What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your grandparents? If you’re anything like Alice Zaslavsky, it’s food.
I think food was always a part of my life. I wanted others to discover it... to understand the context of food, to connect themselves to culture and community and country.Alice Zaslavsky
Since bursting onto the culinary scene on the competitive cooking show MasterChef, Alice has been teaching Australia how to eat and cook better through her award-winning cookbooks. Her best-known title In Praise of Veg leans on the expertise that she’s been developing since birth – and in her view, maybe even before then!
I believe that the palate that we are born with is graced with the flavours not only of our own - of what the baby's eating in utero... studies have shown that the gut microbiome still has the bugs that your grandmother had.Alice Zaslavsky
Growing up in Tbilisi, Georgia, Alice spent her childhood surrounded by her own family’s fresh produce, soaking up decades of knowledge on growing and cooking local fruits and vegetable. Her Deda was an avid gardener, and her Babushka would use his produce to make her own wine, ferment pickles and cook meals for the family.
The food coming from my grandparents' garden, or from my grandparents' kitchen, it was always a win... I remember sitting out in that garden picking and eating my weight in plums until I felt sick.Alice Zaslavsky
From them, she learned about making the most of what you have. The entire family emigrated to Australia when Alice was still a child, adding a whole new spectrum of flavours to her palate, but the trip was far from easy.
In this episode, host Lizzy Hoo talks to Alice about her family’s journey to Australia, the influence her grandparents had on her connection to food, and how Alice is passing on their legacy – and a generous helping of sunflower oil – to her own daughter.
Follow Grand Gestures in your podcast app such as Apple Podcasts or Spotify to hear more generational wisdom and globe-spanning journeys.
Executive Producer: Kellie Riordan
Supervising Producer: Grace Pashley
Producer: Liam Riordan
Audio editor and sound designer: Jeremy Wilmot
Production Manager: Ann Chesterman
SBS Audio: Caroline Gates, Joel Supple and Max Gosford
Artwork by Universal Favourite
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Transcript
This transcript has been automatically generated
Lizzy Hoo
I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land I'm recording from. I pay my respects to the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin nation and their elders past and present. I also acknowledge the traditional owners from all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands you're listening from.
Alice Zaslavsky
I remember when I was a ratty teenager, and babushka Raya was more like my second mom. So I was having, you know, the angsty teenage arguments with both of them. And I remember her saying to me, like one day, I'll be gone. And you will regret this. And she's so right. But I think about that, in the context of the relationship that I hope that my daughter has with her grandparents.
Lizzy Hoo
Hi, I'm Lizzy Hoo, and this is Grand Gestures. I'm on a mission to find out how much of who I am, who we all comes from our grandparents. They influence everything. The culture we identify with sports we follow the traditions we observe, or ignore. A few years back, I started doing stand up with a show called Who Am I introducing the world to the funny stories and influences of my Chinese Malaysian Irish Australian heritage. I'm the product of four very different grandparents, each with their own amazing stories, humour, mistakes, traumas, and of course, secrets. And I know I'm not the only one. Grand Gestures is about how this special relationship plays out in the lives of some of my favourite Australians. Across this series, our guests will share the kinds of stories all families pass down the line. The hilarious tales told countless times around the dinner table to the stories we hear by accident, or the stories we would rather forget. For many of us, this relationship plays out in the kitchen with family recipes and special ingredients. I often cook my nanny's Assam Laksa, or Nonya curry, from her recipe book, lovingly put together by my uncle Ted. Food holds a special place for our guest, Alice Zaslavsky, Australian food writer, broadcaster and author of cookbooks that draw on her heritage and experiences after migrating with her family from Georgia to Australia. Alice, you and I have a lot in common. I think we both have very cool glasses. Yours are cooler than mine.
Alice Zaslavsky
I thought that as soon as I walked in. Cool glasses.
I see you. Yes.
