Thandie Newton A Taste of My Life

Welcome to A Taste Of My Life, serving up famous lives on a plate.

By simply tasting the food of one's past,

we can discover an awful lot about who we are today,

which is why we're going to be taking today's guest

on a culinary trip back in time.

Now, today's guest hit the big time early.

By the time she was just 21, she was starring alongside Brad Pitt

in Interview With The Vampire.

More recently, though, she's become one of our most famous Hollywood stars,

being photographed on red carpets the world over.

She's acted in countless movies,

including Mission Impossible II, Crash, and Run, Fat Boy, Run.

You were supposed be here an hour ago, Dennis.

-Did I get you that necklace?

-It's a present from someone.

-Who?

-Me.

-Dennis, this is...

my good friend, Whit. Whit, this is my... Jake's dad.

Yes, today's guest is Hollywood actress, Thandie Newton.

Coming up in today's show:

Thandie's mum and dad remember the Hollywood actress

as a little girl over Cornish pasties.

She and her cousin used to say they would be film stars living in New York.

Over her taste of success, Thandie recalls kissing Tom Cruise.

So we did the first take.

-It seemed to bend his slightly larger nose...

-Slightly larger nose.

There was a part of it that was so bizarre and traumatic.

And friend and actor Ben Miller challenges us to cook some American pancakes.

I'm going to use all my acting skills when I bite into my finished one

and pretend that it tastes absolutely unbelievable.

-Thandie, welcome to A Taste Of My Life.

-Thank you so much.

Now, you were born in London, but you didn't stay for long, did you?

-You went down to Cornwall?

-I don't know how my mum and dad managed to do this,

but we lived in Zambia, and my mum was pregnant with me.

I was born on a two-week trip back to London,

then we went back to Zambia and my brother was born there.

We ended up coming to England finally when I was three years old

so my dad could help out with the family antique business.

Tell me what sort of food Mum cooked. Was it very traditional food?

-We lived near a place called Newlyn, which is a fishing village.

-Oh!

Because my mum was so well-loved in the area, she knew the fishermen.

We'd go to the huge warehouses

where they bring their trawls in, and we'd get the crab right there.

She'd know Barry, or whoever it was, you know, Worzel...!

And we'd go with her and grab a pile of whatever we liked

straight from the sea, and so, having crab was a real treat,

a real delicacy, still my favourite thing in all the world.

Shelling. Lay your crab on its back and twist the legs and claws.

Remember when cooking crab,

its shell is thicker than lobster, and should be boiled for 15 minutes.

Female crabs are known as hens and have less white meat than the males.

Low in calories, crab meat is an excellent source of protein.

And, contrary to popular belief, it doesn't cause high cholesterol.

Then we'd go on these holidays to Zimbabwe.

Food in that respect literally made me feel

the two different sides of who I am.

My mum was someone who really spanned that, she was the bridge.

She'd either be making the Cornish pasties and the crab sandwiches

with watercress down in Penzance, or, if we were going to Zimbabwe,

-she'd be there preparing the sadza.

-Tell me about sadza.

Sadza is this ground maize,

and the cooking of it is quite an ordeal, I think.

It's mixed with water.

Sadza is the staple dish of Zimbabwe.

The grain used is white maize, but you could use millet.

It gets to boiling and you have to keep stirring continually.

-It sounds like polenta.

-It's like polenta, very much.

It has to be cooked to a stiff consistency.

Traditionally it's eaten with stew, like this goat one.

But on special occasions in Zimbabwe,

it'll be eaten with sardines or edible moth caterpillars.

With peanuts being a huge African export,

the greens that go with this meal will usually be covered with peanut butter.

I'm using cabbage, but in Zimbabwe they use pumpkin leaves or rape.

What you do is, everybody sits around, whoever is there, family and friends,

-and everyone is talking and dipping.

-Eating with their fingers?

-Yes!

-There's a way of eating, too.

-There's an etiquette involved?

-There is,

so if you didn't let me go first, I'd give you a little slap.

No double-dipping.

No, I'm keeping you sweet, so I'll let you double-dip.

Let's put these up our nose.

-Let's do it after, just for a giggle.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-And then put them back.

-SHE LAUGHS

So this is your sadza.

This is my sadza. I'm reunited with the food of my youth.

-Let's do the Zimbabwean way. Come on. I've washed my hands.

-So have I.

So you get a bit, form it into a little kind of flat thing,

and then we find a nice bit of stew, I fancy that bit there.

-Yeah.

-I've definitely done this more times than you.

You have, haven't you? Yeah...

Pop it in.

-Mm!

-Isn't that wonderful?

-That's really good.

