Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - *BONUS EPISODE* The Humble Yum Yum with Hilary Barry!

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

We've got a special BONUS Episode of The Humble Yum Yum for you from our friend Ganesh Raj! On this episode Hilary Barry talks with Ganesh about how food is her love language, admits she's a control freak in the kitchen and Ganesh turns her love of seafood into a recipe for Thai Fish Cakes. If you like the show, like and follow on iHeartRadio or where ever you get your podcasts!Proudly brought to you by The Hits and Countdown.Get the recipe: https://bit.ly/3nV9fUeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brought to you by the Hits, welcome to the Humble Yum Yum Podcast. One pot, one pan, with flavours from around the world. Now, here's your host, Ganesh Raj. Hello everyone and welcome to the very first Humble Yum Yum Podcast brought to you by our good friends at Countdown. Now, I'm Ganesh Raj and I'm so excited to be bringing you this series talking to some of New Zealand's biggest names about food, family and fame. Now tonight's guest, look, she's a household favourite. She's the auntie,

she's the mate we never knew we needed. It's the Right Honourable Hilary Barry herself. She's gracing our studios. Now Hilary told us what it was like growing up in Wellington, the endless culinary love she received from her mother, and how it shaped her as a person and cooking for her own family. Her infectious positivity, it just shines through the whole time. She's such an amazing person and her life's mantra is so inspiring. So without further ado, I present to you, Hilary Barry. I'll start with, welcome Hilary Barry, New Zealand Personality of the Year. Let's just go for that.

Well, you know, that title is about to run out, but thank you. Oh, no, in fact, I've got a few more months because they cancelled the TV Awards for another four months, so I will hold on to the title. Still, the undisputed New Zealand Television Personality of the Year. Yes. Hilary Berry. Also, you know, mate of the nation,

which is my favorite thing in the way people describe you, as opposed to all the other words which I don't really care for. There's so much about you out there, obviously. So, like, I got rid of all the stuff that I was like, people have heard that a thousand times, and let's go with the stuff that people haven't, which is more fun. So, welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much for making the time. It's lovely to be here. Quite

a privilege for me. Well, it's a privilege for me too. And we have worked together. You know, we've interviewed you on Seven Sharp. We've worked together. Well, not together. We've worked against each other on Give Us a Clue. A little bit against each other. But at the same time, I mean, you can say if this is all in my head, but I felt like I clocked your eyes on the set and you were saying good job and I was saying good job back to you. Oh, yes. No, I totally picked that up. Did you feel that?

Yeah, I felt it. Okay, good. Otherwise, it'd be weird. So the Humble Yum Yum podcast, we created it so that we could tuck three things in, food, family, fame, and it would give me a chance to start to talk to people about stuff that I think most people haven't heard this side of New Zealanders before. So with food, I start with my favorite,

which is what is your death row meal? Oh, that is such a great question. It would definitely be a lot of seafood, a lot of fresh seafood. Fresh seafood. And I'm not fussy about how it's prepared. I do love salmon. I love scallops and crayfish. You know, if money's no object and this is my death row meal, I mean, it depends what prison I'm in, obviously. I want to make sure it's the one with seafood. Yeah, that's great because I'm imagining Mount Crawford.

They're not dishing out this sort of stuff. They're not. They're not. They're not. I do find it quite rich, though, so not too much. Spanish style, maybe, lighter. Oh, lovely. Or the marinara Italian style.

Probably lighter. Lighter. Yes. I'm feeling you. You're like a Greek islands girl, aren't you? Thank you, yeah. Gently on the barbecue. Yes, perfect.

And little bits in here. Sardines, olives. All of it. Preserved lemons. Yes. A little bit of bread. Garlic butter. Black garlic butter. Oh, wow. Stop it. Oherved lemons. Yes. A little bit of bread. Garlic butter. Black garlic butter.

Oh, wow. Stop it. Oh, we're there. Oh, we're there. Oh, and then there would have to be dessert because I do have a sweet tooth. There's a gallery of people waiting for this death row thing to happen. Hey, if I'm on death row, I've been in for a while, they can wait. So there would have to be some spectacular dessert.

I do love old-fashioned desserts. You are a dessert queen. Yeah, your lemon meringue pies, your crumbles, all of those sorts of things. Generally, yeah, something fruity. I do like a little bit of fruit. Citrusy is good. I am a citrusy.

Do you like sour more than sweet? If you had to choose between a lemon curd or a sweet lemon, where are you going? I'm sorry, I'm going the sweet lemon. Do you like sour more than sweet? Is that your, like, if you had to choose between a lemon curd. Yeah. Or a sweet lemon, where are you going? I'm going, I'm sorry, I'm going the sweet lemon. Are you? Oh, no, I'm sugar, I'm fully sugared up. Let's still be friends though, okay? Okay. Okay, cool.