Lizzy Hoo
But we both also grew up in households where there were recipes that were passed down to us. I've still got my nanny's cookbook, which is my dad's mom's cookbook that my uncle lovingly put together and transcribed everything which is great. What sort of relationship did you have with your grandparents
Alice Zaslavsky
A very enmeshed relationship. I feel like my grandparents were more like, second and third sets of parents, wow, than anything else. And that's because in Georgia, we lived with my grandparents on my paternal side for a while in Australia. We lived with my maternal grandparents for a long time. And so they were always a part of my life. And I didn't realise until adulthood really that that was unusual.
Lizzy Hoo
Yeah. Very unusual. So what did you call your grandparents? What were their names.
Alice Zaslavsky
My grandparents were, obviously in Russian babushka and dedushka are grandma and grandpa, but there's always derivations. So dedushka Borya, was my dad's dad and babushka Xena was my dad's mum. And baba Raya was my mom's mum and dedushka uova was my mom's dad,
Lizzy Hoo
and you were close to them growing up in Georgia. What's your earliest memory of them?
Alice Zaslavsky
My earliest memory of my dedushka Borya is sitting out in the sun dappled orchard or kitchen garden that grandpa lovingly grew with his bare hands. And as much as I remember waiting, well, he wasn't looking to pick the persimmons and the figs off the tree and sort of Munch them down. I also remember getting into trouble because I tore a rose. It was so beautiful as a beautiful rose. And I just wanted to take it home for my mom. So I tore it off the stem, and I got into a lot of trouble. Yeah, he was at quite a stern man. And I think about the paradox of being a stern firm, metallurgist and a gardener that loves to get His hands into the soil,
Lizzy Hoo
and what kinds of foods? Did they grow?
Alice Zaslavsky
Everything. Georgia is known as what was known as the fruit bowl of the Soviet Union. A lot of the fresh produce came from Georgia. The soils are beautiful and fertile. It's also known as the birthplace of wine.
Lizzy Hoo
Yes,I know that Georgian wine is very famous
Alice Zaslavsky
6000BC, yes, as far as it goes back, and grandpa actually grew his own grapes and made his own wine as well. And so everything from a little grape vine, to tomatoes to all of the exotic fruits that you would associate with the Middle East, or even the herbs of Southeast Asia as well.
Lizzy Hoo
So do you think your love of food came from that garden?
Alice Zaslavsky
I think it definitely helped. Yeah, I think growing up knowing that there is such an array of flavours that you're exposed to at such a young age, I never had that hesitation when it came to tasting new things. I didn't always have a great relationship with the food that was put down in front of me in other settings. But when it came to the food coming from my grandparents garden, or from my grandparents kitchen, it was always a win.
Lizzy Hoo
I'm thinking the smells that you had growing up, what are some of those smells and sounds that you remember from the kitchen.
Alice Zaslavsky
Being at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, George's cuisine is a mix of the fresh herbs of Southeast Asia with the spices of the spice trail with the fruits of the Middle East, and of course, the cheeses of Europe as well. So I remember all of those things. And all of those smells if I had to create so for anyone that hasn't tasted Georgian cuisine, it's sort of it's coriander, fresh and ground, walnuts, and pomegranate. So all of those things together and eggplant, you know, all of those kinds of evocative Ottolenghi style dishes. Yeah, it will definitely get in Georgia but then also being Ashkenazi Jewish, you know, I had a lot of that sort of the chicken soup, a lot of awful. So those smells are definitely very close as well. You know, there's, there's a particular soup in Georgia called khashi. And it's made using tripe, and so much garlic, and it's cooked overnight. And it's served very early in the morning for the men of the household after a big night to hang over soup. Because of all the garlic that's put into it. I love that I can smell that right. Yeah, and I don't know why that comes to me as like a small grandchild memory but certainly that's very evocative. Maybe it's just the garlic.
Lizzy Hoo
Georgia has been on my travel list for so long. And after this chat, I think I'm going next year. What languages did you speak at home?
