November 2, 2025 • 28 mins
On this week's food-themed episode, Jo and Geraldine find pots and pans in their pockets, along with some meat, herbs and vegetables. All the makings of a good casserole or stew!
There are songs, some big words (and what they mean), a little game - lots to entertain you.
Plus, you'll hear a story from Vision Australia's Feelix Library, Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughn. Can the animals find a way to stop the hungry dingo from devouring their friend wombat?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
One, two, three. It's happy pants.
S2 (00:20):
G'day, and welcome to Happy Pants, a show specially for
kids and especially for you. My name is Geraldine and
my name is Joe. And together, we're your happy pants
team for today. Are you wearing your happy pants? We
are today. Mine are brown. This kind of brown reminds
(00:42):
me of the taste of rich gravy. Mine are brown too. Oh,
it's the kind of brown that makes me think of
crispy roast potatoes. Joe. Joe! Come and peek out of
the window. Oh, where should I look? Geraldine. Over by
the fence. Where the gap is. See? Oh. Something's moving.
(01:06):
Sliding under the wire. Oh, it's a wombat. Now look
at that clump of grass near the post. Oh, a
baby wombat. She's brought her baby. Well, I think it
was the other way round, actually. It was the baby
I saw first. Mum just tagged along behind. Oh, it's
(01:27):
great having that patch of bush next to us. We
see all sorts of creatures. Oh, we'd better check the
fence around the veggie patch, though. Wombats love things like
carrots and sweet corn. They dig up turnips and munch
melons too. Oh, they seem to be happy munching on
the juicy green grass for the moment. Oh, the sheep
(01:47):
next door won't be too happy though. They love to
get their heads through the wire and nibble on that grass.
S3 (02:09):
A juicy, juicy green grass. Where have you gone? Will
you come back?
S4 (02:18):
Will you come back?
S3 (02:20):
Juicy, juicy green grass. Green grass has been so dry.
Dry turns you into brown. Will you come back?
S4 (02:32):
Will you come back?
S3 (02:34):
Juicy, juicy green grass. Green grass. I'm so hungry now.
My tummy's rumbling around. I better take a rest. I
better go and lie down. I've never been so hungry.
I've never been so hungry. I've never been so hungry before. Juicy. Juicy.
(02:55):
Green grass.
S4 (02:57):
Green grass.
S3 (02:58):
How I love to chew you. Will you come back?
S4 (03:04):
Will you come back?
S3 (03:05):
Juicy, juicy green grass. I really, really need you.
S4 (03:11):
Really, really need you.
S3 (03:12):
For breakfast, lunch and tea. So will you come back?
S4 (03:18):
Come back.
S3 (03:19):
Juicy, juicy green grass. I'm so hungry now. My tummy's
rumbling around. I better take a rest. I better go
and lie down. I've never been so hungry. I've never
been so hungry. I've never been so hungry before.
S4 (04:29):
And.
S2 (04:39):
I think those sheep have been moved. They haven't been
around for a few days. Oh, Geraldine, we haven't done
our pocket check yet. What have you found in your
happy pants pockets today? Oh. Sorry, Joe. We should have
done that at the beginning, but I got distracted by
that cute wombat. Let me see what head office has
(05:00):
hidden away for us to find today. Big word alert.
Distracted means unable to concentrate. Hmm. First pocket. some carrots,
some onions, some potatoes and a big bunch of herbs. Oh,
(05:23):
they do smell nice. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Oh,
there's something big in this one. Your turn while I
try and get it out. Okay. My pocket has a
pack of chicken pieces and another labelled cubed beef. That's
(05:46):
number one. Pocket number two has oh oh, a big lump. Hmm.
Feels like a bowl. It's a casserole dish with a lid.
My big lump was a heavy saucepan with a tightly
fitting lid. Can you guess what was in it? Well,
(06:07):
my casserole dish had capsicums and turnips, so yours probably
has veggies, too. Well it did. Lots of ripe tomatoes. Well,
now all we have to do is put all the
clues together and work out what we're supposed to talk
about today. Well, if we made a list, it might
be easier to work it out. Okay, you call them out, Geraldine.