Okay, that's good. Now, here's my next food question. You're going to love this one. What's your favorite birthday food that you've had in your time and you've gone, you know what? That's what I like on my birthday. Oh, that, does it, Oh, it can't be liquid. It can be liquid because that's a food group in Germany. Great. I have to say nothing says to me birthday or celebration like bubbles.

Like nice bubbles. It only has to be a glass but that just immediately, it's the sort of popping of the beads and the aroma of it just says celebration. Are you a bubbles person? Does it have to be like from France? No. But sometimes when you just want, when it's a really, really special occasion,

there's something about the label on it that makes it seem a bit flasher. But no, I'm not a snob. I swear the sound is different. I swear to God, when you pop like a champagne bottle, the sound is different. I'm telling you. Look, I'll drink anything. Anyone who knows me knows I will.

That's a good quote. We'll take that. Your most hated food. I hate, I really hate Brussels sprouts. And stop it because I know that you'll give me the, but you haven't had it the way I cook it. It's just because it hasn't been cooked well. That's rubbish.

My mother was a very good cook and didn't matter which way she did the Brussels sprouts, they were always disgusting. They seem salty to me. You know, they just seem, they're too strong. It's like everything that's wrong with a cabbage has been smushed into this little thing of awfulness. I hate them.

I just hate them. And don't say, no, I'm going to cook them for you and you'll change your mind. Because I won't! As a man who's been married for a few years, I know when a woman is telling me what to do. And I know when to be quiet, when that said word has been said.

Yeah, you're so well trained. Thank you, Hilary. My wife will be so proud of me right now. So Brussels are the second course. Just kidding. Now, what's really interesting to me about food is especially how food played out when you were a kid. So you grew up in the – where did you grow up?

I grew up in Wellington. In Wellington, right? In Wellington. So what was food or mealtime like when you grew up? Take me back. So let's say you're 12. Yes. You've come home from school, right? So I had a mother who was a homemaker,

and I have such incredibly fond memories of my relationship with food through her. My father wasn't bad in the kitchen, but he worked a lot, so he wasn't the one preparing the meals. It was my mother. And I would come home from school, particularly in winter, on a cold Wellington day, and there would be vegetable soup on the stove. So that would be your come home from school snack. You didn't hit the pantry and have biscuits and stuff like that. You came home and there'd be a fresh pot of soup.

And it's amazing how even as a mum, when my kids were little, I did the same, even though I was working and I wasn't there when they got home from school. I always made sure there was a pot of soup for them to get home because kids are always hungry when you get home. Of course. And just walking into their house and that smell of home-cooked food. Anyway, so that's one story. But she was a great cook. Remember, it was the 70s when I grew up. So New Zealand hadn't really had its food renaissance then. So we weren't terribly, you know, experimental with our ingredients or anything like that.

What would that meal have been that night? So the meal, if I think she think she loved her Des Britain cookbooks, Alison Holst, you know, Edmonds, things like that. She was quite creative. So, I'm thinking I can think of dishes from the past of, you know, Alison Holst's Risoles, which are, you know, the mints and herbs and spices and onion and rolled in fresh breadcrumbs and lovingly prepared. Did she ever have the Alison Holtz microwave cookbook? Yes.

She never embraced microwave cooking. Thank God. I was a judge on a show where I had to judge three meals made from the Alison Holtz microwave cookbook. Were they all awful? And it was like I was in another planet with aliens. That's how I felt. Anyway, thank you.

Now I'm connected to you even more. There's nothing. The only thing a microwave is useful for is melting butter. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. That is great. Okay, so the Alison Hulse cookbook, the regular one, gave her inspiration. Yes, and they came out once a year. I mean, we had

dozens of these things. And she still makes some of the Alison Hulse recipes, like her spiced Christmas almonds. She still makes. And each almond is baked in the oven with this sort of coating on it, and she'll make it, and she'll lay out each single almond and bake them in the oven. I mean, that's love. That is 100% love. That is love. So have you adopted some of those things? I mean, you obviously like to cook. I love to cook. I love to cook and I particularly love to bake. I've got a scenario

for you. It's a 12 person dinner party. You know half the people and the other half are new to you. Yep. What's on the menu tonight? Okay so I would always start in my brain with the mains and then I'd work entree and dessert out from that. We're with you. So I'm thinking 12 people. I'm into making easy food. Okay. So my go-to for a crowd would be a whole fillet of something that I might do on the barbecue, hood down, da-la-la-la, and then you can just slice it, and it's nice and easy with a crowd. Is da-la-la-la the cooking part?