Alice Zaslavsky
I spoke Georgian, and I spoke Russian, and you know, English was sort of around me because babushka Xena, my dad's mum was an English teacher, right? Which just sounds like you know, an everyday job. But if you think about the Soviet Union, and the the Cold War, being an English teacher was quite a subversive choice.
Lizzy Hoo
Yeah,very subversion. ballsy lady. Yeah,
Alice Zaslavsky
very cheeky.
Lizzy Hoo
Is this is this your favourite grandparent, maybe?
Alice Zaslavsky
It's funny. If you'd asked me growing up, maybe because she was always kind of probably the most permissive grandparent. And it's difficult to say, that's my favourite, because each one of them taught me different things. And each one of them means a different thing to me. So I'm going to be very diplomatic and say that she was a favourite, a
Lizzy Hoo
very, very, very good. Do you speak Russian, or Georgia and with your daughter?
Alice Zaslavsky
So Georgia, and I lost because there's a very small community of Georgians here and it's like muscle memory if you don't use it. Yes. Yeah. But as far as conversationally, I still speak Russian, I went to Russian school, reluctantly, all the way through school. And also my mom's parents didn't speak English. So because they lived with us, I had to speak Russian in order to continue to communicate with them. And as I got older, I was my grandmother's translator, you know, interpreter. So I've tried to continue that with my daughter. And I do speak to her in Russian and my parents do occasionally but they're, they speak to her in English. Yeah, they're sort of migrant accents, you know, their ring-glish accent and I try to say to them like please speak to her in Russian but of course for them it's easier just to kind of do that but she's got an accent as a result. Oh, she's got like a ringless accent which is interesting. Fascinating.
Lizzy Hoo
So back in the house in Georgia, the sounds the music What what are you listening to?
Alice Zaslavsky
Music was a big part of my family. My upbringing. I think you could say that we were athletes and headedness, you know, we loved and sensual. We were very, very sort of, we're all about every sense. So if it wasn't singing, which was very actively and freely done, that it was blasting kids, so records were played. And often the records were traditional folk music, whether that was was Georgian music. It was Yiddish klezmer music. It could have been Russian, classical music, you know, Tchaikovsky and all the way through to audiobooks or record books, so that I would listen to as well.
Lizzy Hoo
And music with a lot of soul and a lot of like, it starts in the stomach. I can feel it,
Alice Zaslavsky
you can feel it. Yeah, you know, I think I am a little bit of a synaesthete as well, like, I think I've got a little bit of synesthesia, because when I cook or when I eat, sometimes I can hear music. Interesting. So chances are it's all interconnected.
Lizzy Hoo
Oh,I'd say so. All in the body. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it's a 90s 1990s, Georgia, you're about six, it'd become quite a violent place and a dangerous place, I would say, or a place that changed a lot. And then you move to Australia, do you remember that time,
Alice Zaslavsky
I remember the move. And I remember the time more and more as I get older. And one of the strongest vignettes or strongest images that I get is of soldiers in the streets with, you know, semi-automatic rifles at their hip. And I don't remember much. But I reflect on my feeling at that time of not feeling safe, necessarily. But I didn't feel that consciously because actually, my family wrapped their arms and hearts around us. So in my conscious mind, I felt like I was kept safe. But unconsciously, it was very confusing time.
Lizzy Hoo
And I just find it interesting to like, even speaking to the music, and you're listening to his traditional music, and, you know, it's Soviet times, and then coming to Australia, this is like very open place. I imagine the soundscape completely changing. And you were probably introduced to Madonna and like the Spice Girls. Was did that blow your mind? Look,
Alice Zaslavsky
my parents were pretty subversive, too. Yeah, they would smuggle in, Western music. So that was and there was one band, a German band called Modern talking that my brother who's eight years older than me would listen to, and that was been bumped into a lot of synth. Modern talking for me is the sound of my child. My grandparents were visiting today when we came to Australia. The thing that I remember as far as sights and sounds was there was no ESL programme. You know, it was the 90s So the way that we learned English in class is that they used to sit us down in front of a TV that they'd wheel out and just play play school all day and we just sort of participate in the activities by and then I go home and watch the bold and the beautiful or days, I think my accent has a little bit of that sort of American little Yeah, I learned English in that way as well.
