Food Network Obsessed

Simon Majumdar on Changing His Life at Forty & Eating Around the World

Episode Summary

Author and critic Simon Majumdar shares the research and process behind the scenes of his podcast that explores the rich history of food and his favorite interview so far with a Food Network star. He reveals the shocking turning point in his life and the renewed mission he set forth to pursue at 40 years old. Simon shares his journey through 31 countries in just a year and why he believes food is a healing and unifying force in a world that feels divided. He also gives his advice for how he overcomes language barriers and his most memorable meal to-date. Simon shares his personal philosophy on eating and consuming in a thoughtful way and his thoughts on food waste. He dives into his time on Guy’s Grocery Games and his honest and passionate approach to judging, his experience on the latest season of Tournament of Champions as a co-floor reporter and his thoughts on this season’s fierce winner.

Episode Notes

Author and critic Simon Majumdar shares the research and process behind the scenes of his podcast that explores the rich history of food and his favorite interview so far with a Food Network star. He reveals the shocking turning point in his life and the renewed mission he set forth to pursue at 40 years old. Simon shares his journey through 31 countries in just a year and why he believes food is a healing and unifying force in a world that feels divided. He also gives his advice for how he overcomes language barriers and his most memorable meal to-date. Simon shares his personal philosophy on eating and consuming in a thoughtful way and his thoughts on food waste. He dives into his time on Guy’s Grocery Games and his honest and passionate approach to judging, his experience on the latest season of Tournament of Champions as a co-floor reporter and his thoughts on this season’s fierce winner. 

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Find episode transcripts here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/simon-majumdar-on-changing-his-life-at-forty-eating-around-the-world

Episode Transcription

MUSIC CUE : Food Network Obsessed Theme 

Jaymee Sire (00:01):

Hello. Hello and welcome to food network. Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things, food with your favorite chefs, food influencers and food network stars. I'm your host, Jaymee Sire And today we have a beloved food network personality on the show, sharing his journey, eating around the world and what it means to eat in a thoughtful way. I do wanna note that this conversation contains discussion of suicide and depression. He is an author, a restaurant critic, and you know him from Guy's grocery games and as a co-lo reporter on tournament of champions, it's Simon, Majumdar Simon. Welcome to the podcast. You and I first met on the set of iron chef showdown. And I have to say you were so friendly, so welcoming to me, the new girl. So I'm excited to reconnect on the podcast. How have you been?

Simon Majumdar (00:57):

I, I have been absolutely incredible. I have to say I've just come back last night from an event, doing cooking demos, which is one of my favorite things to do. And we've been running around the country, you know, usually I'm running around the world. So, it's actually given me an opportunity just to run around the country, connect with places in the us too. So we're really, we're really doing well, despite all the craziness that's been going on recently.

Jaymee Sire (01:19):

Yeah. You have been a busy guy. We are gonna get into all of that. But first up the day that we are recording this episode of food network, obsessed your podcast, eat my globe is actually re releasing its first episode of its eighth season. So congratulations on that. What can we expect to hear this season?

Simon Majumdar (01:37):

Well, I'm, I'm pleased that you mention it because this is something that's a real labor of love, cuz I I'm passionate about food history. And so I couldn't find podcasts that really talked about it very much. And so I started this, like you say, eight seasons ago. So on this season the season that the episode that launches today is on the history of forgotten things, forgotten ingredients, things that we used to eat or people used to eat in Roman times, ancient Egyptian times, medieval times that we kind of don't eat anymore because we either think they're pretty gross or or they've, or in some cases in Roman times, something that actually is now extinct, which is called S which was a, like a fennel like herb. So I talk about the references in literature and I talk about the references in cuisine, talk about everything that we do. And then I talk about some of the odd beast and birds, the fact that people used to eat, you know, hippos and beaver tails and all kinds, which apparently tastes like port reins. I'm told,

Jaymee Sire (02:28):

Oh

Simon Majumdar (02:29):

yeah, not that I'm gonna give it a try and find it out. So that's the first episode today, but we've got great episodes on the history of rum, the slightly dark history of rice. And then we've got some wonderful interviews, Adam Richmond, we've got Jack pep pan. We've got Michael w Twitty. Who's one of the best David Wondrich, who's one of the great cocktail historians. So I think it's gonna be a really fun season. It's it's tough for me to make time to write it because I have to sit down and write it all mm-hmm and it's like each, each season is like writing a book, basically. It's about a hundred thousand words. So wow. People complain that we don't, we don't put the seasons out too often. I go, well, because I've got to write the thing but I meant but I'm very excited. So thank you for mentioning that because I hope people go and listen to it. Yeah.