What's that? Da-la-la-la-la, that's the cooking part? Da-la-la-la, yeah. Understood. Thank you. And then I would generally make a couple of very big vegetable kind of dishes. So in winter, that might be a roast vegetable salad, which I would serve warm and some steamed vegetables, things like that.

And in the winter, I might do a sort of, you know, potato gratin, something like that. Do you like the cheesy thing? Yeah. I love the symphony of flavours on a plate. So for a crowd, I might do that in a winter. In a summer, I might do the whole fillet as well in the summer. But I would tend to do big salads.

If you had vegetarians there, they could get a whole meal's goodness just out of the salad. I'm not a great fan of throwing lettuce leaves in a bowl with a bit of tomato on it. You know, that's nothingness. Neither am I. And I grew up in Asia. And for me, vegetarian food is not salad. It's everything else. There's 9,000 other dishes.

So thank you for saying that. Us non-salad people are grateful. Yeah. There's nothing as sad as when you go to a restaurant and, obviously, nothing that you're ever associated with. And I'm not looking at you implying anything. But I'm saying you go to a restaurant and they've done really well on whatever the protein is. And then there's a bit of wilted greenery on the side with some nasty kind of balsamic pre-prepared thing on it.

It's just vile. So we have somebody who obviously learned to cook from mum. Would that be fair to say? Yes, absolutely. Now carries on cooking. Tell me about dessert for this dinner table. Because the weather's warming up, I'm imagining it's summer. I might create some sort of berry crumbled tart or something like that, that

might be served with, you know, whipped cream. You can have it sort of warm-ish. Or your favourite, cream cheese. Oh, yes, I like anything. You do like cream cheese icing. The cream cheese icing. And you know what? Cream cheese on the side of that would be delish.

Oh, so good. So good. And if you drunk a bit of alcohol, a dash of almond yak in the cream cheese. Oh, stop it. Hadn't thought of that. You're welcome. That's Christmas this year for you. Thank you.

Covered. Like you've done so many things in your life in the world of journalism and media. Then when I looked at food, the way you spoke about it now was like your kids are leaving home. It's you and your husband. Is that right? And you're slowing down. Is food becoming, are you doing more complicated stuff because you have time? Yes. And our style of eating is different. So what's happening? Because, well, when you have children in the house and they're very active boys, you have to think about carbs and you have to think about, you know, having more food in the house and they're very active boys, you have to think about carbs and you have

to think about, you know, having more food in the house than you normally would. And now that they're gone, although they're back for the summer holidays, and they're gone, you know, we have a fridge filled with Poke Bowl ingredients. So for a meal, you can have some fresh salmon and some brown rice that's sitting there and edamame beans. Oh, yeah. Well, this is just my husband and I. He's very lucky. I mean, we'll do the poke bowls for them, but I still sort of feel like it wouldn't really fill them up.

You know, they're more lasagnas and meatballs. So you and your husband are on this beautiful trip? We're on this beautiful trip. And so, you know, I'm still into making soups. Yes. I think there's something about both baking and soup making, and I'm going to get a bit deep, but I like to show people I love how much I love them by cooking for them.

It's your love language. It is my love language. It's my love language too. Is that a love language? It's a love language. Cooking for people? Cooking for people is a love language. I honestly do. language soup it is my love language too is that a love language it's a love language cooking for people for people is a love language i honestly do 100 it is because everything in your heart goes into that i think we can both agree food is your love language definitely right because every time you talk about it you never your description of it just shows how much you

care even if it's simple stuff and i think that's what I'm attracted to about food. The humble yum-yum is about 20 bucks for four people. How to cook for that? Amazing. Using one pan and one pot. Because four-fifths of the planet, in villages around the world and in buildings around the world, mums and dads are cooking for their kids for less than that and they're delicious meals.

I'm trying to say to New Zealanders, don't worry so much about fancy stuff. If you can make it simply, you're fine. Just put some love in it and you'll be sweet. So that idea for me brings me to do you eat out much? Well, you know, I mean, COVID has changed things lately, of course. So we haven't eaten out as much and I'm not inclined to go out as much. So even when we come out of lockdown and places open up, I feel like I'm going to be doing

the click and collect. I still want to support local, but it's going to be a while before I'm going to feel comfortable sitting that close to someone I don't know. I feel you. It will happen. It's just a bit of a mindset. It's a personal thing. It is.

You're describing something in you that you're working through. Yeah. What about pre-COVID? Tell me pre-COVID. Pre-COVID, I love to go out. I love to go out of an occasion or if Mike and I were going to a show, we would go out and have something beforehand. What kind of food?