Lizzy Hoo
The Bold and the Beautiful.
Alice Zaslavsky
And I became a bit like Bonita
Lizzy Hoo
I love that.
So you moved to Australia and your grandparents stayed, but it wasn't long before they came out to join you. Can you tell me about that?
Alice Zaslavsky
My grandparents on my dad's side came out with my auntie and uncle and my cousin's a couple of years later. And they chose to come to Australia as well. And the reason that they had a very different journey is that by then there were no planes leaving Georgia, so they had to go by train. Tralee, yeah, to get to Australia. And my maternal side, moved to Israel, to Tel Aviv. And my mom's parents came to visit sort of in the mid 90s, mid to late 90s. And they were just here for a couple of weeks. Then my grandpa Vova was a, an officer in the Soviet Army. And so he went along to a few sort of RSL meetings while he was here and he was stepping out of one of those RSL meetings. It was a couple of days before they were leaving to go back to Israel. And he was walking across the road and got hit by a car. And, you know, he was wheelchair bound. He was sort of quadriplegic, essentially, you know, just like that in his early 60s.
Lizzy Hoo
Oh,that's so young. Yeah, isn't it? And then they stayed,
Alice Zaslavsky
they had to stay. So, you know, they had this great life. My grandmother was already learning Hebrew. And so for them to have to learn a whole new language, a whole new culture and also find themselves In this completely new dynamic of carer, and someone who was very physical and loved to dance, to suddenly not be able to move, that was really challenging. But I think growing up with disability in the house taught me a lot of lessons and a lot of resilience as well.
Lizzy Hoo
And for that to happen in a strange countries.
Alice Zaslavsky
Well, that's it. Yeah. And I think about my babushka, so my mother, and my mom's mom, how strong she had to be in order to be the one to carry all of that to become the carer for her husband, but also to be in this strange place. And she used to she was a very house proud woman. But also, she was a fashionista. So she loved walking down down the street and down North Road in Ormond, where we were living and she would go to the shop and pick out you know, a new blouse or a new cardigan and team it together. And she didn't speak a word of English, but I remember visiting that same shop with Baba and the shop keepers sort of saying to me the little biddies behind the counter saying, can you tell her that we love her? Lovely indicating with her? Oh, that's, you know, it's gorgeous. It's gorgeous.
Lizzy Hoo
So you've got both sets of grandparents here. Were you happy about that? Do you happy that they they were here
Alice Zaslavsky
when we first arrived. And because my paternal grandparents came so much sooner, I had a really close relationship with babushka Xena, especially like so did the border, the first thing he did was plant out the gardens of our place, and my tea and uncle's place in there and their house as much as you know, with all the fruit trees and all the things that he missed. So I remember sitting out in that garden and picking, eating my weight in plums until I felt sick, picking the fruit while he wasn't looking. And babushka Xena would teach us how to forage. So we would go when we were walking home from school, she would have plastic bags that we'd fill with the dams and plums that were kind of you know, growing around that area. And then she'd make such a value, which is like a kind of kind of like a sour plum sauce, or all kinds of different sauces and jams and preserves. They were the preserving side of the family. And I guess my mom's side, that the big thing that happened was because my grandmother's house proud. She was like on me, you know, like she used to say, like a candy. She said your room needs to look like a candy when you leave. Isn't that gorgeous?