Jaymee Sire (03:11):

I mean, you are a wealth of food knowledge, so it is definitely worth a listen. What, what's been your favorite episode of the podcast so far?

Simon Majumdar (03:18):

Oh my gosh. I think on the interview sides some of the, I mean, there's so many good ones, but you know, obviously I did a great interview and I think it's one of my favorites of all with Elton brown and we're actually on the set of good eats. I was the first food network person ever asked to appear on good eats, which was great. Wow. And then afterwards we sat in the good eats kitchen and did my podcast probably with a Martin in our hand anyway but we were having, which is usual when I went I'm with Alton, but we had, we had a lot of fun doing that, but then I in, I went to interview, one of my favorites was Ken burns, the documentary maker mm-hmm . And I, I just wanted to interview Ken burns because he's Ken burns.

Simon Majumdar (03:56):

And I said, I'll find a reason to include it, whatever, but it turns out he actually owns a restaurant in Wal Paul, New Hampshire. And it's really, really good because he's Ken burns. And of course everything is excellent because he's Ken burns. And we went and we went and sat at his restaurant and they, the food was just a delight and he was, he spent just like an hour and a half chatting with us about being Ken burns and his love of roast chicken. So from those point of views, I think that's great. And then from the more kind of essay ones, the ones that I write, I did a couple of C a couple of episodes on the last meal served on the Titanic. So I was looking at the different classes and how they were treated and the food that they got served.

Simon Majumdar (04:32):

And that was really fascinating too. So there's, I mean, there's lots of fun. If people go in there, I've, I've just done recently, the history of Curry, which is really fun, obviously being half Indian and all of those things. So I, for me, I will say it's a labor of love, but it is a kind of vanity project cuz I just do all the stuff I really want to do. And then if anyone wants to listen to it, then I'm, I'm kind of fortunate, but it's, it's, it's very much me just doing my own thing.

Jaymee Sire (04:56):

I love that. I mean, you said, you know, a lot of writing goes into it. It sounds like a lot of research goes into it as well. Like how much research do you have to put in for each of these topics that you decide you wanna talk about?

Simon Majumdar (05:07):

Oh, weeks and weeks. And that's why it's so tough. So I do it and I'll do come up with the subjects and I'll do my research. I then give it to my wife. Who's a lawyer, but now runs my company and everything and she'll go through it to check that my sites are good and all of that and is in the nicest way, fiercely critical to make sure that everything is perfect. And then it goes off to the department of history at UCLA who I do it in conjunction with and they read it. And they just to make sure that, you know, there are terms that you can't use anymore or things that obviously that I don't know necessarily, because the way that history is changing all the time or the way we look at history. So it goes through a lot before we even then go and record it. So we, the, we recorded this two weeks ago, but we're talking about three or four months before that, that I started to think about it. And I'm already now thinking of episodes for the next season. So yeah, that's gonna be fun, but I haven't quite got my head around some of them yet.

Jaymee Sire (06:01):

Yeah. Well, like you said, it is a labor of love and we look forward to listening to season eight and of course food network, obsessed listeners know and love you from all of the shows that you appear on food network. But I wanna begin today's chat actually talking kind of about your unconventional path to the food and entertainment in industry. So at, at 40 years old, you quit your job. You completely changed your life with one single mission in mind, go everywhere, eat everything. can you share more about just what brought you to that point in your life?

Simon Majumdar (06:35):

Yeah, well it actually, it, it starts from a very early age in the sense that my career has changed. A number of times I have this saying that someone said to me, once, they said, if you, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans because God will just go. Yeah, thanks very much. So I originally trained as an Anglican priest. Wow. so I have a, I, yeah, I have a degree in theology and that was gonna be, I thought I was gonna be on like Midsummer murders, you know, where I'd be like a priest in church and solving mysteries at night. Like you see on PBS.

Jaymee Sire (07:04):

I feel like you'd be good at that.

