Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S13 Ep 14: Mabel

Episode Date: May 25, 2022

It’s Mabel’s turn on Table Manners! We welcome superstar pop star Mabel to mum’s for a home cooked meal of grilled fish & a knock out Banoffee pie that she took home for her dad. We talk all about family Christmases in Thailand, her love of Congee, different ways to cook Jollof, the reason she doesn’t eat chicken & what food to eat on tour!Nowadays you will find her mucking out in the stables but a whole new record is ready for us to enjoy very soon. What an open, honest and gorgeous chat with this bright young thing. Mabel, we adore you. XMabel’s new single Overthinking with 24Goldn is out now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with mum and she's done all the cooking. Again. You seem relatively relaxed considering you've put a lot of effort into today. Because it's my Monday off so I haven't had to combine two or three jobs at the same time. Isn't this called early retirement? No darling. No, not early retirement. You're 70. Do you think I'm retired? I've never worked so hard in my life, darling.

So, what's on the menu? Well, I got very excited about cooking whole fish. Why did you get so excited? I don't know, because it's kind of barbecue season. And I thought it would be really nice on the barbecue, but it's raining, so I'm not barbecuing. So I'm putting it in the oven. I got some sea bream from Wonderful Upper Scale. Why was there a situation where you were texting saying,

I can't respond, I'm speaking to Alex about five sea breams in the fridge? Oh, he said they smell, he doesn't like seeing fish in the fridge. Not your son, the Dr Alex, the dreamiest person in the world, he's a fussy fish eater. Yeah, he doesn't like anything with bones. And he said it smelled of fish, which it didn't smell because it was absolutely fresh but it was fish so what are you doing with it so i'm baking it in the oven and i've stuffed each

fish with dill and lemon and olive oil and pepper and salt i've also made a bulgur wheat and mushroom and feta which is inspired well not inspired it's copied from my sister. Well it's half your sister and half Ottolenghi. You've mixed two dishes together. I'm very creative. It's a bit of fusion. A bit of fusion. And I've made these carrots that come from the Bavelle cookbook

which are cooked with orange water, oil, orange blossom oil. And then they had a load of vinegars that I'd never, ever heard of. What? A white balsamic. I've got white balsamic. Well, I've not got it.

Well, you sure cooked it then, shouldn't you? And champagne vinegar, which I don't have. Do you? No. Oh, you've missed one out, Jess. So did you get it? No. Just did it with white wine vinegar.

What's the difference? Well, white balsamic's kind of slightly sweet and syrupy. Well, instead of that, I did wine vinegar. What's the difference? Well, white balsamic's kind of slightly sweet and syrupy. Well, instead of that, I did cider vinegar and maybe I'll put a bit of ordinary balsamic in as well. It's a bit brown, isn't it? Like it's got less of a tang, white balsamic. It might make it sweeter though, because the yogurt, because there's a lemon yogurt dip.

They kept on talking about Mayer lemons. Have you ever heard of a Mayer lemon? Only because I like that washing stuff. Yeah, me too. I thought thought maybe but it's m-e-y-e-r said maya lemons is it an american thing yeah it must be well you can't get it here i've never seen a man are they just unwaxed lemons or something no i don't know what they are anyway afterwards yeah i've made what i thought was called banoffee pie it's a bit like calling someone just told me our lovely Alice has told me it's banoffee banana and and either coffee or toffee I do in the cream yeah I've always put coffee in the cream I forgot how much I love banoffee pie well I thought if I told

you I was making it you'd say don't make a fattening dessert mum so I made it without you even say it seeing well I'm really thrilled, to be honest. So thanks. So, yeah, so that's done. So the guest that we have on is Mabel. Well, I'm really excited. What was her famous piece? Don't call me up.

Oh, I love that one. I hope she doesn't come in a leotard, though. Why? Because she normally wears one on stage. I'd like to see her in a leotard, thank you very much. She's very beautiful. She's very sweet. I've known her for years have you yeah i remember first meeting her i think when we were watching frank ocean at love box years ago and i was like you and she said you and i'm i really love her i love her manager rada who i've known for ages too she's coming rather rather opened up for me when I've done gigs before.

She's an amazing DJ as well as an outstanding manager. And we've had, obviously, Mabel's mother on before. Who is a bit of a cook. Yeah. I couldn't remember what I'd made for Naina Cherry, but I remember thinking it was very delicious. Do you remember it was a fish dish? Jessie, you're good at this usually.

It was fish and I did it in a sauce that was delicious. And I can't remember what I did. Go back to the episode, Mum. I think I'll have to go back and see what I made. So Mabel has won Best Female at the Brits. She got a new music out. She's had a record out already. She's got a new single out with Jax Jones and Galantis called Good Luck.

And she's just a very lovely person. So we are very excited to have Mabel over for a spot of dinner on this summer's eve. More than a spot, darling. Yeah, I know, you have made a real effort.

Yeah. The gorgeous Mabel coming up on Table Man. Mabel, finally we have you in Mum's kitchen. It is so good to have you. Thank you so much for doing this. This is an honour. Mum has tried to make you have a glass of wine three times.

You have really firmly said no. You're on fizzy and elderflower. I know. Because you tell everybody what you're doing tomorrow. I have a very long day. I'm shooting a video which is fun but it's nerve-wracking, you know,

early call times. Self-conscious when you're like, oh God, you've got to do sexy dancing or something, whatever, on camera and then it's like,

