Alison Goldfrapp

0:03Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with Mum. and you've cooked up a right storm, haven't you? I think so. You seem very calm about it, though. You've really got to lengthen it. Because it's been the whole day. Doing it. I'm quite tired now, so I will require help with clearing up. No problemo. Thank you. We have a bit of an icon tonight. We have Alison Goldfrapp. She is a force to be reckoned with. She is an Ivan Avella winner, Grammy nominee, Brit nominee. she has been making excellent music from electronic to dance to folk she is very sensational and she's coming here tonight for food i'm very excited to meet her i feel like it's kind of like when we had like tracy thorn or something like that yeah she deserves respect alison goldfrapp she makes banging is that her surname yes oh good surname yeah because i always thought the band was called gold frapp she was in a band called gold frapp okay and she still is she's this is a solo record that she's wow it's called the love invention and it's really good and it makes me want to go clubbing and it makes me want to fall in love on the dance floor and she does it so well i really admire allison and she's coming over so what have you made for allison i've made almost the whole of otter lenghi's book which book simple was it simple no you know that's why the book's called otter lenghi's simple because it's his version of okay so it's not simple um and i have cooked all day oh so i have made hot tomatoes with cold yogurt which is lovely we love that i've made avocado um broad bean mash have you put the avocado in there yet yeah i made that this morning i had to take the shell off 300 grams of broad beans do you know how long that took probably an hour oh wow yeah i don't like broad beans that much you will like i think it will be quite nice i'm gonna love every mouthful yeah and then i met i've done some grilled asparagus i've done some rice and then i've made cod flaky cod with chickpeas which which we made for yeah Yeah, we did.

2:19That was the last time. Loved it. And then I've made a spiced apple cake. It looks sensational. I know, it does look nice. It looks so good, Mum. Yeah, it looks lovely. And we're just going to have that on its own. Yeah, with either creme fraiche or I've got ice cream or I've got fresh cream to pour on it. Fabulous. Or whipped cream. The high priestess of electronic music and dance, Alison Goldfratt, coming up on Tables.

2:55cheers cheers thanks for being well cheers to you and cheers the new record which we've listened to oh my goodness it was so fun it's really good really wonderful you really do rule the disco you do like you just do it and it's just wonderful no no no no i'm just learning from you because honestly like you do it and you do it with such ease and you've got this amazing commanding vocal and it's just but it's like so delicious in your ear it's wonderful so delicious in the ear it is rich but with these like amazing beats anyway it's amazing it's triumph and congratulations. And where's your accent from?

3:40Are you London? What? No. Well, I was born in London. Were you? I was born in Enfield. Oh, yeah. But I grew up in Alton, which is this small little town in the countryside. Oh, I know, near Salisbury. Yeah, it's not far from Salisbury. Yeah, Alton. That's right, Hampshire. Yeah. Yeah, so that's where I grew up. When did you move there? um uh well i was born and then we left okay so yeah pretty much all my life i've been in the country so you didn't get to enjoy all the greek and the turkish food and greek secret food no no i don't really remember anything about it at all so what was your childhood favorite dinner that you would have?

4:25Alton? Is it Alton? Alton. Alton, yeah. Like Alton Town? No. Well, it's not... It's the same spelling. Yes, but it's not a bit... It's gorgeous little place. It is pretty around there. Very dull, but pretty, yeah. Dull, but pretty. Yeah, so, well, my mum did all the cooking. Was she good? Not really. Oh. No, bless her. No. Well, actually, no, that's a bit mean. That's a bit mean. she made a good mince pie well that is really important with mince meat like savory mince pie yeah you know like traditional yeah i don't think i've ever had a savory mince pie it's not of this era to be honest like mince pies um i did at the time yeah no i loved them um but yeah no she wasn't great at cooking she was it was very practical mostly um um yeah and quite old school so like what was a memorable you know mash and liver oh yeah you've got it and you didn't like it expression you just like mum does a chop liver but it's chicken livers and i don't mind i don't think you can't do it but people go out and they sit and you say calf's liver in an italian restaurant they say i love calf's liver with sage and i couldn't ever eat that yeah i think it looks no it was a little bit more it's good for you isn't it oh not the sage not the butter not the butter not the calf not the what liver was it i have no idea actually i don't really want to know let's not talk about it i'm sure it was very good for me and some you know lots of muscle but yeah did you did you eat it i did yeah so good for you so you You were a good child.