Simon Majumdar (07:06):

I, I think, I think I would, I think I'd be good on something like that, but but you know, that came to its end that both me and the church, I think came to a mutual agreement that, that wasn't going to be where I was gonna go. So I ended up in publishing and publishing went really, really well for years and I thought, well, I'm really good at this. Now this is my journey. And then about when I was 40 something, my mother died of leukemia. Which obviously for anybody who I know people have obviously been undergoing those kind of things in their life. That's very, very hard. And at the same time, the company was fading that I was kind of working for, was failing. And a lot of it was because I was, I was doing really silly stuff, you know, which is again, when you're young and you think you're gonna rule the world, you never think's gonna happen, but you can suddenly realize there are some things you're just not very good at.

Simon Majumdar (07:51):

And so literally I was standing on the balcony of my apartment in London, one foot over the balcony, getting ready to jump into, you know, four floors down. I mean, I was literally at that point I was going to commit suicide. I mean, I'm very open about it because I think not enough people are. And you know, we've just seen this weekend. One of the great country singers of all time, you know, committed suicide and, and it's just so dark and depressing. I don't want to make this a dark and depressing conversation, but that's where I was. And I was fortunate and food saved my life. And I always tell people this, the people in the apartment below opened their windows, they were a Lebanese family and I never got to meet them. And the smells of Lebanese food came wafting up and I was just like, well, this is just, you know, the best thing.

Simon Majumdar (08:33):

And I, I said at the time I still remember writing it down that I was more hungry than suicidals. I goes, well, I'm gonna cook a meal first. And then, then I'll jump off the balcony. And I started cooking a dish. That's on my website. It's we call it in our family and it's called LSD. And it's not, it's not that LSD. I want to make sure everybody knows, but it's life saving doll dolls, this wonderful Indian kind of lenal soup or gray. That's really wonderful. And we have a Bengali version of it in our family. My father who's no longer with us either was from Calcutta. And so we had this in and I love cooking it. It's our, it's our chicken soup, it's nourishing body and soul. So I was cooking it. And while I was cooking it, I found a notebook amongst all my recipe books.

Simon Majumdar (09:15):

And it was this thing someone had, I'd done one of these Tony Robbins courses and I hadn't really got too much out of it, but I'd learned how to set goals. And on there I'd set, you know, I'd run a marathon, I'd had a suit made ands row. I'd done all of these wonderful things that we should do as I had. I always tell people, I said this at my demo yesterday. I had very British teeth. They looked like an abandoned cemetery. So I had those fixed . But then at the bottom of those four words go everywhere, eat to everything. And I went the next day to the woman who ran the company. And I just said, look, it's better for you. And it's better for me if I'm not here, you'll, you know, and you'll carry on and I'll carry on. And we'll both be very happy then.

Simon Majumdar (09:54):

And so that was it. Three weeks later, I was on Bondi beach and I ended up going around going around the world. I went to 31 countries. I ended up writing a book, which wasn't my plan, but I actually even got an email from Anthony Bourdain, who I knew through food chat sites, like chow hound and all of those. And he said, oh, write a book. And here's a quote to put on the proposal, which he never, he didn't need to do, but he was just so kind, he was just that kind of guy. And I ended up going, you know, around the world. And I was halfway up the youngster river in China when I went to the one dusty little kind of internet cafe in the days that people who remember internet cafes. And I got an email saying that they'd sold the book and I in America and Britain at an auction and I was now an author.

Simon Majumdar (10:34):

I was like, oh, I better start writing then . And that was really the beginning of this journey because on that journey, I met my wife Sybil, and we've just had our 12th wedding anniversary. I moved over to the us to be with her and then both the, my manager and then someone that the food network read the book, eat my globe, which is the same name as my podcast. And they asked me to come in and do a, an interview first and then a screen test for this show. That I'll be honest, cuz I'm from Britain. We, you know, we have our own shows. I hadn't heard of called the next iron chef. Well, I was, I went to realize that this was a fairly big show so I think it, I think it worked out pretty well because I just went in and chatted with the folks there rather being too nervous.

Simon Majumdar (11:13):

And then the next thing I know I'm kind of on honeymoon and I get an email going, they want you to come and do this show. And so I end up being on set suddenly with Elton brown and Michael Simon and Donna teller and all these amazing chefs back in 2000, whenever it was 10 and going, oh, I guess I do this for a living now. So it's been part of a great kind of expedition through life for me. I always say, you know, one of the things I love to say to people when they move on or do something else, you know, good luck on the next stage of the great adventure. And I always think of my life wherever I go as a great adventure. And hopefully I can bring that passion to other people when I talk about it.