I haven't been to the gym in a really long time. In a really, really long time. Do you have to dance tomorrow? Do you know what? It's the first video in years where I'm actually

not doing choreography. Is that quite nice it is quite nice I mean I love it because I grew up watching all those music videos with the like dancing and the all of that stuff but yeah it definitely takes a one of you know one thing off the list of worries um what what will be what will you be ordering in for food on shoot day because I feel like calories don't count on those days it's like it's like airports yeah and airplanes it really doesn't count yeah are you on a on a location oh yes we're on location yes we're shooting in a in a house which looks like very suburban um sort of like euphoria i don't know if you've seen euphoria no no i don't might be a bit

intense no i don't think you should okay maybe you shouldn't do you love it um i love it i love it my mom was just like she understood that it was great but she just couldn't like she can't with anything i mean for her like finding nemo was too emotional for her to watch speaking of which your mother has called you twice in the cab you said yeah and i left i left her 45 minutes ago what was she calling you about uh she called me once because I didn't pick her up because I was I hate being this person but because I was meditating in the car on the way here um so mom I turned my phone off wine or meditation the best the best kind and uh then she obviously panic called me again and she when I picked

up the phone she was like I know I'm being really annoying I just wanted to make sure that um you were okay because I think when I was leaving the house I was like I'm always running a few minutes late and I was like stressed and I didn't say goodbye to her properly and she likes she always does do you live with her well funny story um I was living with her for about a year because my house was under construction and hadn't spent a lot of time with my parents in years I think the first time I moved out I was like 15 and then I lived with them again when I was 18 but then I got my own place and then I'm traveling loads and you know didn't see my family properly and then lockdown happened and there we all were all of us in this

tiny house in west london and i thought i was going to hate it and really loved it and uh now you know like mom comes to video shoots and mom comes to all my shows and like and it's just having family there somebody that's literally just going to be that like have you eaten have you like you know just i might ring her up and suggest a podcast listen she would love she'd love that stage moms yeah exactly um i was i was going to say like i mean yeah so lockdown you moved in together yeah are there any really memorable food moments from that time because i know that like when your mom was on the podcast she's a great cook but like communal cooking she loves having people in and cooking for them and she had best mates andy oliver andy oliver yeah my godmother

and um my mom always says the only person she can cook with other than andy where we don't have to talk and we just do things like very like telepathically just finish off things for each other is with me so are you a good cook I am a good cook I'd say I'm a good cook yeah so like what was what was being cooked up in lockdown or what's been cooked up whilst they've moved into your new place okay so last night what did we make we had um lamb chops and I made these like smashed potatoes yeah with parmesan and like I made a gremolata so i tossed them in that and then put all of it in the oven so like the cheese melted and like really good was it a

recipe or did you think of it it's just something that i just was like love gremolata love cheese rada i think you need to do a cookbook for me the next rada managers in the other room i think this is where we're going baby this is where we're going yeah she'll hear it she'll hear it um yeah and then what did you serve it with uh what did we make I made asparagus and just a green salad mint sauce I made a garlic butter for the lamb because I love garlic maybe you're a real chef on everything I oh my god you know what maybe I am I'll take that I love that that's just a Sunday kind of that was just like a Sunday how many people were you cooking for um me my mom my dad my brother who eats enough for about four people um my boyfriend and my stylist because she was doing a fitting and I feel like it's rude

for people to come to my house for work without feeding them we have all the bad yeah I'm like oh no please stay eat and then I made a crumble because every single day my dad goes what's for pudding are you not a pudding person I don't care as much I am obsessed with salt like I have an addiction to salt like I literally am just like sea salt like mold and sea salt I love it in fact I put sea salt in my apple crumble and people are always like this is the best and people are always like this is the best and I'm always like it's the salt that's a great yeah I think salt brings out flavor and everything it's the best so I don't really care about pudding but my dad I mean what crumble was

it I made apple crumble then I had some raspberries in the fridge that kind of needed to go so I was like let me put that's always the best when you shove everything in that lockdown really taught me that just being like because I just feel like everything was so uncertain and i'm a control freak so the first thing i did when i moved into my mom's house was i made an inventory of every single food item that we had and what date they were going to expire so that nothing would go to waste babe this could also be another avenue it's a side hustle from yeah oh my god you're like marie kondo but for food but for food i was just like everything has to get eaten and like we're a big family and people are always buying food and sometimes like i get

stressed like when things go off in the fridge or like sell by dates or like do you know what i mean like best before i'll be a bit like oh it's fine like let's just eat it and it's usually fine right yes it's actually usually fine i'm like only that it. And it's usually fine, right? Yeah, it's usually fine. It's actually usually fine. I'm like, only that one time. No, I'm joking. But yeah, I made like an inventory and then just like tried to make up

as many different things as possible with the food that we had. What worked? What's a memorable one that worked or maybe one that didn't work? Oh, okay. I made a lasagna, but we had no tinned tomatoes.

So I was like, I'll make a white lasagna. Yeah. What's a white lasagna, but we had no tinned tomatoes. So I was like, I'll make a white lasagna. Yeah. What's a white lasagna? So just like bechamel sauce, no tomatoes. But did you have mincemeat in or was it bechamel? No, I made it with asparagus. Oh, nice.

And broccolini. Oh, yum. And it was really good. That sounds better than having tomatoes. It wouldn't have gone. Right. Yeah. And everybody talks about it. And they're always like, can you make that lasagna and i'm like i actually can't because i

don't know how did it i wouldn't know how to do it again um what didn't work we tried like some some tiktok recipes for like i didn't even know recipes were how do they get them in in 15 seconds oh it's a lot of a lot of skill i've tried and I think I put a banana bread on there and forgot to add the bananas in the recipe. And I was getting so much shade for it and I was just like, you know, I'm never cooking on TikTok again. But yeah, I think we made some kind of like TikTok cookie recipe that was like supposed to be like vegan and like healthy.

And it was so terrible. I just was like, you know what? It's like free from everything. It's just free from fun have the sugar have the bloody butter yeah if you're gonna do it

love butter so you've travelled everywhere because you're bloody there's a there's a bird that sounds like an alarm that's a black bird

it's in distress oh he's in distress yeah how do you know he's in distress do it it's like a bloody he either fancies someone or he's in distress can he make

his mind all the same to me i know it's quite loud but also they copy um sounds that they've heard so they copy these oh really sounds yeah how have you found this are you a bird watcher he's copying your farm fire alarm that goes off yeah got it i love that um so so you've been around the world you are a queen of the airways you are a pop star an international pop star where's some of your favorite places to eat um oh new york yeah i have my places that i go to come on uh okay where do i go um love a salt beef sandwich and a where do you go for your salt beef sandwich you know we used to go to cats's but it's kind of miserable there but it's just like so busy now that but you know i'll still

go there sometimes i would never eat in now but i'll get like a quarter sandwich yeah and a pickle but do you think you're a little bit jewish do you know what i think i might be yeah because salt beef is honestly it's the best thing on earth it's the best i know it's the best it's so comforting and just like i could have cooked that for you if you'd said no do you know what i would have cried but i'm gonna come back i'm coming back um yeah definitely uh what else do i love in new york i so where do you go for it now oh do you know what the other day we always used to go in saint john's wood panzers yes oh the best when i was a kid that's where i'd go with my dad i would go

because i went to school in west hampsford and sometimes yeah he would he would drive me there after school and we'd get them and then we'd have to lie to mom and say that we hadn't had them do you spend a lot of time in new y because your mum obviously lived in New York? My mum grew up there. How fun. You've got New York. You've got Sweden. So good.