-It was a happy childhood, wasn't it?

-Yes, it was.

The funny thing is that, when I was a kid going to my convent primary school,

and I really was the only dark-skinned girl in the school,

so if I ever had any teasing along racial lines,

I'd always think of Zimbabwe, funnily enough. I'd always think,

"It's OK, I've got something else about me that none of you really appreciate."

Nobody wanted to date me.

-What do you mean?

-Absolutely positive.

Absolutely true, up until I was 16.

I was just not the one you'd go for because I was dark-skinned.

-Tell me about Mum and Dad.

-My mum, she was a health visitor in Penzance,

so she'd go about and visit babies that had just been born,

or elderly people who needed care.

She was actually top and tailing people's families,

so it was a real privilege to be her daughter.

And whilst Mum looked after the locals,

Dad was running the antique business.

I used to go every Saturday to my dad's shop

and polish the silver and brass, that was my job.

Talking of your mum and dad, I've got a little message for you.

Well... OK!

We're making a Cornish pasty.

Wednesday was pasty day, Friday was bath night.

The secret of a good pasty

is 20 minutes of absolute bliss

followed by two hours of abject misery.

That's all because of the weight of the pastry.

My memories of Thandie as a five-year-old

is a very pleasant child who always did what you asked her to do.

She was good with her little brother. They played well together.

She was a joy to be with at all times, and she wasn't difficult.

She'd go to bed and she'd sleep without...

No, no, she was just a model child, really.

She'd write little plays and things that her cousin and her

would put on, so if we had dinner party,

at the end of it there would be this performance.

She and her little cousin, Teresa,

always used to say they would be film stars living in New York.

They would put on this American accent

and really, sort of, entertain everybody, you know?

A very acute sense of humour and often involved laughing at the wrong things.

-Like, if Thandie would trip over...

-I got that from him!

-..and sprawl across the red carpet,

-she'd find that hilarious.

-SHE LAUGHS

I get a lump in my throat.

I feel it very deeply.

If she's playing a role where she's hurt, I empathise.

I feel it very deeply. Almost to the point of tears.

There's a measure of disbelief. I can't believe this is my daughter that I see on screen.

I'm very proud of her, you know?

She has this great sense of sharing with people.

She has other people's children and she likes to get people together.

I'm really, kind of, proud that she's become such a good mum.

Turn my little clock, otherwise I forget.

She's so extraordinarily caring.

I see her with her children, and small children can be exasperating.

She seems to understand

the nature of children, much better than I ever did.

She always puts other people before herself.

-That's a great quality.

-Stay as you are. You're great, and, erm...

and stay rooted to your originality, you know?

-That's lovely.

-HE LAUGHS

Oh, I'm so moved. That's just...

-Oh, and here they are!

-Some pasties for you.

-I need a bite.

-Are you gonna pick them up, or...?

Look at that. Oh, the pepper!

One of the secrets is the pepper, a large amount of pepper in there.

How did you find boarding school? Was it a naughty St Trinian's type?

We were so naughty, it was amazing.

Why did I know that? I knew that!

We were always so desperate to eat snacks at night,

we were allowed to have spreads that we took down for breakfast the next day, like honey.

This is the God's honest truth, we used to make sandwiches

using tissues as the bread, and then spread chocolate spread or honey

onto the tissue, put another tissue on top and eat them like a crepe.

-Oh, yum!

-Actually ingesting the tissue.

We used to save our bubble gum on the edge of the bed too,

piles of bubble gum, to, sort of, just pluck away.

"Oh, today I'll have the big juicy brown one from three weeks ago."

-Kids are wonderful.

-We were desperate!

-Tell me about the food then.

I'll never forget the first time I tried pesto, for example.

Just the idea of getting a herb, mashing it up with a nut,

and putting cheese in it. It was just...like... It was a miracle.

-It seems incredibly exotic.

-Really exotic, and happens so fast.

You would think that something that tastes that complex and complete

would take a long time to prepare.

Pesto originates from Genoa in Italy.

The word derives from the Italian verb "to crush".

You can use pecorino or parmesan cheese.

A great fast food,

pesto can be stirred into salads and almost any pasta.

And pesto can be frozen.

But then the crowning glory was always the puddings.

My absolute favourite pudding was creme brulee.

I just couldn't believe what had happened.

Which sounds wonderful, but you've no idea what you'll get.

It sounds like a, kind of...

like an outfit you'd wear.

-A creme brulee.

-"She was wearing a creme brulee."

Or a hat or something,

because when you go to have a dip, it's hard.

You think, "Oh my God, I'm going to make a massive faux pas now!"

Or "It's not meant to be like that!"