(06:28):
I'll write them down. Okay. Carrots, onions, potatoes, herbs. Capsicums
and tomatoes. They're all vegetables, so they all go in.
List one. What's next? Mm. Chicken pieces and cubed beef. Oh,
that'll be list two. And that just leaves the casserole
(06:51):
dish and the saucepan for list three. Oh. Oh I
think the casserole and the saucepan gives it away. Pots
like that are for cooking in. And all the other
things can be cooked. Well that's true, but there were
two different kinds of meat and two different kinds of pot.
(07:12):
That must be a clue of some sort. Mm, probably.
I'll have to cogitate on that big word alert. To
cogitate means to think hard. I do my best thinking
with some music to help get my brain in gear.
Or me too. I'm going to find a space and
(07:35):
then let the music tell me how to move. Well,
sometimes it says stand up straight and march. Sometimes it
says relax and sway. Sometimes it says skip and make
your feet dance. And sometimes it says, phew! Enough rest.
Listen and see if you can do what the music says.
(09:55):
Have you worked it out yet? I think I might have. Mm.
Me too. Let's see if we both think the same thing. Geraldine.
First saucepans are for the top of the stove, so
the heat comes from underneath the lid is to keep
the steam in. Agreed. Casserole dishes are for the oven,
(10:16):
where the heat comes from all around, and their lid
is to keep steam in too. Agreed. And if the
steam is kept in, whatever is being cooked stays wet. Agreed.
And whether it is a saucepan or a casserole, if
whatever it is is cooked with the lid on and
(10:37):
lots of moisture. It's not a roast. It is a stew.
I think we're supposed to talk about stew. My favorite meal.
I've always wondered why it's called a stew, though. I mean,
where did the name come from? Well, it's from an
(10:59):
old French word stew, which means cooked in steam. Ah,
but now it means anything cooked in a vessel with
a lid on top of the stove. It's a stew
in the oven. It's a casserole. Well, Happy Pants head
office gave us both. So how about we do something
(11:20):
with the beef in the pot and cook the chicken
in the casserole? Mm. Sounds like a plan. I'll do
the veggies and you can peel and slice the onions. Geraldine. Oh, gee. Thanks, Joe.
I just love onion tears. Stew has about as many
names as there are countries. There are some famous ones, though,
(11:41):
like Bourguignon. That's a beef stew from France. Stroganoff? That's
a beef stew from Russia. Bouillabaisse. That's a French stew
made with lots of different fish. Gumbo? That's a fish stew, too.
It comes from America. Another stew from the deep south
of the United States of America is jambalaya. It has
(12:05):
either meat or fish, lots of veggies and spices, and
is served over rice. There's a song about jambalaya. It
uses lots of southern words like pirogue instead of rowing boat,
bayou for a swampy river, and crawfish instead of crayfish.
(12:25):
The singer is saying he plans to row up the river,
meet up with his girlfriend, eat lots of crayfish stew
and fish pie, drink rum and play his guitar. Well,
sounds like a foreign language to me. Yeah, it sure does.
Listen and see if you can work out what the
singer is saying.
S3 (12:48):
Goodbye, Joe.
S5 (12:49):
Me. Gotta go. Me oh my. Me gotta go call
a pillow down to the fight my boy. Me oh my.
Son of a corn will help me. Fun on the
bayou Joe Malone. Crawfish pie Chili gumbo. Cause tonight I'm
(13:15):
goin to see mama. Bring it on. Every gift. Son
of a gun. Will help me on the bike.
S1 (14:08):
It's happy pants on Vision Australia radio.
S2 (14:11):
Oh. There Joe. We prepared all our vegetables and browned
off all the meat. So I reckon we could put
our stew and our casserole together now. Mm. I'll put
a layer of veggies in the bottom of the casserole
and lay the chicken pieces on top. Then cover it
all up with veggies. Add some salt and pepper. Pour
(14:32):
over a cup of liquid so it will stay nice
and moist. And into the oven it goes. Lunch is
coming up and I'll do exactly the same with the
beef cubes and use up the rest of the vegetables
and herbs. Add the liquid pop on the lid and
under the stove it goes. Turn down the heat so
it just simmers along. And that's lunch tomorrow. Mm. No
(14:56):
doubt about it. A bowl of stew is always in
good taste. And stew for lunch is a super idea. Oh, Darrell. Dane. Hey,
how do you know when you are eating rabbit stew?