Like where in Sweden? Stockholm? Stockholm, yeah. Which, you know, is good. Your mum's Swedish? My mum's Swedish Sierra Leonean. Yeah, Swedish West African. Oh, right. So, yeah. So you're used to Swedish food? I am used to Swedish food. your mom's Swedish my mom's Swedish Sierra Leonean yeah Swedish West African oh right so yeah so you

used to Swedish food I am used to Swedish food actually like really miss it when I'm here really yeah like it's we call it who's man's just like potatoes mashed potatoes um meatballs gravy pickles we have a lot of like pickled onions pickled i don't like the pickled fish but lots of people like that um and then like just everything you could do with a potato like very swedish just like boil them put butter on them dill and salt love absolutely love actually well do you want to tell mabel what you've made today because dill is i've made fish i've made sea bream whole sea bream which i hope they're nice i'm baking them in the oven with lemon and dill love that i hope so actually got a little swedish that could be very swedish i'm

doing bulgur wheat with mushrooms and that's got dill and feta. There you go. And then I've done some carrots, which we tasted my daughter, my other daughter, who I thought could never cook. Actually, she came up trumps. Don't look at me like she's better than me. I'm still, I think, raining. Anyway, so we've just been in Los Angeles and she lives there so

she it's from a cookbook called Bevel which is a restaurant there Middle Eastern so I've made these they're done in orange water and god knows what so it's all quite light you're not gonna feel shitty tomorrow that's great see that's exactly what I need there is a pudding though oh I'll eat the pudding don't worry it's a banoffee pie oh that's my favorite pudding really that's my favorite I knew it it came to me no that's my favorite pudding honestly you don't worry it's a banoffee pie oh that's my favorite pudding really that's my favorite pudding honestly you don't see it enough everywhere no I went through so many years like to be completely honest of just like depriving myself of anything I wanted because you gain one pound and literally people are like are you okay like you've gained weight you're fat so you yeah you deny yourself I just was like no're fat. So you, yeah, you deny yourself.

I just was like, no, like I'm not. You don't need to deny yourself and look at your gorgeous. Well, I just kind of got to a point where I was so exhausted of like food diaries and weird like diets and like, I just was like, I'm actually going to eat some things that I enjoy and turns out it makes me really happy and I don't actually make a difference and that's also not what I do I'm I'd make music I know and so if my body changes do you write all your own music I do can you play an instrument I play piano oh wow and your sister

yes is pretty amazing she's so talented I mean she's she's the reason Tyson's the reason that I sing really because um she needed like backup dancers and backup singers when we were kids and um you know for all her shows that she would do in our living room um so obviously she'd be like you stand there do this um and yeah she was the first person that like my first memory of singing is probably like her teaching me harmonies so that we could sing together. And I was like, and whatever she listened to, I listened to. What were you listening to?

Like all the like noughties, nineties R&B, like NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Aaliyah, Missy Elliot, TLC, Brittany, all the good stuff. Yeah. So we ask all our guests, before we get down to eating, because... I'm going to cook it. No, what else do you need to do? I've got to do the bulgur wheat and everything.

That went in at like eight minutes past. I know, and I've... It's 19.30, it's fine. Okay, fine. We ask all our 19.30. It's fine. Go on, try. Fine. We ask all our guests what their last supper would be. So you have a starter, a main, a pud, drink of choice. You can mull it over whilst we talk about other things,

because I don't want to lay that on you unless you've got the answers. I feel like I probably have the answers. I want to hear more about your food. I want to hear about the boyfriend. Can he cook? And was he with you in lockdown? No, he wasn't. I met him after lockdown.

But the first, I'm such a control freak in the kitchen that I never let him cook for me. I always cook for us. And does he mind that? No, he loves it because I'm a great cook. But he's always like, let me cook for you, let me cook for you.

And I'm just like, no. What have you allowed him to cook? The first thing he made always like, let me cook for you, let me cook for you. And I'm just like, no. What have you allowed him to cook? The first thing he made for me, and this is over a year into our relationship, was literally yesterday in the new house, he made scrambled eggs. Were they any good? They were really good.

And I'm like, eggs are like, do you know what I mean? You've got to have the touch for scrambled eggs. You really do. And they were like, he'd obviously got good organic eggs. They were nice and like orange. And like, they weren't like runny, but weren't dry because i hate that yeah can't deal yeah really good good job did he serve it on he we had some sourdough bread and i think he put there might have been some parmesan in there maybe and then there was like parsley and i was like oh

okay hang on have you taught him things i think I think maybe he just knows I think he knows because I'm like all about adding that little like extra and like presentation and like yeah all about like my herbs and spices and like I literally I always ate like what my family were eating we never had like kids meals or like um and I remember like going to kids houses after school and being terrified by the like just the bland like chicken breast and some like things that you would get and my mum's always like I've never cooked a chicken breast it's the driest bit the chicken like she's West African so she's like all about like meaty like flavours. Do a thigh. Yeah oh yeah thigh love a thigh. You used to always be able to buy chicken breasts on the bone. On the bone, yeah, that's the thing.

They're all off. Exactly, that's different. But hang on, you said the only food requirement that we got from you was that you don't like chicken. It's not that I don't like chicken. You don't like when people cook it. No, I had a salmonella. I got salmonella from chicken.