6:12I was a good... Well, yeah, no. I mean, oh, God, no. It was pretty awful, mostly, actually. And, you know, she would hide things in food. Oh, yeah. Like what? I don't know, like fish. I had this thing about... I didn't want to eat fish. Do you like fish now? OK, thank God. Thank God. Because you're getting fish. Should I ask? No, no, I do. No, no, no, I do. But I didn't... I had this thing when I was a kid that I didn't really want to eat it. But I think that's because, you know, I did like it when I was really little. and then because I liked it, it just went in absolutely everything. Are you in a big family?

6:46There were six of us. Six? Yeah, but... Six children? Six children. Wow. Crikey, that is a big family. Where were you? Youngest. So I had three brothers, two of them are twins, and then two sisters. But when I came into the world, the three brothers had kind of left, so I didn't really know them that well. So it was three sisters? But the sisters were still around, yeah. And was it a happy childhood? Did you eat and laugh and create together? Were you the most creative one? Well, yeah, no, they were all creative actually. They are musical. I'm talking about them like they're dead, they're still alive.

7:30Are they all musical? Some of them are, yeah. One of my sisters is very musical and one of my brothers is very musical. Were your parents musical? I think my dad was very musical and I think, yeah, he was very musical. So did you play an instrument in your liquor? Yes, I did. What did you play? The clarinet and the trombone. Wow. I think that's fantastic. And why did you decide on those? I didn't decide on them. They were free at the school so I kind of had to do them. I wanted to play an instrument that's what I got do you still play? no could you if we asked you to? I haven't got a clarinet so you're alright have trombone and clarinet featured on any records?

8:19no absolutely not I mean you know I was young so the trombone practically sort of reached the floor and you're only little and I'm only little good for the lungs though yeah yeah you know that and the liver the liver and the trombone serious power yeah so was there a dish that you did apart from the mince the mince pies they they were a good memory for you uh well not so much the liver but the and the apple crumble yeah i mean it was sort of traditional you know british what did your mom and dad do for my mother was a nurse and a counselor and uh our house was a halfway house when i was a kid how fascinating so there would be a lot of people coming in and out of the house, staying at the house.

9:07Who were from? They'd been probably in some kind of mental institution and had come out and so they stayed with us before they went back into the community. Like supported living? Well, just my mother was very Christian, very, yeah, staunch Christian and a counsellor. and I think she saw it as her Christian duty to look after people in the community. That's kind. It's lovely. So did you all eat together? Yeah, we did sometimes all eat together, yeah. Yeah, it was quite intense. Yeah, I bet. And you're the youngest there. And I'm the youngest, yeah. So I have very happy memories of that and I also have some not-so-happy memories of that because it was very intense.

10:01Did you all go to church? Yes. So did you sing there? Yes. Is that where you found your voice? No. Where did you find it? I went to a convent school. There's a lot of contradictions in this upbringing. I like this. So you're not Catholic but you went to a convent. I'm not Catholic but my mother sent me to a Catholic school. She thought it would be very good for me. Was it good for you, Alison? I absolutely loved it. Oh, right. But interestingly, I don't know anyone else has been to a convent school and loved it. So I think I was very lucky. They were kind and... I thought they were really kind.

10:36I loved them. The nuns? Yeah, I loved it. You're lucky. I thought I was in a film. I loved it. Which film? I don't know. It just seemed incredibly romantic to me. I love that. And the nuns, there were nuns from India, from Africa, from Spain, a French nun. So when did you find out about the voice? at convent school yeah so we sang every morning you know we do our hail marys and then we'd sing songs and do that good reverb yeah and all the harm they were sort of took it very very seriously so we did all these harmonies and yeah it was great i loved it and i had a singing teacher who was very enthusiastic and i was really crap at everything else so i kind of excelled in that I guess because she kind of encouraged me so it felt very good you know this was something I could actually do what was the food like at a convent oh bismore yeah really dire much worse than my mum's so so are you a good cook Alison no no but you live in a really good area for food yeah really great food yeah I mean it's amazing how you can step out of your house in London and just get whatever you want anything yeah i'm sorry i missed where you live hackney oh lovely so so where are some of the spots that you would if somebody was coming from alton to london you were like listen i got the spots for you yeah well actually there's an amazing restaurant really really near me just down the end of the road called brawn oh it's the best yeah that's very very nice i really like that you've got pavilion bakery yeah i love their dal yes they do it's so good yeah that's right yeah and uh we've got a lovely little deli yeah it's great you know so it's yeah it's all going on around so if if we were coming around to yours yeah for a little bite i'd probably panic okay fine and maybe order in fine but what would be like alice and goldfrapp's showstopper oh my god i think this is quite mean jesse yeah i think she's feeling not comfortable What would your showstopper take away then?

