who I am. I expect a lot from
myself being you know, a working mom for children, and
(07:47):
I work out a lot, and I eat very very healthily.
That's just who I am. And that's just you know,
I'm not the most exciting eater. I like to have
a drink with my dinner and then I can become
a very good dinner guest.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
The drink to make you a good dinner dress, sure,
everything else, But I think that it is interesting to
hear that trajectory as well, that you you know, and
the discipline. So you don't because we've all been on
diets and we all know what it's like to deny
ourselves food, and I know that you know when you
hold back sometimes on food, you hold back sometimes on
(08:22):
fun or conversation. But that I think that your description
of your discipline rings true.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I absolutely don't deny myself anything. You know, if I
wanted something, I have it.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You know, I just it's just who I am.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
You know, I have this healthy way of eating that
works for me. You know, when I was growing up,
I used to have really bad skin as well, and
I went to see numerous dermatologists over the years, and
no one could ever figure out what was wrong with
my skin where I had such terrible, terrible skin. And
again that all just cleared up when I started eating
in this very clean, healthy way as well. And also
(08:58):
I feel that I have great energy, and so I
just figured out, you know, well, I'm happy the way
that you are happy.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
And what about when you were growing up? Where would
you eat? Would your family all eat together? Did you
have family meals? Did you sit in a living room
or I'm in the kitchen or the dining room? What
were meals at the Adams House like.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Well, we always sat together and we'd eat in the kitchen.
You know, meal time has always been important. Is it
an important time when you're you know, when you're all
together reflecting on your day. And that's something that we
do even now, you know, unless myself or David are
actually traveling, we always make sure that we are home
at the same time and that the kids are always there.
(09:46):
And that's the time when we eat together and we
discuss our days, and I think it's very important.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And that's how it was when we were growing up.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
You know, I was always darting in and out and
dancing lessons and singing lessons. You know, my mum was
a taxi driver when I was younger, literally running myself
and my brother and sister around all the activities. You know,
my mom was a real hands on mom. That's probably
part of the reason why she loved the microwave meals,
because she was always so busy driving us around.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
And then sitting down to the meal.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
So I think whether the meal comes from the microwave
or or from the oven or from you know, brought
in the actually the idea that you would sit around
the table and talk my memories of my people always
ask me as a chef, you know what did my
mother cook? And she was a good she was simple cook,
but she was a teacher, so she would come back
from work.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
But what I remember is a conversation.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
You know, I remember the idea that we got around
that we had talk around the table, you know, politics
or the day, what you did during the day and.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
The time to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
You know.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
Did you go out to restaurants with your parents? Would
it be special occasion restaurants or would you go out?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Oh, I mean my mom and dad used to love it,
you know, on a Friday night, it was probably the
treat to go to the local restaurant. You know, my
mom and dad loved Indian food, they loved Chinese food.
And we traveled quite a lot, so we were always
very lucky to go on nice holidays and experience different
kinds of foods.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
We go to Spain most summers. My parents out a
house in Spain, so we were lucky enough to be
able to go there.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
And have you know, a foreign holiday. Every year.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
We go to Cyprus. We were lucky enough to go
to America a couple of times. Actually, we laughed a
lot and we had some great experiences together. And it's
nice now that I can do that with my parents. Yeah,
you know, me and the kids and David love to
take my mom and dad out. You know, it's a
real treat. Family time is so so important something that
(11:45):
we cherish.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
I was quite touched when you said that the pleasure
that you gave from actually being able to take out
your parents, Because there is that moment, aren't you, as
you're sort of growing up, when you realize that you
can actually, after years and years of them taking care
of you, that you can take care of them.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
So is that something that you associated also with taking
them out to restaurants something?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, because as you said, you know, if you have
three children, you know, it's expensive to go out and
eat and go on holiday. And I think that my
parents they were wonderful, wonderful parents. So now the fact
that we can treat them, we can take them on holiday,
and we can take them to lovely restaurants, really means
a lot. And that's something that me and David really
do enjoy with his parents as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, yeah, both sides are very very close.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Going back into the trajectory of your childhood and teenage years,
how old were you when you left home?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So I did my GCS, So I was sixteen and
I moved to Epsom in Surrey.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I wanted to be a dancer and a singer.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I wanted to go into musical theater actually, and I
took a place at Lane Theater Arts in EPSOM in Surrey.
So I was nervous about that and I didn't enjoy
that part of it. I was always a little bit
I wouldn't say socially awkward, but I was always quite
shy when I was a child, and as I was
growing up. I loved the dancing and the singing, but
(13:13):
again I never really fitted in that well. I don't
think I really knew who I was. It wasn't until
I met the Spice Girls and kind of accepted who
I was, and they brought me out of my shell.
If you like that, I really became who I am.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Now do you remember what you ate when you were
at EPSOM?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Oh gosh, yes, I used to eat supernoodles. I mean
very very student style supernoodles that.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You put in them.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
There we go again, micro But yes, when I was
at college, I would eat supernoodles. I would have frosty
you remember the cereal frostis bowls and bowls of frostis
with skimmed milk. And I used to eat those yogurts,
you know those muller like when you appeel the corner
off and you've dump a whole load of sugary you
(14:03):
know what into it. Yeah, I used to eat a
lot of that. But you know, this was the nineties
when I feel that it was sort of rammed down
our throats. You know, fat free, fat free, fat free.