Oh, man. And for years, I don't know, because it's been like six or seven years now, but literally for two or three years, time even something had like been near it I would I would get sick like violently ill for like seven hours and in chicken with chicken in my family it's like a big thing like my granddad he's from Sierra Leone and he would literally like barbecue chicken outside in Sweden when it was like below 10, because it's just like, it has to be grilled. Like, and it's a big... It has to be grilled, not in a sauce.

Yeah, no. Unless, well, no, we make stews with them as well. But like stews mainly, like we do like groundnut stew in Sierra Leone, which is like peanut butter stew. Yeah, I've seen that. I've made it once. It's so delicious. So delicious.'ve made it once it's so delicious so delicious it's so fat yeah yeah yeah no totally i mean and then everything in sierra leone is like palm oil so there's like you have like a thick layer of oil like when i make jell-o like

when i've learned jello fries yeah it's my favorite sierra leone and jell-o is the best but not lots of people came on here and said they're Jell-O? Was it Reggie Yates said... Yeah, Reggie. Everybody's going to say that's the best. But is yours very bright orange, like neon? Yeah, and we have our own, like, so you crush all your spices. Which peppers, which chilies do you use?

So I use scotch bonnets. You can't eat that. I don't think I could ever eat that. I use scotch bonnets, and I use a lot of them, and then you mix it with, like, the Maggi, maggie and like you make your own curry paste where'd you get maggie from like i don't know i get it from harrow road i don't know any kind of like african like west african we have a good shop um like near my mom's house that i go to to get all my like yam we eat a lot of cassava which is so good and we

figured out like a healthier way to make it is like cooking it in coconut oil so you just like put it in the oven with coconut oil loads of salt cassava chips are nice they are those in india they're like crisps they're so good they're really good love what did your mom make you that was your very favorite thing when you were little uh oh wow my mom's the most amazing chef yeah but probably like yeah stews are like such a memory like thing for me like I can literally like smell them if I think about it enough like my mom makes I guess like kind of a version of curry goat but like maybe with a little more west african seasoning and like she seasons her meat the night before and then cooks it all day and like just that smell in the house of coming home and knowing that there was like rice and peas

and like soft plantain and curry so good I mean you were you went on tour with your mom a bit didn't you or not yeah yeah all the time and so how did it work because obviously it sounds like she's such a homebody yeah such a homebody so so i can imagine jesse do you want me to come on no thank you um but no um but i'm i i wonder whether the kitchen at home became even more important because of that time away from the kitchen where you totally you can't you know i remember being on it and i'd be this is not no it's just quite a good anecdote i was in ibiza and iggy azalea was singing before me or something and we were talking about touring and food yeah and she had a slow cooker on tour with her now i tried to encourage my group to do that but actually the idea of me like doing a slow cook like you know

it was never gonna fucking happen but yeah did you do you feel like it the home became so much more important so yeah yeah so important and for you too as a tour you know an artist totally so important but my mum grew up so her parents they traveled a lot in a vw um just like very flower power vibes in the 70s and they always just had like a hot plate and uh you know things to cook so and always like brought things to make everywhere home and my mom's the same she always has like she's always cooking when we're on tour she cooked for me my whole last tour i was on she came on the tour and she cooked three meals a day for me isn't that the busiest it was incredible and she knows all the like little tricks of like it's a lot of prep but also just like i was like mom i'm fine like and, I just want you here. It's not when she was like, no.

That's amazing. Got to have good food. And she literally came and was like my caterer and emotional support for months. Did it make it easier? It made it so much easier. And when I'm nervous and stressed, my appetite really goes. And my mum's great at being like, here, I just made this little snack. And almost tricking me into eating things.

Yeah, bless my mom but i think actually my last meal my last supper would probably be like groundnut stew the peanut butter stew just because it brings back that smell yeah the smell that kind of feels oh my god yeah it's so good when i tell people that we eat like peanut butter stew they They're like, what? And I'm like, but like satay. And my mum put sweet potato and okra in it. And is it with chicken? With lamb. You can do it with lamb or with beef or you can actually just have it vegetarian

with the sweet potato. My dad doesn't eat meat anymore, which is very surprising. What stopped meat in you? It was really weird. Like when my mum met him, he'd been vegetarian for 13 years. And then she ruined that for him. Well him he'd been vegetarian for 13 years right and then well

he was stayed very strong for a long time and apparently they were in new york and my dad said i want a salt beef sandwich and he hadn't had meat in 13 years my mom was like if you go to cats is right now and you eat a whole salt beef sandwich you're gonna make yourself so ill yeah and he ate the whole sandwich and he was fine and he went back the next day and had another one oh my god and then and then literally like just loved loved like loved it for years that's my whole childhood I can just remember him like steaks like quite bloody and like and now I don't know he just doesn't eat it and I was for like you know when I was going through my whole like I'm gonna be healthy and I didn't eat meat for like three years and then started again during lockdown

because I was just like, when mum makes like a Sunday roast. Oh my God. Is it heaven? But I like that version of the Sunday roast from yesterday, the lamb chops. It was a bit different.

We liked that. It was fresh and like. Springtime, summer vibes. Right. Because usually we do the roast potatoes and the Yorkshire puddings and like, I put so much gravy on my food my mom's always like your food is swimming yeah i love it

so good yeah i love it so okay so that's the main that's the main what about the starter okay my starter oh another sierra leonean thing that my family actually introduced me to because i have some sierra leonean family that live here pajar one of my uncles makes these like green banana fritters which are so good how do you make them i literally have no idea and i feel like it's one of those things that like my family's slightly quite stushed with their recipes because i'm always like please please please i had to figure out our jellllof recipe they didn't give it to you what's that about them I have no idea I honestly have no idea I'm like but

yes and very positive and also my sister's boyfriend so it's very political in our house my sister's boyfriend's Ghanaian my boyfriend's Nigerian okay and then my family's Sierra Leonean My boyfriend's Nigerian. Okay. And then my family's Sierra Leonean. So I even like put some in the freezer from the first batch I made, the second batch I made and the third batch I made. So that post lockdown.