Alice Zaslavsky
Gorgeous, but it never looked like a candy. And she was always when I started cooking, she would be kind of next to me. So I would cook and she would clean as I cooked. So I never learnt to clean, because I'm not even gonna say she never gave me a chance because but she really, you know, the house was spotless because of her. I think even though I say I had two moms like I think that the division of responsibility was always really clear because actually one of the things that my grandmother afforded my mum being at home, is that mum could work. So, you know, I was a latchkey kid, essentially. But then I had this family that was there that was at home. So Mum was the cook, actually, but grandma was the cleaner. So they kind of managed their roles and didn't tend to, I didn't tend to see too much discord between the two of them. Oh, that's nice. That's nice. Yeah. And I think as well, it especially mother daughter relationships are really challenging. And I remember my grandma saying to me, like your mother is a saint, you need to know that, you know, and you need someone else to say that to your child, because you can't say it like I'm a saint. Yeah. And my babushka Raya you know, because she had been a teacher, she used to go through my homework with me even though she didn't speak English, you know, for Russian school. She used to get me to recite my poetry to her or, you know, learn about the composer's or history or whatever it was. So she really gifted me a lot of culture and literacy.
Lizzy Hoo
yeah. She was interested.
Alice Zaslavsky
Sounds like she was really interested. Yeah. And worldly. Yeah. And it encouraged me to be the same. Yeah.
Lizzy Hoo
So your grandparents were teachers, they educators, and then your parents? Are they teachers?
Alice Zaslavsky
Yes, I am a fourth generation educator. It's definitely in my blood. It took a long time to convince my parents that the choice that I made vocationally, or the choices that I've made in the past decade, 11 years, were sort of moving towards something.
Lizzy Hoo
Yes,they're hard to please sometimes. Yeah, for for many years. My comedy stuff was just a hobby.
I worked in marketing. Yeah. And then I started doing comedy as a second job and, and for many years, mom would just say, Oh, what do you think of Elizabeth's new hobby?
Alice Zaslavsky
Elizabeth you when did they admit that it wasn't a hobby anymore?
Lizzy Hoo
When I did a gig at the Opera House. So you're teaching in a classroom, and then you discovered food or you wanted to do more in the food space.
Alice Zaslavsky
I think food was always a part of my life. It wasn't a discovery. But it was more that I wanted others to discover it. I wanted my kids in the classroom, to understand the context of food to connect themselves to culture and community and country through food. I was teaching English history, geography, and food was there were so many natural links. Yeah, but when I pitched like an elective for my heads of school, around food and culture, they sort of said are, it's a good idea, but we don't think that you've got the expertise. And we don't think you'll get the numbers. And so I sort of, you know, there's if there's one thing I've learned about myself, Lizzy, and it's probably through the tenacity of my grandparents, it's telling me that I can't do something. So I went and did a chef at home course at William Angliss. Every weekend in between teaching, finished my marking for the week, go to my course for the Saturday, Sunday. And at the end of the year, they were bumping out the course and bumping in MasterChef Australia auditions, right. And I thought, Okay, I've got the expertise. Now I've got the certificate. So if I audition, and my kids see me on TV once or twice, I'll get the numbers for the elective. So that's the reason that's the reason was as and as simple as that.
Lizzy Hoo
So you watched a lot of cooking shows growing up with your grandparents. What were they?
Alice Zaslavsky
I did well, this was the early days of SBS food. And I remember watching Rick Stein, Rick Stein's Odyssey with my babushka Raya and she thought of him as the nice white haired man, it was Nigella, all of the new Jamie. All of those sort of be ready steady court Ready, steady thing. Any show that was on? Yeah, we were watching. Yeah. Because I was pottering around the kitchen. And obviously, she was right next to me after I wasn't making a mess.
Lizzy Hoo
And then for them to see you on a big cooking show. The biggest in the country. What was that? Like for them?