I don't know. How do you know it is rabbit stew? Well,
when you find a hair in it. Oh. Joe, have
(15:20):
you ever heard someone say they're in a bit of
a stew over something? Oh, Geraldine, I often say I'm
stewing over something. It really means I'm worrying about something
I need to do. And if I mess it up,
I'll be stewing in my own juice. You can get
in a stew, too. It means you've got all mixed
(15:40):
up and you're having trouble sorting things out. And sometimes
people get so stewed up that they make big mistakes.
And then they have to eat humble pie. Big word alert.
To eat humble pie means to apologize for some serious mistake. Actually,
(16:02):
it used to be called humble pie. And it was
a real pie. What on earth is humble pie? Well,
hundreds of years ago. long before refrigerators, people had to
keep meat over winter in barrels of salt. It tasted
pretty awful after a while. So rich people who owned
(16:24):
big areas of forest would hunt animals like deer and
wild pigs for fresh meat. These forests were out of
bounds for poor people, so only very important people had
the fresh meat. Every part of the animal was used.
Flesh was roasted, bones boiled for soup and the skin
(16:45):
tanned to make shoes and gloves. The parts of the
animals that couldn't be roasted like liver, lungs and heart
were called the umbles. The umbles were chopped up and
boiled and then made into pies. Oh, I get it.
Apple pies were food for servants and laborers, not lords
(17:08):
and ladies. The humble people. Not grand ones. So gradually
humble pie became humble pie. So if you have to
eat humble pie, it doesn't mean you've been eating humbles.
It just means you have to apologize for something. Oh,
all this talk of roast meat and the smell of
our stew and casserole is making me feel hungry. I'm
(17:32):
ready for food.
S6 (17:33):
Nothing can stop me when I'm wearing my happy pants.
S2 (17:38):
Joe, if you were making an humble pie and you
wanted to feed four people, would you cut the pie
into halves or quarters or eighths? Oh, well, halves mean
two equal parts, and that wouldn't be enough for four people.
(17:58):
Quarters means four equal parts, so that would be best.
If it was cut into eighths. There would be eight
equal parts, but each part would be small. I'll go
for quarters. Let's say you want to give your four
friends two pieces of pie each. How would you divide
(18:18):
the pie with a knife? Silly. Oh, no. Actually, four
lots of two comes to eight. So I'll divide the
pie into eights. Eight equal parts. Brilliant. Talking of pies,
our stew and casserole are nearly done. Don't they smell appetizing?
(18:39):
Big word alert. Appetizing means it makes you feel hungry. Actually,
our story today is about a stew that might or
might not be appetizing. Wombat stew.
S1 (18:55):
Yay! It's story time.
S7 (19:01):
This story is called Wombat Stew, and it was written
by Marcia Kaye Vaughan and illustrated by Pamela Lofts. One
day on the banks of a billabong, a very clever
dingo caught a wombat and decided to make wombat stew. Wombats.
(19:24):
Du GUI brewery. Yummy chewy wombat stew. Platypus came ambling
up the bank. G'day, dingo, he said, snapping his bill.
What is all that water for? I'm brewing up a gooey,
chewy stew with that fat wombat, replied dingo with a
(19:49):
toothy grin. If you ask me, said platypus, the best
thing for a gooey stew is mud. Big blob of
billabong mud blobs of mud. Dingo laughed. What a good idea. Righto.
(20:10):
In they go. So platypus scooped up big blobs of
mud with his tail and tipped them into the Billy can.
Around the bubbling, Billy Dingo danced and sang wombats Joe
wombat stew, gooey bluey yummy chewy wombat stew. Waltzing out
(20:36):
from the shade of the Ironbarks came emu. She arched
her graceful neck over the brew. Oho! Dingo! She fluttered.
What have we here? Gooey, chewy wombat stew. Boasted dingo.