So what kind of food? My favorite places to be are places that are very unpretentious because I don't like white cotton tablecloths and people coming to the table and cleaning up the crumbs that I spilt. And, you know, I remember going to this fancy pants Auckland restaurant and I'll never go back there again. The food was beautiful, don't get me wrong. The waiter came over and told us the vegetables of the day

and he said, ariko vert was one of the vegetables. And, you know, he left the table, and my husband goes, what the hell are haricot vert? I said, green beans. He goes, why didn't he just say green beans? I said, I don't know. Because it's a French restaurant. Because it's a posh restaurant, and it wasn't the French cafe, actually.

It was just too posh, and people were quiet and hushed. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? If you go to a restaurant, I want to hear everyone else having a good time too. It was just too posh. And people were quiet and hushed. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? If you go to a restaurant, I want to hear everyone else having a good time too. And that's my main thing. I don't want to hear hush. Yeah. My whole thing's the vibe.

Do you know what it is? The food's got to be good too. Yes, of course. And the other thing too is, I don't want to sound like I go out just to get on it, but if the drink service isn't really quick, it kind of kills the vibe too. If you're sitting there for half an hour waiting for your drink order to come. I have a specific question now. What is considered the appropriate amount of time between you ordering a drink and a drink arriving for you to be happy?

Five minutes. Thank you for saying that. That's honesty right there. I don't mind the food taking an hour. The food can take as long as it likes. She doesn't mean it. From this point on, anyone who's listening, make sure the food is out on time. She did not mean that.

But that's the thing. I mean, good restauranteurs know that you get them their drinks and let them sit in. Read the menu. Read the menu. Have a chat with the waitstaff about what's on the menu, what's good. Make fun about people in the room. Don't forget to make fun. Oh, yeah.

Eye up everybody else. You make up stories about them and, oh, they're having a fight. They're on the first date. And the waiter who's about to say something in French. What the hell? Who is he? They're green beans, for goodness sake. They're green beans.

I mean, food has evolved so much. Again, your Twitter feed is wonderful fodder for things in general. I see what you did there. You're welcome. But there was something that you posted which got me thinking because, you know, obviously food is important to me. You had this photo of, like, vegetarian sausages and regular sausages. And then you made, like, this wonderfully complimentary comment. These bean sausages look so delicious I might turn vegetarian.

Question, have I given it enough sarcasm? Did I put a really sarcastic hashtag on it? Like, hashtag vomit? No, you didn't. But I read every ounce of sarcasm in their life. Pretty sure that was taken. My brother went through a vegetarian stage. And I love vegetarians and I love vegans.

And I'm not getting at them as people. But when you've got to try and make a sausage that is not made of meat, taste like meat or taste advertising, come on. But I really don't get why vegetarians want to make stuff taste like meat. If you don't eat meat, why do you want to eat something that tastes like meat? You're very right. And I did this little mini doco about food and the environment. And it was an interesting thing. People above the age of 40 who are giving up meat

need the substitutes as a transitional kind of thing. But under 40s, like people are 20, 30, 35 who are vegans or vegetarians, they don't even care. No. Because their purpose and reasoning is so different. They're about the environment, they're about methane, they're about cows, they're about animals. So the fake meat is like a nicotine

patch when you're coming off the ciggies. You nailed it. And that's why it's not that hot too because it can never be good. No. I'm just concerned about how many additives and things they could add to these things. It can't be good. You can zhuzh up other stuff.

That's right. It's too expensive, right? You're listening to the Humble Yum Yum Podcast. Global food that doesn't cost the world. Check out the humbleyumyum.com

Kia ora, I'm Jane Yee. I'm Alex Casey. And I'm Duncan Grave. We're the hosts of The Real Pod and Confession Cam Time. We bloody love reality telly.

If we sound like your type on paper, join us each week for your fix of reality TV news, recaps and gossip. On The Real Pod, it's perfectly fine to like reality TV. It's a safe space, so let down your walls, wear your heart on your sleeve, and remember, it is what it is. And what it is, is The Real Pod.

Brought to you by the Spinoff Podcast Network and available wherever you get your pods. That kind of thinking is also another reason why I thought, thank you for standing up to Uber Eats. You did what you did. I honestly had no idea. It took, somebody educated me and I thought, that's it. And what I loved about your comment was, you were just being commonsensical.

How can taking away 35% be okay? I was flabbergasted. Absolutely flabbergasted. And now, you know, I'll go pick it up myself. Or once COVID is over, I'll be there in person. I mean, I felt bad at the time for the people that make money off those rides. But anecdotally, what I've heard from those drivers too, is that it is easier for them just to pick up fares.

