Three Food Memories

**A Greek and English swear warning in this episode***

If you’ve watched or listened to Australian prime-time news any time in the last 30 years, it’s likely you’ll recognise the face and voice of our guest in this episode of Three Food Memories. 

And if you’ve watched social media at any time in your life, it's likely you'll have heard her swearing in Greek too.

Chris Bath has been in the media since 1988, but it was working as a waitress in a Surry Hills restaurant (that later turned into a leather bar) that brought her to our screens.  

Direct from her Bird-Nerd Farm in the lower Hunter Valley, hear how growing up with Maltese mates fuelled a desire to see (and eat) the world, how mutual love of a spicy condiment made her fall in love with her husband Jim, the truth behind the infamous Greek swearing that went viral…and how the phrase became useful later on! 

Bathie’s social cause is Birdlife Australia - you can find out more here: birdlife.org.au

A risotto with farm greens is on it’s way to our next guest (coming soon in Season 6)

We'll be back October 1 - put it in your diaries! 

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

In this episode of Three Food Memories we’re graced with a voice that is nothing short of sublime - it is as beautiful as it is haunting, and resonant with the echoes of a thousand ancestral stories.

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, is a luminous star in the constellation of classical music — an opera singer, composer, artistic director, and professor. Music runs in the family, she’s the niece of music legend Jimmy Little and her grandfather was a talented gum leaf player, who performed at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Hear Deborah’s musings on the restorative benefits of chicken soup, how seeing Dame Joan Sutherland perform in The Merry Widow as a school kid completely changed her life, what it was like to connect with her Aboriginal heritage and the joy of finding her biological family, competitive Christmas trifle making, and how Bar Italia in Leichardt may receive an operetta in it’s name one day soon. 

Deborah’s social cause is truth telling - she believes it’s the foundation of any society that’s going to remain cohesive. She says “the truth makes us stronger, even if it causes us pain in the moment of knowing”.

She pays forward a steak with red wine jus, asparagus and creamy mash to our next guest Chris Bath. 

For more information on Short Black Opera Company and Dhungala Children’s Choir head to shortblackopera.org.au. 

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

In this episode of Three Food Memories you’ll meet the snazzy, jazzy creator of social media hit sensations; Boomer Dad, drag queen Satty Faction, 80s mum, Dion the policeman, and 90s intermediate school kid. He’s also the writer, director and lead star in horror movie Loop Track, as well as the writer and creator (and ALL the character voices) in the comedy crime podcast Small Town Scandal. 

As they say on his side of the pond: Thomas Sainsbury is a “hard case”. He's also got the biggest sweet tooth in all of New Zealand, going by the amount of Cadbury Creme Eggs he demolished as a youth. 

Tom’s social cause is SAFE - New Zealand’s leading animal rights charity, and he passes forward vegan lasagne to our next guest.

You can catch him in September performing in The Children of Secret Valley. 

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

For comedian Geraldine Hickey, meal times were very Aussie. Dinners were spent sitting in a line with her five siblings along a long kitchen bench, with Mum on a stepping stool on the other side. The meals were simple fare, meat and three veg and spaghetti bolognese made with canned tomato soup and onion soup mix. And although they might have been plain, they were delicious. Almost as delicious as the dim sims from the truck stops where she stopped while keeping her truck driver Dad company on interstate trips. 

Join Savva and Gez as they chat all things comedy, twitching, Girl Guides, and the love of her life, Cath - who hates coriander.

1800myoptions.org.au is Geraldine’s social cause, they can help if you’re looking for contraception, pregnancy options, abortion and sexual health services in Victoria. 

She’s serving good old vanilla icecream and canned peaches to the next guest on Three Food Memories. 

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

It’s a long ‘un but a good ‘un! 

In this episode of Three Food Memories, you’ll meet one of the world’s most distinctive artists and illustrators. 

You may not know his name, but you’ll most certainly recognise his style. 

Robert Risko’s artistic journey started at age 10, when he entered a drawing competition at a local department store. His easter bunny winning him first place, and a shiny new bicycle.

Since that defining moment, he’s gone on to grace the pages of Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair, where he caricatured the most famous of celebrities for more than four decades. 

Known for his retro style, his iconic cartoons blend humor and sharp observation with paper-cut wit, as does this conversation with Savva where he reflects on his journey, life in 80s New York, and how no steak was safe in his mother’s kitchen. He also has an uncanny premonition about the upcoming US presidential election. 

Robert’s social cause is the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation, and he pays forward a slice of J’s Pizza to our next guest Geraldine Hickey.  