12:52No, I wouldn't do a takeaway. But do you know what? I like really simple food. So I don't know about a showstopper, but I'd probably make some salads.

13:07Sounds good. I'm there for the salad. Yeah, a lot of salads. Popped a pavilion for the bread. Yeah. So you could do that. You could go to your deli. Yeah, and there's another great bakery up the road called E5 Bakehouse. Oh, I love it. Should we tell Alison what we're eating tonight? Well, I'm frightened now. No, no. Don't be frightened. Can I just say something? Go on. My dad really liked cooking, actually. Did he? Oh, God. But my mother wouldn't let him. Why? Because I think my mother was very practical, you know, get the food on the table for the kids. And don't make too much mess. Yeah, all of that.

13:43Whereas my dad wanted to cook something much more interesting, in inverted commas, and that really what did your dad do my dad was uh in advertising for quite a long time before i was born and then he gave it up and worked for charity for the rest of his life yeah he hated advertising and i think you're very philanthropic family aren't you i mean halfway house and your dad works for charity so he was don draper and then he like threw it all away that's right yeah yeah um but yeah uh what did he cook then well when he was when when mom was out um he liked he liked to cook curry and things like that and um he liked making cheese making cheese yeah which annoyed the hell out of my mom because he used to roll it up into uh sort of like balls and then hang it in muslin muslin that's right and then cheesecloth yeah sort of muslin cheesecloth and then hang it in the airing cupboard oh i bet that's not great yeah and she'd done all that yeah so um you know you open up the airing cupboard and there'd be all these really honking balls of cheese were they good um it was yeah except it was very garlicky because he was so into garlic so they'd really honk the whole head of his time doing like you know infused garlicky He, like, yeah.

15:13So he was sort of more creative, whereas my mum was very, very practical. So they clashed quite a lot. That, I'm just wondering what your dad's, like, cheese board have been. Did it ever get to the cheese board? Or was it like you were all trying to catch a taste of it in the airing cupboard? I think, yeah, cheese board might have been a bit too, sort of, sophisticated. Did you go on holiday abroad? Yeah, we did, actually. Spain Mallorca was the place that we'd always I love Mallorca so that is very very dear to me Mallorca do you ever go? yeah I love going all the time do you have a spot that you like to go to?

15:50I love going to Palma actually it's really beautiful I like Palma yeah and sort of up on that north west coast I really love I love all that sort of more rocky coastline is that like is that day day and beyond there yeah very beautiful yeah that's a cat driving me mad Do you have any animals? You're not allergic? Are you allergic? No, I absolutely love animals. Adore them, but I don't have any at the moment. Do you want prints? Mum, stop. Jessie, I took him to the vet. It was£270 because I thought he was eating three, four pouches a day. Oh, wow. Maybe he's near the end of life. No, he's not near the end of life.

16:32He's the healthiest cat in the whole of Crabham. How old is he? He's 15. She says he'll live to at least till he's 22, 25. That's pretty, yeah. And he's not got a thyroid condition. He's just a greedy sod. Oh, Mum, you're so mean. He's just a bloody greedy bugger. Look how he craves attention by everybody else. He doesn't. He gets attention all the time. Mum, look how he hears this and how you speak of him. Oh, Prince. 15. Man up. Yeah, poor little Prince. But yeah, he does like to get a little... It's your cat, actually. I thought about you taking him. Yeah. Oh, I've got my two cats now, so yeah.

17:06unfortunately i can't possibly um so you're playing glastonbury yeah one of the first 50 artists to be announced high up in that bill yeah park stage which is where i played last year such a great atmosphere yeah and will you be staying for the weekend well good question i did look at where to stay and i did contemplate the idea of a glam tent i think you should do have you stayed in one yes are they good are they not like i think you should get the tp okay Where you get like the shag pile, like you get throws. It's a bit kind of Game of Thrones, like you're, you know, Jon Snow. But I think...