It is a lot more work to wait at a restaurant, walk up to a restaurant, park your vehicle, stand around, get your bag, go back. Hopefully this COVID period has gotten people cooking more. I hope so. I think it has. I think it has. Yeah. But click and collect. I hope so. I think it has. I think it has. Yeah. But click and collect.

Everything tastes so much better. Yeah. At the moment. Yeah. Tell me what you mean. Example. Oh, well, the other day I made for lunch, I made this salad. And it was, I guess, an arrangement of different things.

And it had smoked salmon. And I'd done some sort of boiled eggs. I suppose it was a broken down salad, this was, and it was just delicious. And I guess because we're not going out and, you know, in level four lockdown, your accessibility to food, because you don't want to go out too much, is such that you do savour every ingredient that you have at home. And it just tastes so good. I don't know what it is.

Is it the time spent together? Is it the time spent preparing it? But every mouthful matters. I feel like you have a – I think that might be something to do with your optimistic views of life and your gratitude for what's in front of you, right? I am very grateful a lot of the time. And that view is translated into your cooking for your family, cooking for your husband and all that.

And so when you look at it, you're like, ah. I am. This is really good. I am. Yeah, I feel that. That is the vibe. Yeah, that is the vibe. I feel that too.

Because if you can build gratitude into it, as someone who wasn't born here, I'd like all New Zealanders to know how lucky you all are to have the most beautiful things growing out of your ground at the drop of a hat. Drop of a hat. Truly. Stuff's growing. When you travel and you live overseas, you know how lucky we are for what we have.

We could close borders and just feed ourselves for a while. Just saying, not that we should, but you know what I mean. Beautiful. Now, that type of relationship is the thing that I was really interested in with your kids in terms of food with the little people and not little anymore. Yes. What did you use to give them at home? What did they use to eat and have they learnt from you? Oh, that's a good question.

I think they have learnt from both Mike and I that it's easy to make good food and also that every meal should have broccoli. Really? Well, you know what, the funny thing is when they were little and of course they're little boys who both love dinosaurs, it was actually the easiest vegetable to get them to eat because we'd say, those are little trees and you're a stegosaurus, you know. And so it was easy to get them to eat broccoli. And so we just ended up serving broccoli all the time. And as a family, it would be a rare night that we didn't have broccoli in some way, shape or form. I love how you chose a dinosaur that was vegetarian. Oh!

A T-Rex. It was a T-Rex. Vegetable appropriate dinosaur choice. What would I know? So amazing. I know. They were the one with all the details on the dinosaurs. No, you're a brontosaurus because they're vegetarian.

I love it. No, but that's so cool that you did that for them. So now, 21 and 19, is that right? Yes, that's right. Something that I'm really passionate about is young people learning how to call. Yeah. Right? What have you imparted to them and what do they do now?

So I had a work regime when they were little where I worked early mornings and late in the evening. So I wasn't there for meals. My husband Mike was. So I would lovingly create them a meal in the middle of the day and I would have my main meal in the middle of the day. So Mike would get home from work with the kids and he would heat it up but they didn't see me preparing it because I wasn't there for those years of their lives. Certainly on the weekends they saw me prepping and they would help and they know that we don't eat processed food, that we don't get something out of the freezer that comes out of a box and heat that up for dinner. We make everything from scratch. So they've certainly seen all that

and they know the basics because I love cooking so much. I find it hard to let go of the reins. Yes. That's on me a little bit because, you know, what with the mess. Speak the truth. And I'm a control freak in the kitchen. Thank you for speaking the truth. The same is true now. If we're on holiday with friends or friends come around and they go, can I help you in the kitchen? No, no.

You just stand there and talk to me. No, surely I can chop these. No. Get your hand off the knife. And Mike's like, she's had two bubbles already. I suggest you stand outside. Because it's your love language. It's like, she's had two bubbles already. I suggest you stand outside. Because it's your love language. It's like, please don't help me because you take some of the enjoyment out of it for me if I can't do it all for you. Also, Hilary, I will confess with you and you

will confess back to me that we are both probably the best cooks in our social slash getting away environments. And we don't want the meals to turn out bad. Say amen. Amen. Thank you. So there's that. So my children know how to cook. But the thing I love is that they both live out of Auckland. And the older one who's been flatting for a couple of years will often text me in the afternoon and want me to confirm the cooking time for a fresh chicken or want me to confirm. That's beautiful. It's so lovely.