So we used to eat a lot of fat free
food without realizing how much sugar we were eating. And
I think that that probably didn't help my skin. Back
(14:23):
in the day, you know, there was so much attention
on eating fat free, and now what we know is
a complete opposite. Actually, I mean my diet now consists
of a lot of healthy fats. I mean numerous avocados,
for example, and seeds and nuts, and now we know
that fats are good, good fats. But back in the day,
we were terrified of them. Yeah, it's crazy. And like
(14:45):
I said, I think that that probably really didn't help
my skin as I was growing up, but we didn't
realize it.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
Then you joined the Spice Girls.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
What was food like there?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Well, you know, I mean it was so much fun.
But again, you know, we lived in a house together
and we ate like students. You know, I think I
was probably still on the frosties and the supernoodles and
all those kinds of all those kinds of things, sharing
the food and fighting over the food that was in
the fridge, like all kind of students do.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
And when I interviewed Paul McCartney last week, he was
describing that what was a very touching story about going
with John Lennon to Paris so the first time they
ever had a glass of wine because he grew up
in Liverpool and never had had wine. But he said
that there was a point when George Martin took them
to a restaurant called the Atwal in London, which was
(15:39):
a kind of a market, fancy French restaurant, and then
he knew what good food and good wine was. Was
there a moment when you were as a measure of
your success when you realized what food could be?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Oh got absolutely when we signed our record deal with
Virgin Records because to lovely restaurants. And I remember actually
when we signed our record deal, you know, they opened
a bottle of Christal champagne and again this was the nineties.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And it was like, wow that champagne got.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
How much I mean, this was just insanity, but so
much fun and not something that any of us had experienced.
And I was the poshwan and I came from a lovely,
lovely family. It wasn't as posh as people thought. I'd
never had anything like that in my life. And it
was incredibly luxurious. And we were going to wonderful restaurants
(16:33):
and eating wonderful food and experience and I'll never forget
not just in England, but you know, we traveled all
around the world. You know, we were selling records in America,
in Japan, we spent time in China.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
We traveled the whole world.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
And I feel so blessed that I visited the most
incredible restaurants in the world.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Would you eat before a shaw or would you eat
after it? Again, as I asked people about actors, do
you even for them if you're doing a matinee which you.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Have lunch before breakfast?
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Was there discipline and rigor to the way you ate
and performed?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I mean, not with us, but then you know, we
we kind of just did our own thing ruthly, you know.
I mean, I remember once they introduced us to a
choreographer and we were like, what do you mean, you're
going to tell us what to do. We're just going
to get on stage and we're just going to jiggle
around and we're just going to do our own thing. So,
you know, yeah, we ate before the show, we ate
(17:31):
during the show, and we ate after the show.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
We ate during the show.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
That's really impressing in the middle of quick changes, you know.
I mean, Melanie c was the most disciplined, for sure,
but us not so much. I'm much more disciplined now
than I was then. You know, I was twenty years
old and we were on the road and we were
having fun, you know, and I was so much more
(17:57):
naive than I am now and and.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Just ready to just as you say, have fun and
not be not be held back by any you know,
but also with a huge rigor, I mean, to put
on those shows. You were not a twenty year old
just you know, having fun.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
You were working a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
We were working, Yeah, we were we were working really
we were working really really hard, and we did have
a lot of fun. We did.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
And then in the trajectory again of food and work
and discipline and rigor, you started a business, a business
of fashion and fashion and food and employing people is
something major, isn't it. Did you find the eating and
(18:45):
the food and the discipline and the rigor of being
an entertainer.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
That also go into being a businesswoman, do you think that?
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:55):
You know, at that point then I did start to
become more conscious of what I eating because I knew
that I was sort of demanding a lot from myself,
and so I was much more disciplined then, because you know,
like I said, I'd go into the stadium in a
pencil skirt and blouse and carrying a burkin, and then
I'd walk into the dressing room and put on, you know,
(19:16):
a PBC catsuit if you like, And.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Then I was a spice girl at night.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
And I knew that I was demanding a lot from myself,
and so therefore I think, you know, I'm a big
believer of if it's not just what you wear and
what you put on your skin, obviously, I mean it's
about what you eat and being healthy as well.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
And when you have a show, you when you finish,
do you celebrate, do you get go and have food,
do you go out to dinner? Do you have food
brought in? Or do you just everybody kind is so exhausted,
you know.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
It depends, it depends. I mean, actually, after my last show,
I came here actually with a few of my team
members and my mum and dad and my friend and
my sister, So we actually came here to River Cafe
to celebrate. But I'm looking forward to I'm looking forward
to the next show and business getting back on track. Well,
we're in the process of working on a pre collection
(20:09):
at the moment, and then we'll have our main collection
in September. But I'm looking forward to things getting back
to normal because I think socializing and eating and drinking
with friends and colleagues is so so important. Yes, it's
(20:30):
been a hell of a year, right.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Yeah, And so we think about you know, we've talked
about food and family and food and love and your
parents and exposure to new new places and travel. Food
also can give us comfort. And so my last question
to you and this very flustery River Cafe day is
to ask you what is your comfort food?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And this is where I sound even more boring in
the food department.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
You're not boring in the food department. You're interesting in
the food.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Okay, what do I like?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
You know, I like whole grain toast with salt on it?
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Good?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Is that really boring? Is that carby thing? Isn't it?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Is that carbohydrate that makes you feel comforted?
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And I love salt.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I'm a slavery person's opposed to a sweet person.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
I think that sounds like a very good comfort food.
And it's been a very very lovely conversation.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Thank you, thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
It was great. Is this for me? Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That's nice?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
What is it? I think it might be fount on it?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Very nice? Is that what you're having?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
There?
Speaker 4 (21:49):
We go having let's go in the afternoon.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
It's my kind of day to visit the online shop
of the River Cafe. Go to shop Therivercafe dot co
dot uk.
Host
Ruth Rogers
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