(20:56):
If only it were a bit more chewy. She sighed.
But don't worry. A few feathers will set it right. Feathers?
Dingo smiled. That would be chewy. Right. In they go.
So into the gooey brew. EMU dropped her finest feathers.
(21:21):
Around and around the bubbling Billy Dingo danced and sang
wombat stew. Wombat stew. Crunchy munchy for my lunchy. Wombat stew.
Old blue tongue. The lizard came sliding off his sun
(21:42):
soaked stone.
S8 (21:46):
Billy Dingo.
S7 (21:48):
He hissed.
S8 (21:49):
There are no flies in this sea. You can't be
wombat you without crunchy flies in it.
S7 (22:06):
And he stuck out his bright blue tongue. There's a
lot to be said for flies, agreed Domingo, rubbing his
paws together. Righto. In they go. So lizard snapped 100
(22:26):
flies from the air with his long tongue and flipped
them into the gooey, chewy stew. Around and around and
around the bubbling Billy Dingo danced and sang. Wombat stew,
wombat stew, crunchy munchy for my Lunchy wombats due up
(22:54):
through the red dust popped echidna. Wait a bit. Not
so fast. He bristled, shaking the red dust from his quills. Now,
I've been listening to all this advice and take it
from me for a munchy stew. You need slugs and
(23:16):
bugs and creepy crawlies. Dingo wagged his tail. Why? I
should have thought of that. Righto. In they go. So
echidna dug up all sorts of creepy crawlies and dropped
them into the gooey, chewy, crunchy stew. The very clever
(23:44):
dingo stirred and stirred, all the while singing wombats do
wombats do hot and spicy oh so nicey wombat stew.
Just then, the sleepy eyed koala climbed down the scribbly
(24:07):
gum tree. Look here, he yawned Any bush cook knows
you can't make a spicy stew without gum nuts. Leave
it to a koala to think of gum nuts. Dingo
laughed and licked his whiskers. Righto. In they go and
(24:32):
into the gooey, chewy, crunchy munchy stew. Koala shook. Lots
and lots of gum. Nuts. Naha! Cried dingo. Now my
stew is missing only one thing. What's that? Asked the animals.
(24:53):
That fat wombat. Why? Stop! Hang on. Dingo! You can't
put that wombat into the stew yet. Why not? You
haven't tasted it. Righto. I'll taste it. And that very
(25:14):
clever dingo bent over the Billy and took a great
big slurp of stew. Ah!
S9 (25:24):
Good food.
S7 (25:30):
I'm poisoned! He howled. You've all tricked me! And he
dashed away deep into the bush, never again to sing.
Wombat stew. Wombat stew. GUI bruy yummy chewy wombat stew.
S2 (25:57):
That was a reading of wombat stew written by Marcia
Vaughan and Pamela Lofts. The book is available from the
Felix Library, where you can find lots of books just
right for you. They're available in large print, braille, and
audio form. I like the way the animals so cleverly
(26:19):
ruined dingo stew and distracted him so their friend wombat
could escape. Oh. Very clever. So what have we done today? Well,
we had three big words. Distracted, which means unable to concentrate. Cogitate.
Which means to think hard and appetizing. Which means something
(26:39):
which makes you feel hungry. We found out that stews
and casseroles are much the same, but one is cooked
on a stove and the other is cooked in an oven.
And I'm being distracted by all those appetizing cooking smells.
So I cogitate that lunch is coming up. If you
have any questions, you can find us at Radio Australia.
(27:06):
Keep wearing those happy pants and we'll catch you next time. Nine. Um, Geraldine,
have you tasted this stew? Oh. Not yet. Did you
put in the salt? Yes. From the canister with the
picture of bamboo stalks. The one with the big black
s for salt. Oh, that's not bamboo. It's sugar cane.
(27:29):
And the S isn't for salt. Oh, oh.
S10 (27:40):
Happy pants is produced on the lands of the Whadjuk
Noongar people. Vision Australia Radio acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples as the first Australians, and the traditional owners
of the land. Across our working area, we pay our
respects to elders past, present and future in maintaining their cultures,
countries and their spiritual connection to the lands and waters.