This is like her inventory. Literally. Okay. Post lockdown, my sister's boyfriend, when he was allowed to come over and visit us, I could defrost them and heat them up separately. And he could tell me that it had gotten better and that it was acceptable to serve you had too much fucking time in your way oh my god i love this but by batch number three by batch number three he was like you've

got it i would i would literally give this i would give this to my family oh my and that's like it's very political because every every country will tell you that their jollof is the breast have you met the boyfriends at your boyfriend's family? I have. His mum is Nigerian and his dad is Jamaican. What did you eat? Okay, so the first time I met them, we went to an Italian restaurant. Interesting.

Yes. Went for his birthday. And I was like trying to be like quite polite. Like my boyfriend's very like, like he likes food, but not in the way that I am with food. He sort of eats food to fuel yeah and I'm like my whole life revolves around my next meal right yeah um and he's very like not that much fun to eat with but I sort of force him to like go to the front places yeah and uh I was thinking oh god his family's gonna be the same and his mum

is like him but his sister and his dad are like me and we all ordered the same thing so we all had like lobster spaghetti and then tiramisu and I was like do you know what yes very Swedish of me sorry yeah sorry I thought that

I thought that said like V05 and she was about to put something on her hair but she just shoved a snood a snooze I thought that said like V05 and she was about to put something on her hair, but she just shoved a snood. A snooze. Snooze. Snooze. Up your...

Yeah, very, very Swedish of me. Couldn't be more Swedish. So do you... You don't smoke? I used to smoke. That's the... That was like... I don't even know when it started, but it started.

And then I, you know... Turns out it's highly addictive, guys. How long have you been doing it for? The snooze. The snooze. Was supposed to wean me off the smoking, which was only about a year. And I've been doing this for about two. So tell people that don't know what snooze is.

Oh, snooze is like, I think it is a Scandinavian thing, isn't it? Yes. It definitely like, I remember people doing it in Sweden. It's like nicotine pouches. These ones don't have tobacco in them them but you basically put them under your lip and then it goes into your bloodstream can I smell it? does it smell of anything?

yeah it smells like minty if you put that in now you'd pass out so like do you shove it in and out? can you use it again? yeah it's interesting I try and figure out in like, in the morning,

I have ones that are a bit weaker. How many seusses are you on a day? 15 or 20. Is it bad for you? I mean, it can't be good for you. I think it, like, fucks up your gums, probably. How are your gums? You look very...

They feel fine. I mean, it has to be better than the smoking. I don't know, but I feel like, as a vocalist, that's just, like, I mean, my vocal coach was just like nah have you had voice problems before I have yeah but I bet you it's because when you were working like insane hours yeah I mean we're not really supposed to like as much when we're on promo tours and tours and whatever you're using it a mad amount and then flying I thought kept thinking that I had covid last year and all my pcrs would come back negative and then i did loads of tests because i was just constantly tired and like

really really swollen throat and just like would even get a fever and it turns out i have like a strain of glandular fever i've had for like over two years and it probably gets triggered so when i'm tired and i'm stressed i get glandular fever so honey and i still have it i did a test the other day and it literally came back i got my results this morning and it's like though it's still there oh so then it means that you have to be like to the label or whatever you'd be like i can't be it can't be mental literally like i'll do i'll message you on Wednesday, because I bet you after tomorrow, I'll feel ill. Can I just ask you, how do you think I should do the fish? Can I just...

I feel like, listen, Mabel... I was like, yes. Mabel, like, Mabel needs to tell you. Love the dill on top. Love that, that looks gorgeous. Beautiful. Also, like, a very me-sized portion. I always cook as if there's an army coming around

but then the other day i cooked and it was just me and my boyfriend and my mum in the house and by i'd finished by the time i finished it was like 10 people yes please if you don't wow mother this looks amazing mum do i need to put um deal on there maybe he's taking photos i am taking photos is that for reference or to send to mother Mum said oh I'm so jealous What are you guys going to eat Because actually we were trying to remember what we cooked for your mum We did fish for her but we can't remember what it was

Had you heard about it on the Great British Menu Mum You should be a guest on the Great British Menu That would be so fun Andy can get you in I would absolutely love that I'm very critical of my mom and Andy's cooking I'm like are you and do they accept it yes they definitely do in fact when I

was I was really ill during it wasn't during a lockdown but I was in hospital and uh this must have been in 2020 like in between the lockdowns and like i my mum and andy are always hanging out and they were together and they were like how is it because they couldn't nobody could come into the hospital and i was like no i'm okay i'm getting meds and whatever i was just like but the food is awful so my mum and andy went back to my mum's house and they cooked and then came with it to the hospital in the hospital like no we can't bring it in because of covid regulations and whatever and somehow bullied them into taking the food and uh yeah it gave me like the best they made me some kind of like like hard food soup like a caribbean soup and like so good yeah did it really help get better yeah it really did i love that because food is really

like when i'm sick i'm like i just follow my cravings um my mum learned how to make rice soup when we were in thailand what like congee like congee yeah but yeah like congee i think maybe they use more lemon grass when were you in thailand for holiday we used to go to thailand like every christmas from when i was four until I was eight. Whereabouts? So we would stay like, I guess close to Koh Phangan, but literally just a tiny island that had one little very family. I literally can't remember.

I'd have to ask mum. Would you go back? We haven't been in years, but my mum and dad got to know the guy that owned it really well because like my dad's very like, he doesn't like flash places at all. Like the worst thing my dad can think of is like't like flash places at all like the worst thing

my dad can think of is like a five-star resort like he just hates it I just remember that the guy's name was Pong and I thought that was hilarious as a four-year-old I was like and he was the best guy and they taught my mom how to make kind of yeah like Thai congee because I've never had congee when I was in Thailand but maybe I I was too kind of, the time when I was going, I was like 18, 19, and I was obsessed with pad thai. Well, we only ever had it for breakfast. Right. And I would have it every morning for breakfast.