17:45Heaters? Yeah. Yeah. I need all mod cons. You want to have a proper shower and glam up. What day are you playing? It's Sunday. So you need to take it easy on the Friday and Saturday. You need electricity. I think I'll just drive down on the day. No! No, don't do that. Okay, okay. Sleeping bag. no you've got to rough it though what time are you on at I'm not entirely sure actually it's in the evening on Sunday it's the evening before Thundercat love Thundercat jazz musician really cool great music actually I really like them that'd be great so Glastonbury's happening the album will be out you'll be riding high have you got any ways is this your 7th record or eighth record it's um eighth my eighth record so it's your eighth record is there a ritual that you have that you do after releasing a record like a certain thing you eat or a certain thing you'll go and do will you go to liberty and get one of those nice earrings that you've got in your well yeah i mean i do love eating i love i love my food i love celebrating with food so actually Well, I did, not after the album so much, but after the video, yeah, I went out for dinner, steak.

19:05Oh, yeah, nice. Naughty. Why is that naughty? She doesn't eat red meat. I always feel slightly guilty. Why? Oh, is that why you don't eat red meat? Why do you feel guilty, Alison? Well, Mum, because there's a whole thing called climate change going on, and so she's just trying to think about the planet. Yeah, I do, but hey, well, I did. I just went out and had a steak and already. Where did you go? Fantastic glass of white Hawksmoor. Oh, great. I love Hortzmaud. They know how to do a good steak. How do you take your steak when you're eating one on the rare occasion? Sort of medium to well done.

19:35Oh, Alison. And what's your sauce? Your condiment? Peppercorn. Peppercorn sauce. Do they do that at Hortzmaud? Yeah. They do it all. Roast potatoes. Do you get the cream spinach? Don't, actually. Oh, it's really nice. Do you have chips? No, the roast potatoes. But that's special, special, special treat. you know you don't like coriander no i've got a real thing about coriander does it taste like soap in your mouth no it tastes like musty old books oh yeah like you know you know that kind of smell like mildew mildew allison are you gonna stick with the white or would you like some red you know the white's great yeah thank you because we've had quite a few people on that have got a serious aversion to coriander um clara amfo my friend who actually was our guinea pig for the first ever recording we did she says it's the devil's herb she hates it so much and she will not be able to eat something if it's been sprinkled with it or even be able to like just put it to the side well i think there's a sort of there's a percentage of people who can't actually do it's a bit like you know people who can roll their tongue inwards yeah can you do that no all right you can jesse teach their children to do that okay so make yeah you're that percentage then that can do that and there's the same with coriander apparently um yeah i mean it's so it tastes like musty old books musty old books mildew yeah like really and i can smell it a mile off but having said that i actually really like coriander seeds okay because they're a lot in curries and yeah but they're very different oh i put it over there oh sorry um oh yeah okay well it's good to know there's i don't think there's any no we we know about the coriander don't worry but why is the coriander seed okay not fresh i don't know it's got more depth maybe it's not got that kind of i suppose it maybe changes its structure on it it's a seed or something i don't Jessie, do you want to tell Alison what I've made?

21:44Okay, so mum's made. Do you want me to give her a cheese sandwich? I'm very excited about this, by the way. You know, it's very, very nice to be asked to do this, and I'm very pleased to be here. It's such a pleasure to have you. So we've got, is it cod? Yeah. Cod in chickpeas and tomato. There's grilled asparagus. There's a broad bean in avocado mash. I love broad beans. there's hot like blistered cherry tomatoes that have been put in like thyme and lemon and garlic and cumin and that's on yogurt oh wow they kind of melt into that and then we've got some rice so it's a bit of that sounds gorgeous yeah yeah and it's mum they look perfect smells really good I hope so I love broad beans do you I can never be bothered to do them she was shelling them just so you know and you appreciate it I'm very impressed It was an hour of shelling.

22:40Really? Oh, yeah. That's what we'll go to the lengths for Alison Gullford, I'll tell you.

22:53What's the plan for the live show? Do you want to take it to the clubs? Do you want to kind of make it? I mean... Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, I'm just talking about shows at the moment. I've been on the phone today with my drummer, Seb, trying to get a set list together and talking to the choreographer because I'm going to have some dances on stage with me. Have you had dances before? I have done, but not for quite some time, actually. So, yeah, I want it to feel like something that's really great to watch. So, yeah, just trying to figure all that out at the moment. and all of that stuff for me takes up so much of my headspace.