Vision Australia Radio acknowledges and respects the genuine diversity and
(28:03):
richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia.
Happy pants has been made possible with the support of
the Community Broadcasting Foundation.
One, two, three. It's happy pants.
S2 (00:20):
G'day, and welcome to Happy Pants, a show specially for
kids and especially for you. My name is Geraldine and
my name is Joe. And together, we're your happy pants
team for today. Are you wearing your happy pants? We
are today. Mine are brown. This kind of brown reminds
(00:42):
me of the taste of rich gravy. Mine are brown too. Oh,
it's the kind of brown that makes me think of
crispy roast potatoes. Joe. Joe! Come and peek out of
the window. Oh, where should I look? Geraldine. Over by
the fence. Where the gap is. See? Oh. Something's moving.
(01:06):
Sliding under the wire. Oh, it's a wombat. Now look
at that clump of grass near the post. Oh, a
baby wombat. She's brought her baby. Well, I think it
was the other way round, actually. It was the baby
I saw first. Mum just tagged along behind. Oh, it's
(01:27):
great having that patch of bush next to us. We
see all sorts of creatures. Oh, we'd better check the
fence around the veggie patch, though. Wombats love things like
carrots and sweet corn. They dig up turnips and munch
melons too. Oh, they seem to be happy munching on
the juicy green grass for the moment. Oh, the sheep
(01:47):
next door won't be too happy though. They love to
get their heads through the wire and nibble on that grass.
S3 (02:09):
A juicy, juicy green grass. Where have you gone? Will
you come back?
S4 (02:18):
Will you come back?
S3 (02:20):
Juicy, juicy green grass. Green grass has been so dry.
Dry turns you into brown. Will you come back?
S4 (02:32):
Will you come back?
S3 (02:34):
Juicy, juicy green grass. Green grass. I'm so hungry now.
My tummy's rumbling around. I better take a rest. I
better go and lie down. I've never been so hungry.
I've never been so hungry. I've never been so hungry before. Juicy. Juicy.
(02:55):
Green grass.
S4 (02:57):
Green grass.
S3 (02:58):
How I love to chew you. Will you come back?
S4 (03:04):
Will you come back?
S3 (03:05):
Juicy, juicy green grass. I really, really need you.
S4 (03:11):
Really, really need you.
S3 (03:12):
For breakfast, lunch and tea. So will you come back?
S4 (03:18):
Come back.
S3 (03:19):
Juicy, juicy green grass. I'm so hungry now. My tummy's
rumbling around. I better take a rest. I better go
and lie down. I've never been so hungry. I've never
been so hungry. I've never been so hungry before.
S4 (04:29):
And.
S2 (04:39):
I think those sheep have been moved. They haven't been
around for a few days. Oh, Geraldine, we haven't done
our pocket check yet. What have you found in your
happy pants pockets today? Oh. Sorry, Joe. We should have
done that at the beginning, but I got distracted by
that cute wombat. Let me see what head office has
(05:00):
hidden away for us to find today. Big word alert.
Distracted means unable to concentrate. Hmm. First pocket. some carrots,
some onions, some potatoes and a big bunch of herbs. Oh,
(05:23):
they do smell nice. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Oh,
there's something big in this one. Your turn while I
try and get it out. Okay. My pocket has a
pack of chicken pieces and another labelled cubed beef. That's
(05:46):
number one. Pocket number two has oh oh, a big lump. Hmm.
Feels like a bowl. It's a casserole dish with a lid.
My big lump was a heavy saucepan with a tightly
fitting lid. Can you guess what was in it? Well,
(06:07):
my casserole dish had capsicums and turnips, so yours probably
has veggies, too. Well it did. Lots of ripe tomatoes. Well,
now all we have to do is put all the
clues together and work out what we're supposed to talk
about today. Well, if we made a list, it might
be easier to work it out. Okay, you call them out, Geraldine.
(06:28):
I'll write them down. Okay. Carrots, onions, potatoes, herbs. Capsicums
and tomatoes. They're all vegetables, so they all go in.