Jaymee Sire (11:49):

Wow. That is such an incredible story. And I'm glad you allowed my me to kind of collect myself because you definitely had me tearing up there for a little bit but I mean, so, so incredible. I mean, thinking back to, to that time, why do you feel like food is the solution? Is the answer, is this healing force for you?

Simon Majumdar (12:11):

Oh, it's I mean, that's, it's such a good question. And I think it really is, look, we live in these and I certainly don't wanna talk about politics cuz we get too much of that. But we live in these very politically divided times. We live in times where we'll look for ways to divide us, what, whatever it could be that we look for. And, and we don't have too many people trying to bring us together or suddenly. But I think food is one where we always want to try and bring us together. The notion, whether it's a religious one, you know, I have a religious background. I, I, I'm a big believer in breaking bread. I can sit down with someone who is different politics, different, you know, they can have different gender beliefs, different all kinds of areas. But if I cook for them, you know, and I'm a cook.

Simon Majumdar (12:53):

If I cook for them, you can't go, well, I hate you, but could you pass the ribs? you know, you just, you, you can't say it. So I can sit down with people who are so different from me politically. So different from me in many, many ways they could be from a different part of the country or different part of the world. And I've even been on trains in, you know, Marrakesh or tra places in Africa or, you know, I've been to nearly a hundred countries now and whatever the language, whether you understand it or not, you know, pointing serves a lot of purposes. I find that when I start talking to people about food, the first thing they want to do is show me their food. And they want me to understand it and to take recipes or to sample it. And I think what it does is it brings us together.

Simon Majumdar (13:32):

We break bread. And I think that we can sit together with, you know, amazing people from different sides of the spectrum and learn from each other. And so for me, that's why I do these cooking demos. That's why I do, you know, the podcast. That's why I do. There's so many different aspects of doing it. And for me, bringing people together, round a table, I said it about the doll that I mentioned, nourishing body and soul and give it for me, cooking for someone is the ultimate act of love mm-hmm and then eating it and enjoying it is an ultimate act of love. And it's one of those kind of art forms where you want your art to disappear quickly, cause you cook it and the quicker it disappears, the better the art is rather than lots of other arts. But for me, it's the number one thing for me and I, and don't get me wrong. I love, love, love, particularly as we're on the food network, you know, podcast, I love, love, love doing television. I love being on stage. I enjoy doing it. I love having fun doing that, but for me, nothing is better than cooking a meal, whether it's for a hundred people, 200 people or two people mm-hmm and I think that's the number one for me.

Jaymee Sire (14:32):

Yeah. I mean, I couldn't agree more. I think, you know, I say all the time, it is the one thing that we all have in common, right? We all need to eat. We, most of us love to eat. So I think, you know, like you said, whether you speak the same Lang language or not, you, you have the same political beliefs or not, you know, that is the one unifier. So I, I love hearing that you, you mentioned you went to 31 countries in that first, you know, go everywhere, eat everything trip, what experiences and people stand out to you from, from that time in your travels?

Simon Majumdar (15:02):

Oh wow. Well, I mean obviously the number one for me is my wonderful wife. Who's, you know, sitting very close in the, in the next room and I met her and of course I changed my entire life because I moved over as a kind of, you know, middle aged, some something over to the LA and a very different lifestyle from being in London. So that was one. But I think a lot of times it's the context of meeting people as much as the food. So I mentioned I was going on a train from Marrakesh to FAS. I still remember this wonderful eight hour journey. And I prepared very badly for this for this food journey because I came onto the train with like half a pack of Pringles and a bottle of diet Coke or something for eight hours. I dunno what I was thinking.

Simon Majumdar (15:42):

And then this this was in those kind of little compartments that you see on like Harry Potter, you know, there's little compartments hold like six or eight people. So I'm sitting in there thinking I was gonna be on my own for eight hours. And then this whole family came in with suitcases and they were, they were fantastic and loud at having fun. And then they started talking in Arabic to each other and then they said, well, they looked at me and I'm, you know, I've got slightly darker skin. And they were like, do you speak Arabic? I was like, no. And they said, well, do you speak French? We're in Morocco. And I said, yeah, a little bit, you know, enough. And so they immediately started talking in French so that I could be part of the conversation for the next eight hours. And then they said, have you got anything to eat?