23:38I'm not good at multitasking at all. When you've done seven albums, how do you choose what's on your set list? Will this be very much like your... Will this be Alison Goldfrapp and this record, or will you include Goldfrapp? I will include some older stuff, yeah, definitely. I kind of have to at the moment. I don't have enough material to just play the new stuff. And that's good, and it's interesting. trying to make that work together. I think it's working pretty well, actually. Yeah. But yeah, it's always a bit of a funny one to create, you know, decide what you're going to play live, especially as every album I've done has been very different.

24:23So yeah, trying to make that work is quite difficult sometimes, actually. This is delicious. Is it? Yeah. It's really good with the yogurt, actually, Mum. I like it because it's sweet and it's lovely do you know what I'm kind of obsessed with at the moment is Sheshwan chilli oil oh my god do you like hot things? well no not really but it's just got the most incredible really distinctive flavour that's just it's so complex it's sort of floral and tangy and sweet and yes so I'm having it sort of morning night and day You can kind of put it on eggs. Oh, yeah. Yeah, really good. Yeah, it's delicious.

25:08There's a really good Szechuan Chinese in Camberwell called Silk Road. Where they do the bang-bang noodles. It's so good. You should go down there if you've got a little taste with Szechuan. Yeah. When did you leave home? 16. Oh, wow, young. Yeah. I love that. 16. I moved to the nearest town, next town with a friend. And we squatted a house. So I was in London by the time I was 17. Yeah. What was your kind of... It was pretty wild. I lived in a squat off the old Kent Road. Alison! Wow. Your poor parents. And yeah, my poor mum. My mum came up to see me in the squat, which I was kind of embarrassed about.

26:02And she came all the way up on the train with a hoover. Oh, bless her. Did you use it? Because she'd given it to you? Yeah, probably. Well, no, that was good. It was very useful. How did you find a squat? Well, my brother found it for me. Oh, my God. Yeah. But it was awful, actually. And I'd kind of moved out of there. But yeah, my first few years in London, up until I was about 23, were pretty interesting. When did you get signed? Well, you know, quite late, really. I mean, I was like 30, maybe 32, 33. So you've been slogging at it for like 15 years. yeah yeah doing all sorts of different wild things all in London no I was in Antwerp for a couple of years in Belgium um singing with a dance company um and I was then I went to art came back and then I went to art school and then um I was doing stuff with tricky and orbital a lot of kind of um sort of early sort of dance stuff techno-y things was that a fun time yeah it was yeah tricky tricky then tricky trick tricking i mean yeah he's tricky yeah but he's also amazing i mean there's you know there's he there's something kind of fascinating about him and he introduced me to a lot of incredible music i learned a lot you know it was a really experience and and then i spent a lot of time in bristol with you know a lot of guys around there so yeah really varied really varied i feel like maybe it could be time for the last supper to talk about your last supper okay starter starter well i was thinking i just cannot decide okay well you can have two i think it would be an italian you know comfort food yeah papadale and maybe like either some kind of ragu sauce or a homemade pesto sauce and loads of parmesan.

28:23So is this your, we're going straight to Maine's here? Is this your starter? Do you know what, I'm not really... That would be your starter. I know, that's true actually. And then you just have a piece of meat afterwards. I'm not really into starters. Aren't you? No, not really. Have you got a small appetite? Well, I have to eat very regularly. Oh, really? do you but small yeah if i don't eat regular then i get very hangry yeah that's like a kylie minogue oh really yeah okay so we're little yeah we're both little yeah something italian or as i'm so into um the szechuan chili oil i think maybe congee is also kind of i don't know what comfort food to me it's like a rice soup rice like really good rice yeah it's almost like a porridge It's a savoury porridge.

29:09And it's got chilli oil and kind of broth. You like hot sauce, Alison. Have you made it before, Alison? I've attempted it. And how did it go? Well, it didn't taste like it when you tasted it in the restaurant. No, it wasn't great. Well, at least you tried. I tried, I tried. Have you got a spot that you go for your congee? Well, no, I haven't actually. You need to find somebody. Okay, we need listeners to recommend a place for congee. Oh, there's another really great little place. It's called Leila's. I love Leila's. Yeah. I had congee in there and it was absolutely delicious. So where does congee come from?