Alice Zaslavsky
I don't think they realised the actual scope and scale of it. Because not even my parents, you know, I remember I needed my passport to go to Italy. And they didn't want to give me my passport because they were worried that I was being trafficked. This was not a legitimate thing. What are you even doing? And I had watched season one, I'd watched master chef, but we weren't really like a master chef family. But I think that's probably one of the things that I most regret is that I didn't get a chance to convey particularly, you know, to my grandmothers how I was continuing the the legacy. But I know, I know, especially for my parents now. Like, it's just like you it's taken a while. But now they're really proud of me and they're proudest, when they see recipes. Like, you know, my mum's in the guardian or in praise of veg. It's kind of I'm doing that and it's honouring the legacy of my forebears.
Lizzy Hoo
Oh, that's so nice. I use one of my uncle's recipes in Adam Liao cook up episode A, and I messaged him, Mrs. rankle and said, I've done this one, and he wrote back. Oh, that one's very simple. Surprised you did that one.
Oh, wow. Okay, what was the dish? It was like a beef salad is really easy and simple. It is delicious. That's why I That's why I did it. But he was, yeah, he was a little taken aback. Like you, I'm always trying to get that approval.
Alice Zaslavsky
But it's funny you say uncle, I had a great uncle. I didn't know this until after Master Chef. But I had a great uncle who wrote a cookbook with his mother in the Soviet Union. And it was a kind of like a mastering the art of Jewish, of the Jewish kitchen, in the 80s in the Soviet Union. And the only way that he could get this book published was you know, because the press was very managed. And the only way that he could get this book published was that he allowed them the art direction. And my mum showed me this book, and all of it is the recipes are there but the imagery, the illustrations are all anti semitic tropes. So was to think about that simmering along, and the fact that they were still able to maintain our culture and our traditions, you know, in that place, just sort of speaks to again, you know, the importance that they placed on heritage and culture,
Lizzy Hoo
and food and food. Have you got the book? Have you still got the book? Yeah.
Alice Zaslavsky
And it kind of to think about writing cookbooks now. And the freedom and particularly in this day and age, the whole industry is about telling your truth and being authentic to your story. And I think clearly it's come a long way. So it's is a real privilege to get to be here and to tell my story
Lizzy Hoo
So you're a mum now? Yes, amongst many other things to a little girl called Hazel. So she learning about food? Does she like food? Are you teaching her?
Alice Zaslavsky
Are you better believe it? That was my biggest fear. When I was pregnant. I remember waking up in a cold sweat saying, What if she doesn't like food. And a friend of mine sort of said, Alice, she's your child, like whatever your children will be into whatever you're into, because they want to be with you. So I ate really widely while I was pregnant, because I knew that that was really important to kind of that first exposure. And then again, when I was feeding, and we always cook and eat with her around, even before she could sort of sit up, I'd put her in the bouncer while I was cooking and chopping. And she's at a point now so she's four and a half, but she's creating her own flavour combinations. She's using a knife and fork she's slicing with some real impressive dexterity. She can use chopsticks. She if we leave her with a dozen oysters. We're not getting an oyster. You know what I mean? Yeah, she's a real gourmand. Oh, not be prouder.
Lizzy Hoo
Oh, I love I love it when I see a young kid pick up an oyster and just swallow it. Shock.
I love that.
Alice Zaslavsky
Yeah until that kid eats all of your
Lizzy Hoo
and so what are your go to recipes that you would cook that your grandparents cook?
Alice Zaslavsky
My you know, it's sort of hard for me to disentangle the recipes that my grandparents cooked from the recipes that my parents get because everybody was in the kitchen at the same time. So it's probably the condiments and the preserves that I'm more associated with my grandparents. So things like a Adjika which is like a Georgian chilli paste, Tkemali, which I mentioned, which is that sour sauce, there's soups and pickles and all of those sorts of things that I would just think about when when I'm eating them or giving them as gifts as well, you know, because their dad lets them so I kind of I guess it's a an obfuscatory way to say that my recipes and my culinary kind of Rolodex is fluid. Yeah, it's not kind of this is my babushka’s blah, because, I wish it was, you know, I wish that there were a few dishes that I could say, well, this is my babushka’s blah. But I think because we weren't, we wouldn't even call ourselves a foodie family. We were just a family that loved food. Yeah. So I don't think that we ever had the wherewithal to say, this is the dish that I am passing down to you. Yeah, because it was just such a part of everyday life.