You loved it, because it's salty. I loved it. I loved it. And like, we had like crickets and things as well. And I'm like, always just like, my mum and dad always like, you have to try everything. And I love, I just remember loving the crickets were you were you always like that then you were

always kind of because my children are not up help yourself by the way darling um my my um kids are being so fussy it's like you know they were on super noodles tonight and it's just I've lost the will to live I was never fussy because it was the one thing my parents were very much like. You do, you know, whatever. You have to learn from your own mistakes. But the one thing my parents were really strict with was food and that we'd be grateful for our food. And, like, my mum and my dad both come from very humble beginnings. And, you know, my mum, there were times when they were living in New York when you know

she was literally having to find food off the street because they had no money and so I think them being able to provide for us and appreciate food is so important to them that like should I just yeah help yourself darling and literally

yeah my mum I remember once my sibling starting a food fight and my mom just she lost her shit she just went absolutely sick on them and like my mom never they were never strict but it was the one thing like if you put things on your plate you're gonna eat it and like with spice and flavors and i'd be like oh i don't like that or like i'd see my friends being like no i don't eat this and i don be like, oh, I don't like that. Or, like, I'd see my friends being like, no, I don't eat this, and I don't eat that, and sort of trying to, like, find my crux. And my mum just being like, don't be silly.

Like, you will eat it. Thanks, Sean. I hope this is all right. It's a bit of a trouble serving it up, I'm afraid. It looks lovely. It does look lovely. Did you grow up in West London? Mm-hmm.

But did you grow up in Sweden at all? Yeah, so I spent a lot of time in Stockholm, like most of my teens. And then when I was younger, like, we would just live wherever my parents wanted to make music at the time until we were old enough to be like I don't want to travel anymore and how old was that I must have been about 14 or 15 the first time I kind of was like I'm actually gonna live with a friend and her family because I don't want to travel and my parents were like yeah cool so yeah we lived in new york we spent a lot of time in paris um yeah i spent a lot of time in paris and obviously my mom's from long island city new york

so like a lot of time in queens new york and i love it there um back to your last supper did we get a starter did we get a starter yeah I was going to ask about food at festivals. I know you have a rider and everything, but do you ever eat food at festivals? Festivals, what I usually do, I always eat a big meal before I leave the house. Or bring some kind of packed lunch, depending on when I have to leave. I'm never hungry before my shows, and then post-show, I'm like ravenous. Ravenous. What happens? Pizza?

I'll eat anything. Like, I'll always get somebody to get me something from catering. And sometimes catering can be great. Yeah. And sometimes, if it's not, it's going to have to be a McDonald's, guys. And what's your order on a McDonald's? Two cheeseburgers. Yeah. I understand that.

A large fries yeah like a jalapeno you know the little like jalapeno cheese i didn't even know they had no i didn't know how long they've been oh yeah those and then in december for christmas they do camembert dippers oh wow you're really wow you're regular yeah it's my guilty pleasure i love it and then an apple pie love the mcdonald's i love it it's so good how many times have you burnt your lips uh do you know what yeah i have no patience molten it just like sticks on them and then you can't get it off so good though what even is that pastry it's just deep fried isn't it yeah it's batter it's just a deep fried apple do you think that festivals could do better with food definitely i think like so what do you think what would be your favorite stall if you

could reinvent a stall at part life this year i think it's more about like when you're working and like do you know what i mean like i i'm says the person that just said she loves a mcdonald's listen we love mcdonald's it's about it's about the balance but I feel like I I just need like more than I feel like I'm usually given just like you get like your protein and like a little it's just very like average back to your last supper we got the main yeah we didn't get a start I didn't hear no you did do the banana fritters the green banana for the starter and my dessert would absolutely genuinely be banoffee pudding there you see see i don't think it yet like we were saying it's not on many menus my nan loved it my nan did she make it yeah we used to

make banoffee pudding all the time my nan was blind um bless her but like there's some things that she made that honestly just like i mean she was the most amazing woman she was a physiotherapist and she was blind from when she was five which man is this my uh dad's yeah so um my dad grew up in cockfosters he grew up with his mother being blind yeah and she um yeah she was blind from the age of five, went into hospital with something. And then the kid lying next to her had measles. And she just woke up one day and she couldn't see. See how dangerous measles are. Literally.

And yeah, she just woke up one day and was blind. And then Second World War started. She got sent out to Scotland. I mean, being blind. Poor soul. But she met my grandfather there. they ended up you know staying friends and then getting married and then she was very adamant that she wanted a child and everybody was like you're absolutely nuts I mean you're blind and but she never took no for an answer she was a

physiotherapist she used to go from cockfosters every day get the bus to the tube and then get the tube to king's cross and I mean she didn't have a guide dog for ages she just used to do it by feeling the walls and yeah absolutely crazy um and she had my my dad and like they're very like traditional British like my dad can't eat like any kind of boiled vegetable because he has so much trauma from like overcooked boiled vegetables I was also like dad come on I mean she was blind like you know let them he was like no this is unacceptable he won't eat green beans anything no cooked carrots nothing when did she pass away she passed away when I was like 15 I mean it literally I've never felt like loss like that really what an incredible woman I mean she was the most incredible woman she used to have me

every Sunday I used to get dropped off at in Cockfosters and like, she would, you know, you'd look at the sweet cupboard and she'd be like, don't even think about it. Like she just had a sixth sense of like, or I'd be looking at her and she'd be like, what are you staring at? And like, then there were just some like traditional things that she'd always make, like banoffee pies. She made the bestorkshire puddings and she always had um like biscuits and she did it all by like by feeling it was all by like she'd put things in the cups and then she would touch it and then lifting things also and knowing the the weight did your dad have to do a lot of i presume quite help her i mean she sounds like she was incredibly independent no my dad was nuts I mean literally my grandmother wanted to have more children but my dad was one

of those kids that just was climbing everything and like I mean he set his school on fire in his teens um yeah yeah my dad was like she was like no more kids um I don't know how she did it with him as a toddler like apparently he was just like nuts so my dad's an only child which also explains a lot shout outs to all of you um never had to share anything but yeah he he literally is just like he's too much so he didn't really help out until his father passed when he was 16 and then he was like cool i've got to get a job and i've got to provide and um yeah i call it the no fee and what i call it but no fee but no it's been off yeah i don't think it's been definitely not and what's your name what was your name called gene oh

gene mcveigh i still i'm very like adamant that my kids would keep my last name because my it's only like girls and i feel like my other sister will probably change her name. So what's your last name? McVeigh. I'm Mabel McVeigh. Oh, that's a good name. And I'm very like, my grandfather was, on my dad's side, was Scottish. So it's like a Scottish name and I love it. Mum, this is great.

