Hello. We recorded this episode of Table Talk a little earlier in the year, before the current

situation with COVID-19 had arisen. So if you hear a conversation about restaurants and dinner

parties with no mention of social distancing or isolation, that's why. We hope you enjoy the podcast.

Hello and welcome to Table Talk. I'm Olivia Potts and I'm no friend of us. Today we are joined by actor and guardian columnist Rick Samada. His recent memoir,

I Never Said I Loved You, is a profound, moving and seriously funny book that examines everything

from drama school to the meaning of life via mental illness, kitchen gadgets and grief. Rick, welcome to the podcast.

Hi, thanks for having me. Rick, we'll start where we always start on this podcast. What was food

like when you were younger? Well, sweets were a lot of what I ate when I was younger. I used to have,

I had a very sweet tooth. I still do. At home, I remember a lot of what I ate when I was younger. I used to have, I had a very sweet tooth. I still do.

At home, I remember a lot of freezer food in a way that sort of then fell out of fashion,

but a lot of kind of crispy pancakes.

And I remember Chicago Town pizzas, microaville pizzas, for a real...

In terms of home cooking, there were proper meals being cooked by my mum.

But because she was cooking for my dad, who had health problems, they were quite restricted.

So it would be a sort of alternation of chicken and fish.

Sort of every night chicken fish, chicken fish, chicken fish, because he had to have quite restricted.

Yeah, it sounds from the book like he took his nutrition very seriously.

And your mum did not take her personal nutrition as seriously as he did.

Would that be fair?

Yes.

Well, now she's just a very adventurous person at heart,

and she was looking after someone who had to be, because of his health situation,

...