The custard in creme brulee is usually flavoured with vanilla,

but you could use chocolate or liqueurs.

Though I'm using rhubarb,

you can put all sorts in the bottom of a brulee -

apple, pear or even plums.

-The best ones don't give initially, do they?

-No.

-They don't.

-No, a little bit of brute force.

-Crack that thing open,

and then you've just got this... SHE SIGHS

And there we have it, that was, erm...

-Ooh, I need a bit of a fan now!

-A very sexy food, creme brulee.

A sexy food! You know what? She doesn't easily succumb.

She just holds off, the creme brulee.

She doesn't let you crack her open but then, push her a bit further

and there she is. You can cut that!

Once you've poured your custard over the top,

leave to sit for at least half an hour in the fridge,

and then add sugar. When blow-torching any brulee,

make sure you don't heat the custard beneath

and always eat within the hour.

Really, pesto... Mm, delicious,

especially when it gets between your teeth. Why do I go for this green stuff?

-By the way, you had spinach in your teeth all interview, yes.

-Did I?

That was to make myself seem more accessible and normal.

-So not a precocious teenager, then?

-No, not at all. Very shy.

I think that partly came from not being...

not having any, you know, suitors, boyfriends.

I wasn't the go-to girl, so I never really considered myself.

I didn't think I was gross, I just wasn't on the radar in that respect.

-That's a big brulee.

-It is a big brulee.

Oh!

Look at the little... the little spots of vanilla. Mm.

-That's amazing.

-This is bliss.

-Absolute bliss.

Still to come on A Taste Of My Life -

Best friend Jess recreates the tricky dish

that Thandie suggested she cook for a hot date.

Rockefellers. Oyster Rockefeller. Oh, yeah!

Friend and actor Ben Miller introduces us to Thandie the cook.

I'd say like a foreman, but it's more like the, sort of,

leader of some kind of prison chain gang.

And Thandie opens up - not - on her high profile co-stars.

-Did you go on a date with Brad Pitt?

-Shh...!

(I read that you went on a date with Brad Pitt.)

-That was a long time ago. Erm...

-Anyway...

Are you a reliable friend? Some of my best friends are a bit flaky, to be honest.

From my boarding school days, I have a very close friend.

-You've still got friends from school?

-Yeah.

-Talking of your friends, I've tracked one of them down.

-Oh!

Oh, sweetheart!

SHE LAUGHS

Thand, you may well remember

that I asked you for some date advice

a while ago? And you told me

that it was a very simple dish. Rockefellers.

Oyster Rockefeller. Oh, yeah!

Thandie and I have made many dishes over the years,

but this particular one

was something she suggested I cook for a date.

So now I have to shuck this oyster.

The thing is, I trust Thandie implicitly,

so when she tells me something is simple, I believe her.

We've been friends since we were 11 years old,

and we've shared, basically, all our experiences.

When I first gave birth to my daughter, Thandie would come round.

Such a light, basically.

She'd show up with bags full of food.

Ready-made stews that she'd created.

I think it was my partner who wept as she left the first time,

and said "Thank God for Thandie," like she was Mary Nightingale.

Mary?! Florence Nightingale!

She had eating issues when things were difficult, I had eating issues.

I remember one time really, really clearly.

I had come out of anorexia and I was into another, sort of, strange stage.

I'd eaten way too much food one evening and I called her in.

I had a big Snickers bar in my hand, and I said, "Thandie..."

I reeled off all the foods I had eaten.

She just said, "Think about it. Why? What's up?"

She talked me down from the Snickers!

Actually it was a really important moment.

-SHE LAUGHS

-It's sulphuric!

But this...is sexy.

Apart from getting wiser,

she hasn't changed one little bit.

She's still the unique, strong, really - I mean,

don't look at that slim person sitting with you on the couch, Nigel,

-and think you're dealing with a wimp!

-Oh, I know!

She's...a force.

She's unfailing, really. Thandie has never let me down.

Whenever I've been...

At the most important moment, you know, we're sisters.

We have children who will hopefully grow to be close as well.

I just wish that everybody had the opportunity

to have a Thandie as a friend.

-Lovely friend.

-Oh...!

I'm going to cry!

-Ooh!

-He wasn't good enough for her anyway.

But look at these.

Oysters, green goo, what could he possibly...?

I think it worked out just great

that her oysters Rockefeller didn't turn out good. He was dreadful.

Delicious!

Whilst at Cambridge university,

Thandie's film career started to take off,

with five movies in three years.

I remember one time going to New Orleans

for a night to shoot Interview With The Vampire,

and my death in that movie, I sort of ended up

falling into a gigantic plate of prawns.