It's gorgeous. You've not tasted it yet. Hold on, I'm trying to get a good photo of it but it's not looking It's not looking good It looks fab Nice mum Does everybody want a bit? Yes, absolutely My dad would die

Is he going to be at home? We can bring him a piece If I could bring my dad a piece of banoffee pie He would literally It's his favourite thing to eat He'll be near enough to go and get it tomorrow they'll be in my house when i get home i'll assure you that mum this is great i'm really into it i'm really happy and maybe his dad's good do you think he'll like a little piece of this we'll put it in the tupperware just to turn it up he'll be so happy. His was half a tart there. Don't leave me with it. Now, no, Radha's

not going to have any issue. Can you taste the coffee and the cream? Only a hint, but it's perfect. Very good. Very good, Mother. So, banoffee pie. Drink of choice? Are you a big drinker, Mabel? I do like a drink, yes. What's your drink? Nice tequila

on the rocks. Which tequila do you like um i'm really into casa azul at the moment but you know i like it 1942 beautiful yeah yeah i like it on julio 1942 okay is that on the rider it's not because you know what i didn't drink for a whole year why i took a year off because i went through like a personal thing, which I don't I don't mind talking about, which is just like I just felt after the busiest year of my life, like I completely lost myself personally. And, you know, I was like, we did the Brits and we did a tour. And I think after that, I was maybe going to make a little announcement of just like not being in the best place personally and just needing some grace period. And then lockdown happened and that was time to myself and had time to just like remember things that I like.

And I started riding horses again. You're very young. And the social media thing for me had gotten too much like people just scrutinizing. Is that what was happening a lot? Yeah, definitely. Like the way that I looked looked I'd become completely obsessive about it and I was just like you know going on to stage in complete and total utter fear because I would have seen one comment about something and then you're going on stage already scared that people are going to say bad things and then you're not performing to your best ability because and then it becomes a catch 22

because people say terrible things and you're like well I kind of agree with you I wasn't you know it wasn't a great performance and yeah it just became too much and then I just was like let me just do a year of like just trying to have my head as clear as possible and started riding again which has been you know really good and how are you feeling now yeah much much much much better honestly I make sure I take so much more time for myself thank you do you think it's a meditation I I did do a meditation course which is like you have to do it every day, twice a day. TM? Yeah. And it has been really helpful. It catastrophes a lot, and it's definitely helped me gain some clarity.

It's a bit like CBT, isn't it? Mm-hmm. It's managing to visualize things in a different way. Definitely. Do you ever sing karaoke? I do. What's your song? Are you a rock chick in your other life i did love paramore and

avril lavigne growing up oh yeah that's you see paramore on stage with billy eilish oh really is that why they played on radio one yesterday maybe that oh was it good so good so epic which song was it do you know what i've just seen little clips on YouTube and I've been like, I need to watch Harry Styles' full performance and I need to watch Billie Eilish. Me too. I need to. I really need to. So my karaoke...

Coachella. Coachella. My karaoke song, I think that if you can sing, you have to always choose something that's a little bit out of your comfort zone. Yeah, that's true. Like you have to sing slightly out of key slash shout. So it just not fun and even for us you know I overthink everything and

I'm like I have to sing something that's like so like Mariah Carey maybe like Hero I'd sing like you know what I mean or like a Whitney song just something that I'm just like in a million years. You wouldn't rap? No, but I think we did some, we did Bruno Mars and Cardi B, me and my manager when we were in Tokyo. Which song's that? Damn, it's on my wrist. The one when she's wearing like, Okay.

Like they're like all her 80s. Okay. Finesse. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I think maybe I was Cardi B then because rod insisted that she'd be bruno i can understand that yeah she loves bruno mars i mean don't we all but she really loves bruno um he's a showman he's not a showman he's been doing silk what's it silk sonic i always say silk city with anderson pack i'm just gonna because yes With Anderson Pack. I'm just going to, because... Yes, girl! Please, I'm so happy.

I'm just reaching in for the bonanza. Good. There's more for you, and shall I open more wine? But let's make sure that her dad gets a bit in the Tupperware. I mean, fuck him. Honestly. No, he's going to have half a cake. He won't know it happened.

And it's just there looking at you, and it's just delicious. It's so good. Is it? Can I just tell you a secret? What? So, usually, to make the toffee you boil carnation condensed milk what did you do they make it ready made now do they oh mom you've just faked it no no it's not because i feel like you didn't know darling yeah literally you merely all you do

so right you just boil it in a tin and it comes out like that what they've done is before it's four hours boiling actually given the environment and using energy oh i thought this was a better thing it was an environmental actually it's exactly what i would have done it comes out the same and i thought might as well do that tastes the same to me um are these nails done for the video yeah let me see i was like i'll do something really simple i always have really ratchet nails and how i mean they're long they're long do you think he's long yeah you're like these aren't long no these are pretty good for me i'm like i'm being quite like sensible

because of the horse and like tacking up the horse and i go like three four times tomorrow no no i just have a horse i ride all the the time. What's your horse called? Gus. What colour? He's grey. I love grey. No, he's so pretty. How long have you had him? It's just like a year, but it's just so time consuming getting him clean.

Do you have to do all that bit? Or is that part of it? You like that bit? If I'm there, then I do it. But if I'm not, then... So how often do you ride? Try and go once a week? Three, four times a week.

Oh, wow. This was me and Gus on Saturday. My boyfriend took me out there. Let's see. Oh, wow. Does he ride too? No. He won't even get near the horse.

Wow, babe. Gus is such a cute guy. Did you ride when you were little? I rode when I was younger, and then I fell off and kind of shook myself to my core because I was so fearless when I was younger and then I fell off and kind of like shook myself to my core because I was so fearless when I was younger. And then you sort of get to a point where you're like, oh, you know, things can happen to me. And like, and yeah, I just, I stopped riding. And then I was like, I need to do something for me.