And then he'll send me a photo of what he's made. And it fills me with joy. You've succeeded. It's so lovely. And then he'll send me a photo of what he's made, and it fills me with joy. You've succeeded. Look what you did. You've created like a passionate human around food, making choices, thoughtful, and then relationship, right? Still checking in with you. I love it.

I love it. I'm doing the exact same thing. I have a 16-year-old, and that's how we raised her too. And she's going to probably end up doing the same things with me in the future, and I'm going to engineer that. Well, I tell you what, if you were my dad, I'd be ringing up and getting cooking advice as well. I mean, look, the whole cooking for your kids thing, learning, taking them in their journey. The thing I was interested in here is you took your son out to dinner once. Yes. And you talked about that in terms of other stuff.

But I'm interested when you go out to dinner with your son, And you talked about that in terms of other stuff. But I'm interested, when you go out to dinner with your son, what are you ordering? What's the meal like? Well, he's a unit. And what's the banter like? Okay, well, the banter, we're big on banter. So the banter is nonstop. It tends to be they take the mick out of their father, but they don't tend to take the mick out of me because I have sons and their mother is precious. They worship you. When we go out to dinner, the dinner I was talking about was one where one of my sons is off at university and I was out of town

in his hometown and we were going out to a restaurant and he was in the halls of residence and I said, well, I'll take you out for a slap-up meal. In that sense, he knows that, you know, mum's taking me out, so I need to wear shoes, which was the one instruction I gave. He said, what was the dress code? I said, you need to wear shoes. You know him so well. Well, I do.

But the lovely thing is, and, you know, I'm sure lots of people get this too. When you take your teenagers out once they've left home, there's this transition period where they know you're picking up the tab, right? So, of course, they know you're picking up the tab. But they just don't take the mick like they did when they were sort of 13 or 14 where they would go, could I please have this, this, this, this, this, and this? So they sit there and I initiate and go, well, I'm going to have an entree, main and dessert, even though I probably won to have an entree, main and dessert, even though I probably won't.

So I hope you do too. And, you know, he'll be going, are you sure? Really? Can I? I go, absolutely. I think you should. What is that transition? It's a transition called gratitude that they actually get when they leave home.

Sometimes, honestly, maybe he won't listen to this. The oldest took a couple of years. The oldest took a couple of years for the sudden gratitude to set in. The youngest was a bit quicker, but they suddenly leave home and go, shit, I had it good. I had it so good. Especially in your house. Man.

I had it so good. And here she is. She's taking me out for dinner. Oh. Yeah. That's lovely. It is lovely. It's lovely when they

make that transition because you know we all know that there are kids who never make that transition so that's my life's journey is to help those kids make the transition into learning how to cook like that's literally my entire purpose is for you know so people can learn how to cook it's a freedom yeah i don't think of cooking as a skill for I think of it as a freedom of your mind because it leads to independence of thought, independence of budget, independence of where you travel, independence of where you live. You can do anything if you're culinarily independent. I think the other amazing thing with the internet too, and I know that you all focus too on not wasting food. No. There is no reason ever to waste things that are on the verge of going off.

You know, that you can Google any sort of recipe and save it. Do you have a pet peeve of something that people chuck too often? Oh, bananas. Always bananas. So today, you know, in the fruit bowl, there are a couple of bananas on the turn. And I knew that the shopping was going and being done, and so there'd be fresh bananas, and we would never throw out old bananas. But before they looked even mankier,

I turned them into a banana date carrot loaf this morning. Hummingbird cake. Or a hummingbird cake. You can't go wrong with that. Did someone segue for me? Or a hummingbird cake. Thank you for that. Let's cut that bit in.

Thank you. No, but that's amazing. The idea of no waste. Again, post-COVID, I'm drumming this so hard. Things cost more. People are under more pressure. Maybe you don't have as much money. All the three things are going to hurt you if you don't learn how to cook.

And I don't want to talk anymore in a way that is like, would you like to learn how to cook? Nowadays, I'm like, you're going to have to learn how to cook. And I don't want to talk anymore in a way that is like, would you like to learn how to cook? Nowadays, I'm like, you're going to have to learn how to cook, right? Because that's the only way 20 bucks will stretch and your family can all hold each other and have hugs and no one's hungry, even though all you've got is 100 bucks, right? What do you think about the way things are headed right now? You know, food, how expensive it is, what have you seen in your time around food and how people are dealing with it? Well, I think there are things that we all learn along the way, which is to eat in season. That's such a big thing.

Yeah. And I think some people get caught in this mindset of having their to make that lettuce salad with tomato and things that are so expensive and not even worth buying at all, don't buy them. You need to move on to something else like some stir fry or some roasted vegetables. But it's those skills that I always question. I think maybe you and I spoke about this on your show.

