Hello and welcome to Outta Lunch, the place where myself and a fascinating guest fill

our boots with fine food and even finer conversation. Today I'm joined by someone I greatly

admire. I've seen a performance number of times in musical theater including the recent

Caroline or Change, which was just about to open on Broadway as Covid hit New York. She's

won three Olivier Awards and been nominated for a bunch more for a theatre work and starred

in countless TV shows including Doctor Who and As Lola in Holby City. Our food delivery

was courtesy of Soul Ride by the riding house Cafe in London who sent a marvellous selection

of Caribbean inspired food and I am not exaggerating when I say my guest was whooping with joy

when she opened her food packages. It's the amazing singer, actress and musical theater

star Sharon D Clark. Do the confession. We will rock you utterly baffled me. I was expecting

you to see that. Hello Sharon, I'd lovely to meet you. Now this isn't a food podcast

but food is involved. We ask you whether you have any allergies, likes and dislikes. You

send back a very specific set of dislikes, nuts and pulses and the one that really caught

my attention was Oak Crush. Slimey, don't like it. Now here's the question. You've said

that your mum terrific cook, Jamaican, did she ever try to cook Oak Crush for you or did

you discover this hatred elsewhere? I discovered this hatred elsewhere. So we're not blaming

your mum. Mum never cooked okra. I don't think she liked it either but she was really great.

If she didn't like something, she never not gave it to me because she didn't like it.

So she didn't eat lamb. She didn't like the smell of it, didn't like the taste of it.

But cooked lamb for me, tried me with it, saw her like it and cooked it for me. So she

was a great food lover and a great advocate of trying everything. I'm not one of these

kids that I only eat Caribbean food. I eat everything across the board. The nuts and pulses

...