Thandie has since gone on to work with world-renowned film directors -

Bernardo Bertolucci, Jonathan Demme and Ismail Merchant.

I've worked with some extraordinary film-makers.

I remember when I made a movie, Jefferson In Paris,

-with Ismail Merchant, who's no longer with us.

-Yeah.

It got to the end of the movie,

and there was some issue about...

They needed to shoot for an extra week

and there was an issue about could they pay everybody, and Ismail said to me,

"Thandie, I'm going to throw a huge feast in your honour."

So I arrived at this banquet and he had been the chief chef. I turned up.

I'd got myself dolled up, I'm the guest of honour.

How many were there on the last night?

So many people who were having a substitute feast in their honour instead of working.

He was very a clever man,

but I remember on that particular night having sardines

with these spices.

It was miraculous, and again,

I learnt about a whole cuisine

from working with Ismail Merchant.

Making any spice dish,

fry your spices first - it unlocks their flavour.

This Ismail Merchant dish

is a fusion recipe, bringing Indian flavours to a non-Indian fish.

This simple dish is all about creating an aromatic tomato sauce

and then simply baking the fish in it.

And did you know, there's no such fish as a sardine?

The term refers to various fish of the herring family.

I remember Gwyneth Paltrow and I sighing,

thinking, "How will we get into our corsets tomorrow?"

You've had some amazing co-stars.

Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise. Didn't Tom Cruise teach you something?

I'm sure I read somewhere that he was a great helping hand.

He did teach me something that I wouldn't want to do after a plate of sardines,

but he did give me a very interesting master class in screen kissing.

Tom Cruise taught you to snog?

-No, not snog, not with tongue.

-Not even a bit?

Because we were doing a scene where it was Mission Impossible II, a love story.

At the end we come together in this passionate embrace, and we have to kiss.

So we did the first take and he said,

"OK, let's go and look at the monitor."

So we jogged, - he jogs everywhere,

doesn't waste time - so we jogged back to the monitor,

and we watched it back.

So I'm looking and he says, "Thandie, God, no, you're too enthusiastic!"

SHE LAUGHS

"You've got to hold back." And I could see what he meant,

because I don't have a very big nose,

so I can kind of ferret my way into a kiss, I suppose.

And, erm, I was really doing that in such a way

-that it seemed to bend his slightly larger nose.

-Slightly larger nose.

So we did the kiss again. Jogged back to the monitor, had a look,

-still something not quite right.

-He was pushing his luck.

We did jog back and forwards. There's nothing like jogging back and forwards

to really take away any kind of embarrassment.

I think there was a part of it that was so bizarre and traumatic,

-that I can't really...

-Because it's such a personal thing for someone to analyse.

-I know, so odd.

-To point out every little nuance and detail.

-It was bizarre.

"You're not doing my nose any favours, could you do it another way?"

I know, that's true, actually, cos my nose looked fine.

It was about him. Did you go on a date with Brad Pitt?

-Shh.

-(I read somewhere that you went on a date with Brad Pitt.)

It was a long time ago. Yes, I did, a long time ago. Anyway... Erm...

Anyway...

-Do you like a challenge when you cook?

-You mean a messy, sort of...?

-Well...

-Is this one of those shows where I have custard on my head?

Are you happy if something takes you out of your cooking comfort zone?

It's fun. It can be like a magic show.

Those molten chocolate cakes, I remember doing that.

-Yes, those magic cakes.

-Putting your fork in and you think,

-"How the hell did that happen?"

-OK, well, I've got another message.

OK!

Thandie is irritatingly perfect. What particularly irritates me

as a comedian is she's extremely funny.

Though I don't think I've ever seen Thandie cook.

I think mainly when we come round it's Ol that does the cooking,

and Thandie is kind of there in a supervisory capacity,

almost like... I would say, like a foreman,

but it's more like the leader of some kind of prison chain-gang.

I know that Nigel shoots from the hip with his cooking,

he's very much what he fancies in the shop that day.

Thandie, I think, could really whip him into shape.

So I thought what I'd do,

one of my most successful meals that I ever cooked for Thandie

was a, sort of, American breakfast,

and I made American pancakes with blueberries and loads of maple syrup.

-That's my challenge to Thandie, to cook an American pancake.

-Wow.

-Oh!

-Thanks, Ben.

-Yeah!

-Ben's challenge.

-Ben's challenge. How can you accept a challenge

-from a man who makes a cup of tea by pouring the milk on to the teabag?!

-No, no, no, no!

So, Ben, I'm taking over.

I used to pretend that I was a cookery expert,

Delia Smith-type, when I was little.