29:50It's Chinese. Although apparently the name congee actually comes from India. Yeah, it doesn't sound Chinese. Have you ever eaten congee in a Chinese restaurant? No, but I've had it in China. It's very comfort food. It's like having chicken broth. You know, it's very comforting. Nourishing. Yeah, nourishing, gentle on your tummy. And yeah. Lots of places are now doing like savoury porridges and stuff like that. Well, we have, I don't know if you've heard of her, Jack Monroe. She's the bootstrap cook. She's amazing. She's amazing. She makes food for nothing. And she made us chicken porridge. Oh.

30:33It was delicious. It was with oats and she did it with like a free taste. It was like onion, celery and carrots. And she brought it on the train in a flask. Cooking. So it kept on cooking. Wow. And so it kind of went, and she'd done it with oat milk and like leftover chicken. And it all sounds like you'd be like, it was kind of like a risotto. It was so delicious. It was so good. It was really nice. I can imagine it. But like, it sounds weird. It was surprising. Yeah. It was so, it felt comforting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah nice so we've got congee with a big bit of szechuan yeah yeah you've got nettle tea nettle tea nettle shit alison oh alison we're gonna have to do a bit better than that what's going on here bloody hell yeah no i'll tell you what you might get nettles on the island that is true so maybe i could make nettle tea okay all right but why tell me about the nettle i'm gonna No, but honestly, it's a thing of wonder.

31:33It's, you drink this nettle tea, and I'm not kidding, it feels like it's healing your whole inside. Who taught you about this? Well, weirdly, at Layla's I had nettle tea. She comes out with this massive, great tin of leaves. She picks them off the edge of the canal and then... Yeah, probably somewhere on the middle of Arnold's Circus. Yeah, where the dogs have all weed on it. Whatever, it's all sterilised in boiling water, isn't it? Probably very good for you. As my mother would have said, good dirt. Good dirt. Yeah. So nettle tea. Yeah, nettle tea. It's beautiful. I can drink gallons of it. But it's not very alcoholic.

32:12No, it's not. And then I'd move on to like, you know, serious bottle of booze. Something. Yeah. Have you got a sweet tooth? I've got a terrible sweet tooth. Well, we're going to have something sweet now. I'm trying to kind of cut. I'm seriously, I mean, yeah. But life's too short, isn't it? Well, there is that. So what would be your dream put?

32:37I love chocolate. I'm a bit of a... I love chocolate in the freezer. I just nibble on a bit of chocolate from the freezer. I keep it in the freezer. You know what I do, Alison? Yeah. And this can make you feel like you're quite like, you know, it's slightly worthy. so you can feel like it's really good for you. Get medjool dates. Oh, yes. Cut them. Put peanut butter in there. Dip them in dark chocolate. Bit of sprinkling of sea salt. Shove them in the freezer and they're like Snickers ice cream. That sounds really good. And you just go, oh, it's good for me. I'm going to be regular. It's going to be just delicious.

33:15It's delicious. Yeah, actually, I love them. Have you finished? Oh, yeah, that was beautiful. Thank you. So what's your favourite chocolate? Milk chocolate. I'm not that into dirt. Are you dirty? I know, dirty. Oh, you dirty dirt. I love it. Milk chocolate. Frozen. Oh, my God. Look at that. Frozen milk chocolate. Yeah, frozen milk. Dairy milk? No, not quite. A bit of... Galaxy? No. A bit higher end. A bit higher end, yeah. Mum's got giant milk chocolate buttons in the fridge if you want one of them just to keep going. That might be too sweet. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. I guess it tastes less sweet when it's in the freezer as well, doesn't it?

33:54Why don't you just go to dark chocolate, Alison? It gives me a headache. Oh, do you not drink caffeine? I do. How interesting. Yeah, it makes me feel a bit weird. And then I have to drink a lot of water. Vanethal tea will soothe it. This is very interesting. This is why we do the podcast. We can learn about... Oh my God, look at that cream. I've never seen so much cream there's variations of cream you can have whatever you want whipped cream and we've got a spiced apple cake wow which looks beautiful mum yeah does look beautiful will you have a bit? yes I will so we've got your last supper yeah pasta, congee, nettle tea, booze chocolate Chocolate.