List one. What's next? Mm. Chicken pieces and cubed beef. Oh,
that'll be list two. And that just leaves the casserole
(06:51):
dish and the saucepan for list three. Oh. Oh I
think the casserole and the saucepan gives it away. Pots
like that are for cooking in. And all the other
things can be cooked. Well that's true, but there were
two different kinds of meat and two different kinds of pot.
(07:12):
That must be a clue of some sort. Mm, probably.
I'll have to cogitate on that big word alert. To
cogitate means to think hard. I do my best thinking
with some music to help get my brain in gear.
Or me too. I'm going to find a space and
(07:35):
then let the music tell me how to move. Well,
sometimes it says stand up straight and march. Sometimes it
says relax and sway. Sometimes it says skip and make
your feet dance. And sometimes it says, phew! Enough rest.
Listen and see if you can do what the music says.
(09:55):
Have you worked it out yet? I think I might have. Mm.
Me too. Let's see if we both think the same thing. Geraldine.
First saucepans are for the top of the stove, so
the heat comes from underneath the lid is to keep
the steam in. Agreed. Casserole dishes are for the oven,
(10:16):
where the heat comes from all around, and their lid
is to keep steam in too. Agreed. And if the
steam is kept in, whatever is being cooked stays wet. Agreed.
And whether it is a saucepan or a casserole, if
whatever it is is cooked with the lid on and
(10:37):
lots of moisture. It's not a roast. It is a stew.
I think we're supposed to talk about stew. My favorite meal.
I've always wondered why it's called a stew, though. I mean,
where did the name come from? Well, it's from an
(10:59):
old French word stew, which means cooked in steam. Ah,
but now it means anything cooked in a vessel with
a lid on top of the stove. It's a stew
in the oven. It's a casserole. Well, Happy Pants head
office gave us both. So how about we do something
(11:20):
with the beef in the pot and cook the chicken
in the casserole? Mm. Sounds like a plan. I'll do
the veggies and you can peel and slice the onions. Geraldine. Oh, gee. Thanks, Joe.
I just love onion tears. Stew has about as many
names as there are countries. There are some famous ones, though,
(11:41):
like Bourguignon. That's a beef stew from France. Stroganoff? That's
a beef stew from Russia. Bouillabaisse. That's a French stew
made with lots of different fish. Gumbo? That's a fish stew, too.
It comes from America. Another stew from the deep south
of the United States of America is jambalaya. It has
(12:05):
either meat or fish, lots of veggies and spices, and
is served over rice. There's a song about jambalaya. It
uses lots of southern words like pirogue instead of rowing boat,
bayou for a swampy river, and crawfish instead of crayfish.
(12:25):
The singer is saying he plans to row up the river,
meet up with his girlfriend, eat lots of crayfish stew
and fish pie, drink rum and play his guitar. Well,
sounds like a foreign language to me. Yeah, it sure does.
Listen and see if you can work out what the
singer is saying.
S3 (12:48):
Goodbye, Joe.
S5 (12:49):
Me. Gotta go. Me oh my. Me gotta go call
a pillow down to the fight my boy. Me oh my.
Son of a corn will help me. Fun on the
bayou Joe Malone. Crawfish pie Chili gumbo. Cause tonight I'm
(13:15):
goin to see mama. Bring it on. Every gift. Son
of a gun. Will help me on the bike.
S1 (14:08):
It's happy pants on Vision Australia radio.
S2 (14:11):
Oh. There Joe. We prepared all our vegetables and browned
off all the meat. So I reckon we could put
our stew and our casserole together now. Mm. I'll put
a layer of veggies in the bottom of the casserole
and lay the chicken pieces on top. Then cover it
all up with veggies. Add some salt and pepper. Pour
(14:32):
over a cup of liquid so it will stay nice
and moist. And into the oven it goes. Lunch is
coming up and I'll do exactly the same with the
beef cubes and use up the rest of the vegetables
and herbs. Add the liquid pop on the lid and
under the stove it goes. Turn down the heat so
it just simmers along. And that's lunch tomorrow. Mm. No
(14:56):
doubt about it. A bowl of stew is always in
good taste. And stew for lunch is a super idea. Oh, Darrell. Dane. Hey,
how do you know when you are eating rabbit stew?