It's about how seasonality is amazing if you can cook in four seasons. Yes, yes. So that's the key, making sure that those dishes that you know how to cook show, it's about how seasonality is amazing if you can cook in four seasons. Yes. Yes. So that's the key. Yeah. Making sure that those dishes that you know how to cook can vary for the seasons. Totally. And I wish that, you know, that's the other thing that I think I'm trying to plug is this

idea that we've got all this stuff growing out of the ground, but if only we learnt how to use it all all the time when it was two bucks a kilo, as opposed to courgettes being $9 a kilo like a month courgettes being nine dollars a kilo like a month and a half ago yeah so you didn't need them at all a month and a half ago when you see the number nine next to a courgette yep it's not right no definitely not that's not right anymore hummingbird cake was a nice segue because it led me into how i see you using your fame and and the power that you know it has and the way you've channeled it. So Maori Language Week is when you did the hummingbird cake with Stacey, right?

Yeah. And tell me a little bit more about how you see your role. Obviously, you know, you do your bit for the Salvation Army, the baking for better. Are you still an ambassador for Child Fund? Yep. Amazing. Can you tell me a little bit about how you're using your fame to just help people out?

That's very kind of you to call it fame. I think in New Zealand it's more notoriety. Everyone knows everyone, right? It's such a small country. I'm just kind of well known. I try and use, I guess, my social media and my profile to just kind of reflect everyday really, what my kids have done, the sort of things that I find interesting and quirky when it comes to my cooking and formal Friday and things like that. It's always really simple because I don't want anybody who's watching me on the TV

or cooking with Stacey or on social media not to feel like they can't be part of it. I'm sorry, not some glamazon, but do you know what I mean? I do. I want everyone to be part of it. And so I would never stand there and try and cook. I just wouldn't do that. Everything I cook, I want us all to be able to make really, really easily together. A theme through everything that you do is making sure

that the other person doesn't feel like a dick. Yeah. Right? Who wants that? And I really appreciate that because that's kind of my life's mantra too, like don't set yourself above anybody else and don't make the other person feel a dick. Yeah.

Like there's nothing to be gained by that. The part that I wanted to ask you about, the way you've also used your fame apart from, can I still call it, I'll call it fame. I'll call it fame. I'm loving it. your fame apart from, can I still call it fame? I'll call it fame. I'm loving it. I'm absolutely loving it. I'm calling it fame.

One is you were able to take that and then turn it into your new adventure in comedy as host of a game show. I was on set with you, so I have a special viewpoint on all this. And I have deep respect for you because you obviously decided to chuck yourself in the deep end. You know, at this stage of my career, I have deep respect for you because you obviously decided to chuck yourself in the deep end you know at this stage of my career I have nothing to lose but I mean it's quite liberating actually being 51 um being one of the oldies on the box it's like you know what I love charades it's kind of something that I would do during the holidays, normally after a couple of drinks. But it's,

that's kind of my vibe. Doing that sort of stuff anyway. So the Hillary that people don't see, does do charades. Because you're goofy, aren't you? I'm goofy. You're a goofy person. I am a dick. Which is nice that you're goofy.

Goofy people are more fun because they're not so serious about their own stuff. Well, yeah, you're unaware of yourself, aren't you? You're just is nice that you're goofy. You know, I respect, because goofy people are more fun because they're not so serious about their own stuff. Well, yeah, you're unaware of yourself, aren't you? You're just kind of, you're being yourself and you don't care if anybody, you know, likes it or doesn't. But it didn't actually take much arm twisting to get me to be on Give Us a Clue.

That was the thing. I mean, Daryl rang me up. He's one of the executive producers. And he said, oh, we're thinking about this show. We think you'd be, you know be great on it, and I went oh just give me 24 hours to think about it, because I always think I shouldn't really just say yes without thinking about it, even though I really wanted to say yes

so I thought about it, I thought this is so me, it's just so me, it's not funny so I was like yes. And you were totally in your element, so much fun I had a great time on Tom's team obviously. Obviously. Obviously. Did you win that?

I can't remember whether you were episode one or not. Always winning, Hilary. Always winning. I'm sorry. That's just my mantra. Yeah. But another thing that you do, and this is a little bit closer to me in the sense that I understand, you talk about what it is to be 50 and beyond.

You talk about what it is to be a woman in that space. You talk about menopause openly. As a man, I had to learn what that was when my wife was going through all that and the craziness of it. I had to learn about hysterectomies. I had to learn about endometriosis. All these things that, like, to this day, I don't think boys and men are taught any of this stuff. Well, theopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, menopausal, men there, that was menopause or this, that or the other thing. But I'm just open about these things, again,

because I like to use my platform to normalize stuff. Totally. And it helps so many people to talk that way. And I think that's the true strength of your platform. I hope it does. It's the normalization of troubles that people have in their head and in their lives, right? Yeah.