34:49I made chocolate. You know what? Listeners, will you please let us know if you two freeze your chocolate like Alison Goldfratt? What's on your rider then? Will you always have a bit of chocolate on the rider? Yeah, I do actually. On my rider, I don't like food in my dressing room. Me neither. It smells. Oh, good. Yeah. It's too weird, isn't it? It's like when you go to Europe and you get those like meat and cheese plates, you're like, get it out. Yeah. Yeah. And they always put this cling film over everything, which is just hideous. Plus, bad for the planet. No, I agree. Thank you, Mum. This looks gorgeous.

35:28I think I might have to do the whipped cream because that looks so amazing and I never have whipped cream. This is really nice. Is it? Yeah, really lovely. It's really nice. Have some, yeah. You made this as well? Yeah. Oh, wow. It's like cream and apple is such an amazing... It is. I mean, they go so well together, don't they? It kind of always reminds me, though, just because this whipped cream isn't like the squirty cream, but it always reminds me of the cafes in Amsterdam where you're stoned and you're eating a bit of apple tart pie. Oh, God. This is very, very delicious, Mum. Thank you. I guess it's kind of like apple crumble as well.

36:06It just works, doesn't it? have you got a nostalgic taste that can transport you somewhere oh yeah i mean i'm all do you know i'm do you know my favorite meal of the day is breakfast actually i really love do you have a big breakfast i do like to have a big breakfast because i find if i have a big breakfast then i I tend not to eat sort of crap. Otherwise I tend to, otherwise I'm sort of nibbling on frozen chocolate at 11am. So yeah, big breakfast. In your family's home, was breakfast like a big deal with everybody? Was it kind of a big fry up? Was it kind of like fun for yourselves, go and get your toast, go and get your cereal?

36:54No, it was meals were always, you know, So sit, sit. Oh yeah. Thanks. Meals were always about sitting down together and talking and being together. So yeah, I, I, I, yeah, I really appreciate that because I feel like that's something I still really like to do and having breakfast with friends. I really love doing that. Having people around for breakfast. So yeah, you know, just something like a fried egg will make me think of all the fantastic holidays I've been on and being in Greece up a mountain at you know very early in the morning and always being able to cook an egg yeah yeah things like that or you know just being with a friend yeah things just very simple things um yeah apples and cream actually do make me think about growing up in England yeah yeah so no definitely get nostalgic about food and the smells and tastes yeah do you think you'd ever live in the country the countryside i fantasize about it all the time what's stopping you um i have done it on my own where were you near bath okay i was touring a lot and our studio was in bath so i was i decided to just buy a place in bath it seemed crazy because I was either on tour or I was in the studio so I bought this little cottage beautiful countryside um and it was wonderful for a bit and then I started to feel very isolated and um I missed being in London with the kind of people that I like to hang out with and um how long did you last there quite a few it's probably about four years okay yeah but yeah i'd so i i love london i kind of have a bit of a love hate relationship with it because i i kind of i love the people i love the openness of it and it feels very friendly to me i think people in london are super friendly and it's really diverse um but i crave nature so i I have to get my fix of nature, yeah.

39:10I'm going to ask a really rude question. Do you ever sing karaoke? Why is that a rude question? Because I don't think she does. She's too chic. She's too chic. Do you know what? I've never done karaoke. Actually, the thought of karaoke scares the life out of me. Have you ever done karaoke? I've done it really reluctantly, and it's not fun for singers, because that's boring for everybody. Nobody wants to hear a good singer sing well. That's boring. I've never done it. I've never seen anyone else do it either. Do you do it? I would. She talks the big talk. She talks the big talk. Well, we've never done it.

39:46What would you do if you were doing the character? Oh, definitely Whitney. For a while it was Kings of Leon. Kings of Leon. Sex on fire. Really? Wow. I'd like to hear that. I'd need backing. Me too. Can you do it now? No, I can't. Oh, go on. Have you met Kings of Leon? No, I'd like to. Is that the one with What's It Flowers in it? No, that's the killer's one. Oh, I like that here. Getting all your indie bands from the 2000s. I like Tanda Motown. You can't be a pen short for an indie band. No, I like Tanda Motown. I like any soul music. I mean, what do you listen to when you're relaxing? What would you have in the background to a nice meal?

40:31Well, that's interesting because I don't really like music when I'm eating. Oh. no why not I don't feel I need to know well I don't like you know I don't like I don't really like you know going to a restaurant where there's music unless it's on a record player actually like Braun quite often will put a bit of vinyl on because they're like quick Alison's coming we're putting on the vinyl like turn off the songs but the thing is some some of the restaurants the sound is so So all you hear is a bass beating. Thank you very much. It's a bit thumping. It's all really terrible speakers. So it sounds very small and tinny.