I need to do something different. And I got dogs and they were so helpful. And my dad was just like, should start riding again. And then I just fell in love with it. It's like the most therapeutic thing. You have to leave your phone off. They're so intuitive. You have to mentally be in an okay place to get on a horse,

or you're literally putting yourself in danger. So it's like that thing of being like, let me calm down. I'm turning my phone off. I'm getting on the horse. I'm focusing, learning new things like for a while my self-esteem was so low so just doing something different and progressing in it and showing myself that wow like if I work hard at something or I'm committed to something like I'll take steps forward and just doing something different so different to music maybe you're a

wonderful woman do you think you're inspirational darling not what you've achieved at such a young age people look up to you you're hard on yourself you must believe in yourself because all those little girls out there want to be mabel i'm telling you oh they do i hope so um mabel it has been such a pleasure to speak to you. Thank you for sharing all your wonderful food memories. I'm so thrilled for you. But can you imagine the luck of getting a banoffee pie when that's so good? Stop! Banoffee!

Banoffee pie! It's like when Nigella did the mikroave. Mikroave. Banoffee. As long as I don't have to mikroave the banoffee pie. The banoffee pie. Who has ever said banoffee? And also, look at the spelling.

It's a double F. I love it. Mabel's part of the family. There we go. In fact, it made more sense when I realised I put coffee in the cream that it was banoffee. But coffee. Banoffee. Banoffee.

Okay, all right. Take the mickey. When I'm gone, you'll be sad that you laughed at me. Oh my God, it's so dark. So quick. Mother. I have to do that, Mabel, to keep her'll be sad that you laughed at me. Oh my God, it's so dark, so quick. It's not, Mother! I have to do that, Mabel, to keep her on track. Yeah, no, honestly.

Mabel, thank you for being on Table Manners. Before you go, to go and get some sleep, do you have good Table Manners? When I'm around my mother, yes. Oh, interesting. Oh, she's done fine. I think you've got very good Table Manners. The only thing my mum has ever, like, gone at us for

is, like, not finishing our food, like, being sloppy, and then my mum will literally... I'll come home still, I'm 26 years old, and I'll come home to my mum's house to eat or whatever, and, you know, she'll be like, don't sit like a truck driver. You're sitting like a truck driver. What's sitting like a truck driver?

I don't even know what that is. And I'm always like, explain to me what that is. Mabel, thank you. Can't wait to hear more music. Thank you. Me too.

Can't wait to see you keep on thriving because you're doing so well and I'm so happy that we got to have you on the podcast. Before I even knew who you were or what you did, I downloaded that first song. Don't call me out.

Which one? Don't call me out. I loved it so much. I do enjoy that out. Which one? Don't call me out. I loved it so much. I do enjoy that. It's good. It's really good. I enjoy that moment. Such a good song. Thank you. I love Mabel, but I absolutely adored her stories tonight. It was so lovely having her over.

She looks like a pop star, Mum, doesn't she? I looked at those nails and I thought, my little chewed-off chipolatas. Well, she's doing a video tomorrow. Yeah, but I mean Mabel. She's just gorgeous and lovely and bright and very interesting and interesting loves food yeah i didn't know that about her i guess i'm but i think because her mum's such a good cook and andy oliver's her well then there's well then there's hope for my children eh yeah please why which godparent of yours loves food i have gone parent okay they

are surrounded by you and i and Sam's spaghetti bolognese. Thank you, Mabel, for coming on the podcast. Thank you for taking a Tupperware home for your dad, who apparently didn't want to see you and you gave him a call and now he's coming round to your house at 9.30 at night to eat banoffee pie. I'm sorry that you were shocked that i bought the ready caramelized condensed you know what but actually respect darling that's what everybody did you you boil a tin and it's exactly the same thing you boil it in the tin in the tin it's not like you make it in a

kind of a well i think mary berry makes it differently but i boil it oh she does it with sugar and butter and God knows what. But my idea of banoffee pie is always to boil the condensed milk in the tin. So you put it in the whole tin in water. And then it browns it. And it just caramelises it. And that's what they do. It's ready made now.

Well, it was delicious. So it's a bit like. This is not a sponsored episode for Carnation. No, but it's a bit like Dolce Delce. Exactly. Exactly the same thing. Well, and I loved it. And the little bit Carnation. No, but it's a bit like Dolce D'Alecce. Exactly. Exactly the same thing. Well, and I loved it. And the little bit of coffee.

So what was it? Did you like the coffee in the cream? So what, was it coffee granules? No, it's just some instant coffee that I just melted a bit, a bit, a bit. So it's quite thick, like the consistency of it. Well, I only put a teaspoon full of coffee, put it in water. A little bit of water. And then I did put a little icing sugar in just to take the bitterness off in the cream.

Mum, Bake Off is calling. Celebrity Bake Off. Would you do it? No. Why? Because I feel under pressure and I'd be shouting at people and that's not a good look. We could tell you. I wish I had been able to barbecue the fish.

I think it would have been better look i wasn't going to say in front of them because i've learned my lesson but i think a bit of meat would have been better with those two dishes she always has to say something alice what do you think since you do sweet fa you always have to say something don't you but it was very nice and very garlic. Jessie, what would I have done? I'd had that bulgur wheat with mushrooms with salmon before. A bit different. But it was not quite as wet as...

I think it's the mushrooms being wet with the fish. It just was salmon slightly more steaky. I'm just giving my pennies worth. My two pence piece so could you cook excuse me, instead of trying to be a pop star on the days that we have a podcast, maybe you could cook

maybe I could and I did all those carrots, I shocked my carrots how did you shock your carrots? I shocked them with ice cold water, they had to have a shock after they'd been boiled for six weeks. Six weeks? Six hours.

Six minutes. They were shook up. And then you had to shock them in ice cold water with ice cubes. And on that note, I'm going home with my garlic breath and a full belly. And I may take a bit of banoffee pie. Banoffee? No, it's for your brother. Of course it is.

You've had two helpings. No, it wasn't for me. It was for my husband. All right, take it. No, it wasn't for me. It was for my husband. All right, take it. No, it's fine. He won't eat it anyway because when he's on nights, he only eats cereal.

Anyway, that was a really lovely evening. Absolutely love her. And she's fabulous. Yeah. And you're quite fabulous too. Thank you for listening and we will see you next week.