Simon Majumdar (16:18):

And I waved my very sorry picnic that I'd brought with me. And they just kind of shook their head and started getting out all this food from their bags. And they set, got it down. A couple of the suitcases made a kind of table over the top of it and started putting out all this incredible food. I mean some Moroccan food, of course it's incredible. And they just started filling up plates for me as well as them, but putting big plates of food. And what they had did is they made sure that all of the best bits, the chicken, the fish, the cheeses, the olives, all of that incredible stuff that you find in Moroccan, they, they were putting on my plate. So like there was like this, we call it in England. FHB family, hold back. If someone comes around and you've already got a little bit of food let, but they were like making sure the, the, the grandmother who was obviously the taking care of everything was like shouting at some of the kids, like, make sure he gets this, that I felt so bad, but also just that context. And again, we spoke very culturally in French, but at the end of it, I've never felt more communal with anyone in one meal. And that's not just, and again, it's not, is it the finest meal I've ever eaten in my life? No, because I, you know, I've, I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world. That's just what I do for a living. But have I ever felt more connected with other people? Probably not because we just spent hours and I'm still in touch with some of them on Facebook and other

Jaymee Sire (17:39):

Things. Oh, I was gonna ask

Simon Majumdar (17:41):

14 years later. And I just think that, that those connections through food to me and, and I, and I, I mentioned that one, but I had dozens of others of these experiences going around the world because you'd go into a restaurant or a bar or a cafe in Japan or you in a little village somewhere and people are so welcoming. And I think sometimes when we go to other countries, we, we kind of operate sometimes from fear like, oh, oh, everyone, we think everyone's gonna be monkeying us. So we're gonna be doing that. And I think as long as you're sensible, obviously you can go in and start pointing at things and go, well, I'll have what he's having or she's having. And then they start sending you, you know, sending you food out. I've very rarely had a bad meal that way. And for me, traveling around the world is one of the greatest things. I think it was mark Twain who said travel is fatal to prejudice. And to me, I think that's like one of the greatest things to say anywhere in the world, because, because it, once you go abroad and you meet people. Yeah. Particularly now, when we're all worried about everything and traveling abroad, it just changes your life. And it it's definitely changed mine.

Jaymee Sire (18:43):

No, absolutely. How did you meet your wife?

Simon Majumdar (18:45):

So , it's a, it's a long story. So I was in Brazil and I was in Salvador de Baier, which is a beautiful part of the world, but I was just having, it was one of those parts of my journey where I was having a bad time. I'd got sunstroke. I was staying in cheaper hotel, shall we say? So I had like loads of bed, bug bites and horrible stuff like that. And I was having, and I'd had people try to mug me because, you know, I was a tourist in there and, and then I was not having a good time, but I went with some of the people from my guest house to this big party in Salvador de Baier. And, and they have wonderful people playing incredible music like Reggaton and all kinds of, you know, those sounds that you think of with Brazil.

Simon Majumdar (19:23):

And I, I went to go buy some of the beers from the young men who go and buy it to, you know, the stores and then sell it at an overpriced to tourists like me. And I was like, well, that's fine, cuz they deserve to get some money. Anyway, you know, you want to put money into the community. And I came back and my wife had started talking to our group and she was traveling around Brazil, completely on her own. She's so fearless about travel. She's amazing. She is just, you know, she's, you know, as well as being, you know, my, my wife, she's just the person I admire most on earth and she just came over and her first words to me were can I have a beer? And I was like, yeah, you cooking have a beer. And she's very beautiful. And I, you know, we started talking and then we hung out the next day and, and I always love with her now go. She had no interest in me at all. until she found out that I was going to finish my book in our family house, in the south of Spain, at which point I became a lot more interesting and then she came and came and visited me down there. But you know, 12 years later she's still putting up with my nonsense. So I'm very grateful.

Jaymee Sire (20:21):

Ah, I love that. I'm curious, like what your approach is when you are on these travels, you know, in seeking out these culinary experiences, these authentic, you know, memories, like, do you do a lot of research ahead of time or do you kind of just like to find things on the fly?