Lizzy Hoo
Can you tell us about a recent experience you had when you took my hazel to a Georgian cafe in Melbourne and her first experience trying some of those flavours.
Alice Zaslavsky
I believe that the palette that we are born with is graced with the flavours not only of our own of you know what the baby's eating in utero. But, you know, studies have shown that even the gut microbiome still has the bugs that your grandmother had, you know, and so I think about how that informs the little brain, big brain. And that was really clearly strongly shown in relief at a recent visit to Gray and Gray. I don't know if you've been there. That's Northside, it's really good. If you want like an experience of Georgian food in Melbourne, Gray and Gray. It's a great wine bar. Okay, so you get the Georgian wine, and you get the Georgian food. And my friend Boris, who owns the wine bar, he came out and he'd just come back from Georgia, he came out with this seven litre drum of sunflower seed oil, and that's kind of our main oil that we use. And he brought out a little bowl of the oil and some rye bread and for dipping dipped a dip Did you know when he put it down, he said liquid gold and I was like Ha How good can it be? kept my bread in it? And I just had this like out of body experience of knowing that taste that flavour. I didn't say anything, but I sort of pass it over to Hazel. And she dipped her bread in she ate it. And she said, Can we take a container? Oh, like straight away. It's like she had known that flavour as well. And yeah, when we were leaving he, you know, this liquid gold that he lugged all the way from Georgia. He gave us a little jar of so it's just you know, I think that that's the power of food. Yeah, isn't it? It's it's multi sensory, and it's transcendent. And it's just such a joy to be able to give Hazel those kinds of memories without having to necessarily fly to Georgia. Every week, though I'd love to.
Lizzy Hoo
Thanks, Boris.
Alice Zaslavsky
And you know, Boris is the one like oh, yes that Boris. Yeah, so I was Thinking about my dad is good boy. Because one of the things thinking about dishes that my grandparents cooked there is one thing that I was taught explicitly specifically to cook by him. And that was toasting sunflower seeds. So he toast the seeds, garinim in Hebrew, but semechki in Russian, and you see them all across, you know that part of the world all across and in Shell, toasted until it smells like peanut butter on toast, and then you crack it. And I still when I need comfort, I'll still toast ups and sunflower seeds in shell. And evidently, I'm on deadline because I get a little callous when I've been doing too many shells. And that's where I'm at. And yeah, Hazel's adopted that as well. She's actually at the moment, she's still getting me to pop the seed. But yeah,
Lizzy Hoo
she'll get her own calluses one day.
Alice Zaslavsky
I remember when I was a ratty teenager, and my babushka Raya was more like my second mom. And so I was having, you know, the angsty teenage arguments with both of them. And I remember her saying to me, like one day I will be gone. And you will regret this than she's so right. You know, but I think about that in the context of the relationship that I hope that my daughter has with her grandparents, my in laws live in the country so we have to make an effort and we do make an effort for her to continue to connect with them and to have those memories because like, one day they will be gone and you never know when and it's not a I'm not saying it in like a defeatist. Like you never know when they'll be gone but just take every moment and opportunity that you can
Lizzy Hoo
that's Alice Zaslavsky. Australian food writer, cookbook author and broadcaster. grand gestures is a deadset studios production for SBS audio. It's hosted by me, Lizzy Hoo the executive producers Kelly Riordon supervising producer is Grace Pashley and producer is Liam Riordon sound designed by Jeremy Wilmot. Big shout out to the SBS team for their help. Caroline gates, Joel supple and Max Gosford. Now you can find grand gestures on the SBS audio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. But you should go one step further. whip out your phone right now find grand gestures in your app and hit follow. It's completely free, and it'll ensure you don't miss an episode.