I'd make things and talk to the tiled splashback, that was my audience.

How things can change.

Have I made this too thin?

Yeah, you see, you should have stuck with me. God, this is a disaster.

Ben, where are you? Oh, dear!

-Gosh, mine seems to be smoother than yours.

-Oh, you're so evil!

Mine is going to be really, really good!

A whole egg, or just egg yolk? Whole egg.

I'm going to do one-handed.

HE LAUGHS

That's why we have aprons.

-I'm going to make a Thandie Special.

-Which is?

-Which has got lumps in it.

I'm going to use all my acting skills when I bite into my finished one,

and pretend that it tastes absolutely unbelievable.

I'm going to do a chocolate and lumpy flour pancake.

I think I've put too much butter on there.

I didn't think that came into your vocabulary, too much butter.

OK, pancakes.

-I'm already miles ahead.

-I've heard you're a bit of a practical joker.

It's true. I get that from my dad.

We used to go on long train rides up to school.

We'd eat grapes and save the pips in a little pile.

When they got dry, we would open a book and pretend we were reading it,

and get a pip and flick it, and see where it landed.

The best, obviously, was the back of the neck.

People would leap out of their seats and look around,

and at that moment, you just very carefully

turn the page as they turn to look at you.

-Oh!

-Oh!

See the quantities of smoke.

From Nigel's pancake! Mine - no smoke.

-Just a lovely perfect pancake.

-It is the perfect pancake.

Just get my plate, ladies and gentlemen.

And look at that!

You know, I think it's Nigella that says,

-the first pancake, you can throw away.

-Yes, she does.

It's the angels' pancake.

You mustn't be embarrassed about throwing it away.

-You can have some of mine.

-Can I? Let's do it with bacon.

Do I want bacon with my chocolate pancake?

Oh, look at that. You're right, it does look nice.

There's something in its imperfection that makes it utterly perfect.

Oh, lovely.

Bathed in maple syrup.

-A little bit more chocolate...

-That doesn't look bad.

-It looks delicious.

-It's got a certain wobbly...

Let me help you. I'll put mine down, I've already eaten mine.

This bacon looks delicious.

-Can I?

-Of course.

-Mm.

-Good?

Mm!

Mm! Mm!

Perfection.

-Lovely.

-Very good. Thank you, Ben, for that.

Good luck, Ben.

Time for Thandie's final feast.

And kicking it off, a whiskey sour.

This drink contains bourbon, lemon juice, sugar and a dash of egg white.

A classy way to kick off your last meal.

-So, your final feast.

-And some people might find this intimidating,

this vast amount, but I'm just excited beyond words.

Scallops with... What's that, garlic?

Delicious. Sweet and gorgeous.

Scallops. Frighteningly simple and quick to cook.

I'm making a garlic, shallot and hazelnut butter

to coat the scallops before placing them under the grill.

Next up it's a butter and coriander-roasted chicken

with some shoe-string chips.

Give us a pile of those. Oh!

-Mm.

-What is that over there?

-I do believe it's pistachio ice-cream.

What's great about this, in my house anyway,

-is I'm the only one who eats it.

-That's a good position to be in.

Pistachio is just one of a number

of increasingly unusual ice-cream flavours.

You can do exactly the same thing with green tea or avocado.

For a well-flavoured ice-cream, always over-flavour your mix,

as freezing the mixture dulls the flavour.

Tell me, what do you think of as your greatest achievement?

My absolute greatest achievement

was giving birth to my children, bringing them into the world.

Something just switched in me.

I just realised that if I didn't fear, I could do anything.

You may as well, because, by being anxious or fearful,

it doesn't actually change anything.

It doesn't change anything. Do you regret anything?

I think if you'd asked me that question...

maybe ten years ago, there would have been so much.

I was very tricky in relationships in my early 20s

because of not really thinking I was worthy,

or having been introduced to relationships in a very, kind of,

manipulative and destructive way.

But I think one of the reasons why I felt so hard on myself

is because I knew deep down that I wasn't governing my actions.

It was a result of not loving myself enough,

not appreciating myself enough.

-Is there anything you've never tried?

-Deep-sea diving.

Truly. I'd love that.

We think the world ends somewhere round the shore.

There's a whole universe under there.

It's a shame we can't breathe under there.

I don't feel comfortable, the thought of, erm...

-relying on a little tube and a canister.

-No.

No, sorry, it's a bit spooky. So have you enjoyed today?

I've loved today! I've loved talking to you,

I've loved making food with you.

Thandie Newton, thank you very much

-for being a guest on A Taste Of My Life.

-Thank you for having me.

Here's to you.

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