I don't know. How do you know it is rabbit stew? Well,
when you find a hair in it. Oh. Joe, have
(15:20):
you ever heard someone say they're in a bit of
a stew over something? Oh, Geraldine, I often say I'm
stewing over something. It really means I'm worrying about something
I need to do. And if I mess it up,
I'll be stewing in my own juice. You can get
in a stew, too. It means you've got all mixed
(15:40):
up and you're having trouble sorting things out. And sometimes
people get so stewed up that they make big mistakes.
And then they have to eat humble pie. Big word alert.
To eat humble pie means to apologize for some serious mistake. Actually,
(16:02):
it used to be called humble pie. And it was
a real pie. What on earth is humble pie? Well,
hundreds of years ago. long before refrigerators, people had to
keep meat over winter in barrels of salt. It tasted
pretty awful after a while. So rich people who owned
(16:24):
big areas of forest would hunt animals like deer and
wild pigs for fresh meat. These forests were out of
bounds for poor people, so only very important people had
the fresh meat. Every part of the animal was used.
Flesh was roasted, bones boiled for soup and the skin
(16:45):
tanned to make shoes and gloves. The parts of the
animals that couldn't be roasted like liver, lungs and heart
were called the umbles. The umbles were chopped up and
boiled and then made into pies. Oh, I get it.
Apple pies were food for servants and laborers, not lords
(17:08):
and ladies. The humble people. Not grand ones. So gradually
humble pie became humble pie. So if you have to
eat humble pie, it doesn't mean you've been eating humbles.
It just means you have to apologize for something. Oh,
all this talk of roast meat and the smell of
our stew and casserole is making me feel hungry. I'm
(17:32):
ready for food.
S6 (17:33):
Nothing can stop me when I'm wearing my happy pants.
S2 (17:38):
Joe, if you were making an humble pie and you
wanted to feed four people, would you cut the pie
into halves or quarters or eighths? Oh, well, halves mean
two equal parts, and that wouldn't be enough for four people.
(17:58):
Quarters means four equal parts, so that would be best.
If it was cut into eighths. There would be eight
equal parts, but each part would be small. I'll go
for quarters. Let's say you want to give your four
friends two pieces of pie each. How would you divide
(18:18):
the pie with a knife? Silly. Oh, no. Actually, four
lots of two comes to eight. So I'll divide the
pie into eights. Eight equal parts. Brilliant. Talking of pies,
our stew and casserole are nearly done. Don't they smell appetizing?
(18:39):
Big word alert. Appetizing means it makes you feel hungry. Actually,
our story today is about a stew that might or
might not be appetizing. Wombat stew.
S1 (18:55):
Yay! It's story time.
S7 (19:01):
This story is called Wombat Stew, and it was written
by Marcia Kaye Vaughan and illustrated by Pamela Lofts. One
day on the banks of a billabong, a very clever
dingo caught a wombat and decided to make wombat stew. Wombats.
(19:24):
Du GUI brewery. Yummy chewy wombat stew. Platypus came ambling
up the bank. G'day, dingo, he said, snapping his bill.
What is all that water for? I'm brewing up a gooey,
chewy stew with that fat wombat, replied dingo with a
(19:49):
toothy grin. If you ask me, said platypus, the best
thing for a gooey stew is mud. Big blob of
billabong mud blobs of mud. Dingo laughed. What a good idea. Righto.
(20:10):
In they go. So platypus scooped up big blobs of
mud with his tail and tipped them into the Billy can.
Around the bubbling, Billy Dingo danced and sang wombats Joe
wombat stew, gooey bluey yummy chewy wombat stew. Waltzing out
(20:36):
from the shade of the Ironbarks came emu. She arched
her graceful neck over the brew. Oho! Dingo! She fluttered.
What have we here? Gooey, chewy wombat stew. Boasted dingo.
(20:56):
If only it were a bit more chewy. She sighed.
But don't worry. A few feathers will set it right. Feathers?
Dingo smiled. That would be chewy. Right. In they go.
So into the gooey brew. EMU dropped her finest feathers.