This episode was recorded on the 10th of July. 

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

Mohsin Zaidi is the author of the prize-winning coming-of-age memoir, A Dutiful Boy. 

Growing up in a religious household in a poor suburb of London, as a teenager Mohsin had a life-changing moment: watching two men kiss on TV. 

This screen snog set the stage for Mohsin to see himself for who he was. These days we find Mohsin content and happy at the table of his life, but the struggle between now and said kiss was real. 

Now, living in New York with his husband, Mohsin chats with Savva about all things food, faith, and family, and how sometimes one can be used against the other. 

His memories capture the festive joy of Eid, forcing himself to eat pork, the best Pakistani restaurant in London, and how salmon and salad just doesn’t cut it against the soul-satisfying depths of the herbs and spices of his cultural heritage. 

Mohsin’s social cause is The Opportunity Network, which ignites the drive, curiosity, and agency of under represented students on their paths to and through college and into thriving careers.

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

In this live episode of Three Food Memories thanks to our friends at VBO Australia, Savva chats with the coolest of cats Yasmine Ghoniem, director and founder of multi-award-winning interior design studio YSG. 

A childhood jet setter, Yasmine is a human visual-verbal of her heritage (for those not in the art space, read: mood board). The child of an Australian mother and Egyptian father, her formative years were spent living between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Sydney.

Tonight she shares food memories from Kenya and Egypt, as well as a myriad of striking and colourful stories from her life, throwing as much boldness, texture, and warmth to her audience as she does her designs (oh, and a little swearing too - a warning if you’ve got littlies or people not partial to cussing around).

Yasmine's social cause is Barnados Aboriginal Cultural Unit initiative Gurung Wellama. 

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

That's it for season four of Three Food Memories. Savva's off to take a short break and catch some sun before returning for season five where you'll hear from designer Yasmine Ghoniem, Vanity Fair's Robert Risko, author and lawyer Mohsin Zaidi, as well as legendary newsreader Chris Bath. 

In the meantime don’t forget to check out the back episodes. Get cooking with Stephanie Alexander, Nat's What I Reckon and Christine Manfield, have a lol with Sam Simmons, Bianka Ismailovski, and Jennifer Wong, and your art and architecture fix with Ken Done, Sally Scales, and Tim Ross. 

There are more than 40 episodes to check out so that should keep you busy till we're back on July 23rd. 

Can't wait to see you then! 

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

Welcome to the very first ever, TFM art art-show…

This episode was recorded at Saint Cloche Gallery in Paddington thanks to the wonderful Kitty Clark, where artists Evi O, Toni Clarke, and Daimon Downey shared their art alongside their food memories in front of a live audience.

Oxtail Ragu, Rocket Pasta, and Rice Pudding were on the menu, as were plenty of laughs and insights into the minds and workings of Evi, Toni and Daimon. 

As Evi says “How you treat a piece of meat shows a lot of you. When you go to showing love, a piece of meat goes a long way”...so get stuck in! 

Social causes of the artists are; 

Evi O - Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy

Daimon Downey - Moss Foundation and Sydney Children’s Hospital

Toni Clarke - Medecins San Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) 

***This podcast episode references drug use. If you need support please contact drugaware.com.au***

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!

Bianka Ismailovski is a force to be reckoned with. At the age of 34 she’s got the introspection of a 74 year old. But don’t let that put you off…or the fact that she’s been sober for 5 years either. 

Bianka’s newly discovered independence after divorcing at the age of 30 came with a free set of steak knives - in the form of a self-awakening; about body image, sexuality, and uncovering pleasure. All alongside finding the funny side of life as a stand-up comedian. 

Her food memories take us to Croatia where she spent final moments with her Dad at the age of 9 - to Wedge Island in WA and dancing around the kitchen as a teenager eating pasta snacks with her best friend. 

Listen in as Savva and Bianka chat life, sex, fragility and all the things it takes to be human in this episode of Three Food Memories. And as Bianka says “Don’t outsource the job of loving yourself to someone else, they’re never going to be able to do it as well as you can do it.”

Bianka’s social cause is Dangerous Females - who raise money for Australian services that prevent and support people who are victims of abuse, assault, and domestic violence. These services provide a range of support to our communities from women’s shelters, advocacy, domestic violence counselling and community education, emergency safety planning and re-homing from violent situations.

​

You can follow Bianka on TikTok and Instagram @biankaismailovski

This episode is produced and edited by Lauren McWhirter 
Original music by Russell Torrance

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas
Email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!