Simon Majumdar (20:36):

I think that's a great question. It's a mixture of both is the reality. So we'll do a lot of research because there are some set restaurants that I want to go to. And, and here's the thing when I travel, I, I'm not one of these who go, oh, well I'm just gonna eat street food or I'm just gonna eat at Michelin star dining because food is so big. And so it's a very big church and there's all kinds of points in between. And I think we should go and experience as much as we can, as much as our budget allows us to. And so we will go to some of the very finest restaurants in any city that we can find because I, you know, a part of it is part of who I am as a person and maybe why, you know, people at the food network like me, because I have that experience.

Simon Majumdar (21:14):

So if someone said, I've eaten this, this dish from this restaurant in this amazing place in the world, I go, or I've made something from there, but they haven't been there. And I go, well, actually you haven't, what you've made is tasty, but it's not blah, blah, blah, because I've had them make it for me. And at the same time. So we'll do a lot of that research. And those restaurants, sometimes you have to book three, four months in advance to get into them, you know, some of the great restaurants in the world. So we do that. And I say, we, because I nearly, always now travel with my wife unless I yeah, we can't for any reason. And then the second side is I'm very good at going. Let's just walk down this street and see what's down there. Mm. And, and the worst thing, if the worst thing that happens to you is you have a meal that's okay.

Simon Majumdar (21:55):

Then you're fine. You know, so we do a lot of that as well, so we can pick up and then things like farmers markets. And then the other thing that we try and do as much as we can is try and connect with producers in different parts of the world. So we've been to places in Israel or places in New Zealand or places, wherever we are, where we go, let me go and see what you produce. Let me go and find out who you are. Because again, as well as chefs and people in the hospitality industry who are amazing producers tend to be just very hospitable people. They want you to explore what they're producing, because it means cuz this it's hard work. And so they want, they love that someone comes there and shows passion, whether they're wine makers or they're making cheese or, you know, growing beef or whatever it is. They just, I think they love that. So we try and do put a lot of research into going, but also leave time to just go, let's walk down here and see what happens. And I think for me, that's, that works for us. And you know, it, obviously the other people will find their own ways around the world.

Jaymee Sire (22:51):

Yeah, no, I mean, I actually, I, I love that hearing that because that's exactly how I like to travel as well, you know, but have your research be prepared, but also be open and ready to yeah. Just wander down a street and, and see what you find or talk to, to the locals and see what they tell you and that kind of thing. Do you have like a specific bite of food that you still dream about from your travels that just really, really stands out?

Simon Majumdar (23:14):

Oh gosh. I mean so many. I mean, and I, and I, and that's just because we're traveling all the time, whether it's going to the Volcani Institute, I mentioned in Israel, the Volcani, Institute's one of the great agricultural development that the Israelis I think are, are some of the top people in agricultural development because you know, they're living in basically a desert half the time. And so they're having to create amazing food. So the cherry tomato was actually created by the Israelis. And I remember going to the Volcani Institute where they tasted it and meeting one of the people who'd been the creators of like the cherry tomato and them just giving me a cherry tomato from their garden. You're just going, this is an amazing thing, cuz we're really at the kind of big bang of something that everybody has in their stores now.

Simon Majumdar (23:53):

But other ones, I I'll tell you one that I really love. And I went to Senegal and Senegal was just an incredible country, both from a bright side because the food is incredible and the people are just filled with joy, but also a dark side because 16 million people left through the door to nowhere to, to go to slavery. And I went to the island where this very small door that people walked out of to get onto the ships to be forced onto the ships. But while I was there, I met this young man in his family and they invited me to their home, which was just outside of Ducker. And they made me this dish thou Jen, which is a, a dish called fish and rice basically. But it's cooked. This rice is cooked with scotch bonnet peppers, which are heart and the beautiful fish.

Simon Majumdar (24:36):

And it's, it's just glorious. I mean, it's one of, I mean, Senegalese food is kind of, I think one of the most underrated, probably the only one I would say underrated more is Filipino food, which I think is the best, one of my best things in the world. But I sat down at a big communal table with the family in the courtyard. And, and again, the same thing, the, the scotch bonnet peppers, they keep whole and they press it down. So the juices from those go into theri even now I'm watering my mouth is make it get a very odd sound. So, so I apologize, but just the juices from the scotch bunny, which is quite a hot pepper, so you don't want to eat, the whole thing goes in and they mix it in the rice and there's big chunks of the, you know, the rice fill and the, the fish fill it. And they're pushing that to my side of the plate and making sure that I get it again, people are so kind and just the flavor of that right now, you could hear it. I'm actually, my mouth is watery. I'm have to take a sip of water because I won't be able to go.