Especially nowadays. Oh, yeah. Because it's a tough time that people have in their head and in their lives, right? Yeah. Especially nowadays. Oh, yeah. Because it's a tough time that people are going through right now. It is. And I try to bring a little bit of light and fun while still acknowledging what we're going through. I do try and be the buoyant one. I've always been the sort of cheerleader, the glass half full, the silver lining in every cloud kind of gal. And so I can never erase that from my personality anyway.

It's kind of a natural fit. So when things like COVID hit, and even though, you know, some days I get up and go, oh, I could just go back to bed. I go, no, come on. You've got to keep going. You've got to keep going. I like to sort of take people with me. If you can be that way, you're okay for everybody, right?

Yeah. I hope people get that. This has been pretty killer, you talking to me on the Humble Yum Yum podcast. I hope you've had a little bit of fun. I've loved it. And can I say you are the most well-researched interviewer I've ever had. And seriously, I've done a lot of interviews. So thank you. Did you do it yourself or did someone else do it? Yeah, it's all this. I'm joking. Well, look, you know,

that's my own insecurity. I can tell because those notes are such a mess, only you could read them. There's four different fonts. Now, what I do is I take your death row meal and then I turn it into a $20 for four people humble yum yum recipe. Love it. And then I shoot it in my humble yum yum studio and make the dish as a tribute to you. Thank you. I love the idea of seafood because I want to introduce people to fish that is $8 a kilo, that is $7 a kilo. So I'm going to take, this is going to be so good.

It's making me happy. All right, so we're going to take frozen fish and I'm going to teach people how to make Thai fish cakes for 20 bucks for four people with a little cucumber pickle with a little sweet chili. And you know how they give you four fish cakes?

That's not enough. That's not enough. Each person has to have eight fish cakes. So you have fish cakes on rice with cucumber pickle. It's not enough. Each person has to have eight fish cakes. You have fish cakes on rice with cucumber. Yum. You like that? This sounds delicious.

Thank you. That's what I'm going to do. 20 bucks for four. Thank you. You're listening to the Humble Yum Yum podcast from The Hits. And it's time for the bonus section. I want to finish with this cool little thing that I learned off. Do you remember a show called Inside the Actor's Studio? Mm-hmm.

With James Lipton, that cool looking dude, and he had 10 questions that he asked at the end to all his guests, which was super cool, and I want to ask you those to finish, is that okay? Yeah. Alright, it's really cool. Number one, what is your favourite word? Fuck. Thank you.

What is your least favourite word? Nice. Ooh, nice. I mean, what's nice? It's just so lame. Something can be spectacular, surely. Yeah. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Humour. Amazing. What turns you off? Tight. People who are tight. Either with their emotions or their money or just people who are not generous of spirit and kindness. You're going to have to come up with another one because the next question is, what is your favorite curse word?

Oh, isn't that terrible? No, it's not terrible. It's amazing. Well, my favorite curse word is worse than that. Yeah. Shall we go with that's what it is? Yeah. Understood.

It's terrible really, but I like it for the shock value. Yes. Because when I come out with it, people, did she really? Yes, I did. I did just say that word. Because you're a person too. Amazing. What sound or noise do you love?

I love the sound of laughing babies. What sound or noise do you love? I love the sound of laughing babies. What sound and noise do you hate? I hate the sound of crinkling packets. It doesn't matter whether it's a chip packet or a biscuit packet. I hate the crinkle, crinkle. Wow. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Maybe teaching. Maybe something like, yes, maybe teaching. You would be in such great demand. You'd be an amazing teacher. I know that I would have the patience. Being married to a teacher, I know the patience it takes, so I'm not sure I would have the patience. But in my heart, I feel like it would be fun. And it'd be incredible baking every day. Oh yes, I'd be a home economics teacher.

What profession would you not like to do? I could never be a politician Never, ever, ever No, too hard basket Oh, absolutely It's literally the opposite of who you are Yeah, I couldn't

I just, I couldn't Finally, if heaven exists What would you like to hear God say When you arrive at the pearly gates? Ah I think I'd like him to say, welcome. And is there anyone from down below you'd like to bring up? And I'll just do a quick inventory of any of my mates who've ended up down there instead of up there and I'll get them up. Amazing. Hilary Barry, thank you so much for

being here today. Thank you. For more episodes, follow the Humble Yum Yum on iHeartRadio, along with all your favorites like Jono and Ben on the hits.