41:17And it's actually just annoying. Like completely pointless. I want to hear the music and I want to listen to it. So actually I prefer... And if you're in a busy restaurant, it's actually really nice to hear everyone chatting. Yeah, I think that's right. I don't think you need the music. So if you were having people around, would you never play music? Sometimes I do, yeah. sometimes I do like if I'm having a party yeah definitely be eating do you have parties do people have parties anymore I don't know I don't know yeah yeah a four year old birthday party I know we could do the big party I've got like a family kitchen playlist which sounds really shit but it's really good I should give it a better name because why it's just like whenever I hear a really good song that I think could accompany like a good pud I'm like you get it what would you have with the apple doesn't it give you there's a Smokey Robinson no there's a Smokey Robinson song More Love do you know it so good perfect for the spiced apple cake oh wow I like this I like this I might have to yeah it's really nice anything Smokey Robinson does in fact you could have and I hope that you don't find this offensive I could have Alice and Goldfrapp in my ear at any time what kind of pudding would you have that with well I think there'd be cream in there yeah they would definitely be great yeah yeah i'm not gonna say the obvious oh go on say the obvious i'm not gonna do that i'm not gonna do that to you i feel like the one that we had the other night the one that i made yeah mum made this whipped cream with a bit of coffee essence in it it was like um camp camp coffee essence it was like coffee whipped cream yeah um and with i don't for like this where this is going it's great okay okay it's fucking it was one of the greatest chocolate note sauce and also candied hazelnuts oh wow so a lot of texture yeah texture you know it's got depth it's got it's it's it's complicated it's delicious it's sexy sensual that's why i'm liking this yeah why do you feel like you're more of a fruit tart kind of guy i think i've let the Side down, I should have done chocolate.

43:29Your associations with music and food. I hadn't really thought about that, actually. But I'm liking this. Okay, good. Alison Goldfrapp, thank you so much for coming over. Thank you. And being such a great sport. Being so interesting. Telling us about the Hoover at the squat. I love it. It's great. You're amazing. Oh, no. That's going to be on my Wikipedia now forever.

44:06Alison Goldfrapp is one of the most glamorous people we've ever had, I think. She's gorgeous. And I was looking at her, and as I was looking at her, looking so chic, I was dribbling cream down my front, trying to get the apple pie in my mouth. Do you think she noticed? I think she probably thought it was quite charming. Okay, good. Alison Goldfrapp, a lovely woman such a interesting upbringing and I learnt so much about her tonight Mum with the hoover on the train I love that so much Fancy eating congee anytime soon? No It's very nice mum, savoury The word actually makes me feel sick Why? Sounds like congoreal Oh my god that's so weird I think that too Yeah, and I don't fancy those.

44:54You can't discriminate against it because of a name. I can, I can. How do you think your meal went down? Well, I think everyone loved it. I think it was really nice. I think the yoghurt was very much needed. You see how you need it. Preserved lemon is strong. I put one less in and he said, and that was double the, I doubled everything and there was more fish than he would have had in it. He calls that a tapas dish. He? Yotam. my friend your term but the apple cake is spectacular oh my god that spiced apple cake is it what cousin sarah does yeah it's such a good cake is it quite easy to do yeah it's because it looks good it's fiddly but i think that's as good as a tart tatin to be honest unless you feel less anxious because you've made the the batter the only thing was i didn't have enough bloody self-raising flour so you were eating the most expensive self-raising flour so i had to get it on deliveroo well and it cost seven pounds well i really tasted it organic very good thank you mum i think dinner is on me next time all right um thank you for listening uh listeners i'd like to know whether you freeze your chocolate um i'd like to know also whether you've got any good congee recommendations for me and lenny to go and try it yeah i'd love to hear some of your recommendations actually why don't you send them in at hello at table manners podcast dot com we are yet to use one of your recipes i am sorry it will happen probably when i'm cooking we'll see you next week and thank you so much to alison goldfrapp the album the love invention is out now and it's fabulous um you can catch alison at glastonbury at the park stage on the sunday the outer net sold out though so snooze you lose and um also doing the manchester international festival which is a brilliant thing to go and be a part of go and watch go and enjoy it lap it up thank you for listening and we'll see you next week