(21:21):
Around and around the bubbling Billy Dingo danced and sang
wombat stew. Wombat stew. Crunchy munchy for my lunchy. Wombat stew.
Old blue tongue. The lizard came sliding off his sun
(21:42):
soaked stone.
S8 (21:46):
Billy Dingo.
S7 (21:48):
He hissed.
S8 (21:49):
There are no flies in this sea. You can't be
wombat you without crunchy flies in it.
S7 (22:06):
And he stuck out his bright blue tongue. There's a
lot to be said for flies, agreed Domingo, rubbing his
paws together. Righto. In they go. So lizard snapped 100
(22:26):
flies from the air with his long tongue and flipped
them into the gooey, chewy stew. Around and around and
around the bubbling Billy Dingo danced and sang. Wombat stew,
wombat stew, crunchy munchy for my Lunchy wombats due up
(22:54):
through the red dust popped echidna. Wait a bit. Not
so fast. He bristled, shaking the red dust from his quills. Now,
I've been listening to all this advice and take it
from me for a munchy stew. You need slugs and
(23:16):
bugs and creepy crawlies. Dingo wagged his tail. Why? I
should have thought of that. Righto. In they go. So
echidna dug up all sorts of creepy crawlies and dropped
them into the gooey, chewy, crunchy stew. The very clever
(23:44):
dingo stirred and stirred, all the while singing wombats do
wombats do hot and spicy oh so nicey wombat stew.
Just then, the sleepy eyed koala climbed down the scribbly
(24:07):
gum tree. Look here, he yawned Any bush cook knows
you can't make a spicy stew without gum nuts. Leave
it to a koala to think of gum nuts. Dingo
laughed and licked his whiskers. Righto. In they go and
(24:32):
into the gooey, chewy, crunchy munchy stew. Koala shook. Lots
and lots of gum. Nuts. Naha! Cried dingo. Now my
stew is missing only one thing. What's that? Asked the animals.
(24:53):
That fat wombat. Why? Stop! Hang on. Dingo! You can't
put that wombat into the stew yet. Why not? You
haven't tasted it. Righto. I'll taste it. And that very
(25:14):
clever dingo bent over the Billy and took a great
big slurp of stew. Ah!
S9 (25:24):
Good food.
S7 (25:30):
I'm poisoned! He howled. You've all tricked me! And he
dashed away deep into the bush, never again to sing.
Wombat stew. Wombat stew. GUI bruy yummy chewy wombat stew.
S2 (25:57):
That was a reading of wombat stew written by Marcia
Vaughan and Pamela Lofts. The book is available from the
Felix Library, where you can find lots of books just
right for you. They're available in large print, braille, and
audio form. I like the way the animals so cleverly
(26:19):
ruined dingo stew and distracted him so their friend wombat
could escape. Oh. Very clever. So what have we done today? Well,
we had three big words. Distracted, which means unable to concentrate. Cogitate.
Which means to think hard and appetizing. Which means something
(26:39):
which makes you feel hungry. We found out that stews
and casseroles are much the same, but one is cooked
on a stove and the other is cooked in an oven.
And I'm being distracted by all those appetizing cooking smells.
So I cogitate that lunch is coming up. If you
have any questions, you can find us at Radio Australia.
(27:06):
Keep wearing those happy pants and we'll catch you next time. Nine. Um, Geraldine,
have you tasted this stew? Oh. Not yet. Did you
put in the salt? Yes. From the canister with the
picture of bamboo stalks. The one with the big black
s for salt. Oh, that's not bamboo. It's sugar cane.
(27:29):
And the S isn't for salt. Oh, oh.
S10 (27:40):
Happy pants is produced on the lands of the Whadjuk
Noongar people. Vision Australia Radio acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples as the first Australians, and the traditional owners
of the land. Across our working area, we pay our
respects to elders past, present and future in maintaining their cultures,
countries and their spiritual connection to the lands and waters.
Vision Australia Radio acknowledges and respects the genuine diversity and
(28:03):
richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia.
Happy pants has been made possible with the support of
the Community Broadcasting Foundation.
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