Jaymee Sire (25:28):

Please do. Yeah.

Simon Majumdar (25:30):

I think food food has that food has that ability, you know, proof talks about, you know, he wrote a whole thing about Madeline's and he wrote a whole book basically about eating a Madeline and all the thoughts that it brings back, the smells, the taste. You know, if I, if I make Indian food here for my wife or for anybody, the smell immediately takes me to home. And my parents when I was younger and the, those smells that come out and the dishes that I took from my family. And so when I think about these dishes around the world, whether it's being in China or whether it's being in any of the countries that I've been in, I get so excited because I'm immediately back then. I think, you know, in many ways, that's why, hopefully I'm good on shows. I was judging because I, those tastes become immediate to me. And then I can share that. And I hopefully people enjoy me sharing that. But yeah, so that taste in Senegal that just came into my mind was just one of the best.

Jaymee Sire (26:22):

Yeah, no, I love hearing you talk about it because you can, you can really sense your passion for, for the subject. what is the key to, to eating and consuming in a thoughtful way?

Simon Majumdar (26:33):

Oh, you know, that's such, such an important question because I think right now we consume, but I don't think we, oh, I say we I'm talking about the world in general, but we consume, but we don't eat and eating for me is I talked about art. Eating to me is about thought, it's not just about fuel. It's not just about filling your body, which it, it has to be for some people. Of course, if, if you are out in another part of the world and you're having to go and work in a factory or a field or wherever you are, you are, of course you're gonna need fuel. But for me, it's about looking at the ingredients it's looking at, where they come from, that they come from as good a place as you can get them from. And I'm not one of these who criticizes people.

Simon Majumdar (27:11):

If they don't buy, you know, $90 pass lips from the farmer's market. And actually some writers I get cross with and I do go on Twitter and I'd like, how dare you start haranging people because they can't go to the farmer's market. People, you know, live a lot of people. I did some work at a food bank in TEXA, CARNA, you know, they're 40 miles from the nearest person and they have to shop and they have to wonder whether they can pay their car bills or their drugs or anything else. I mean, like we shouldn't be like that with people, but for me, it's getting the best ingredients you can treating them with as much respect as possible. And again, I'm not one of these who believes in throwing a million types of spices on things, cuz you know, I'm a big believer. God's done all the work and then just really sharing them in a thoughtful way.

Simon Majumdar (27:52):

And, and I talk about this all the time about eating with some level of consciousness that we, we were aware of the work that went into food. And actually this is why I think shows like tournament of champions, obviously that I've done most recently is one of my favorites because what we're seeing is the amount of thought that goes into cooking those dishes and the thought processes. And particularly when you see, and I'm just mentioning names, cuz they would like say you'll have Brooke and TIFF fighting each other or or you know, all of my Antonio, one of my favorite people in the world, Antonio, although when we are doing the shows, people always think we kind of cuz we, we kind of, she's like a little sister and I give her a hard time, but people, obviously we hate each other, but we, I adore her enough.

Simon Majumdar (28:31):

Food is just incredible and they, you see them cooking and they will take the same ingredients and do two totally different things. And I love that about food. I think that the viewers of TC and all, all the shows on the food net will see that these thought processes. And I think that's what we should get. We should, you know, for me, sitting around a table is important. We've stopped doing that. And I'm as guilty of that as anyone, you know, I'll sometimes sit in front of, you know, Pickard or star Trek or anything with my tray cause I, I wanna catch the shows, but it's sometimes just sitting down and sharing and talking is an amazing thing, that food. And for me, that comes from my background. My, my father was a cons, was a very kind of labor democratic kind of person.

Simon Majumdar (29:17):

My mother was very conservative. So you imagine in our same family, we'd have all these very kind of conversations but my father was, well, let's talk about it. Let's so it was all very FA fun, but I love that. And I think it's, it's just one of the ways we can sort out anything. So for me, that eating with consciousness and I think as well, when you go around the world, knowing that someone has had to work back breaking hours, say you're I'm in Thailand or I'm in the Philippines or in India and I'm eating food to get rice onto my table to get meat onto my table. This is back breaking hours. Same in the us farmers and suppliers work so hard. And I think sometimes our job in the food world is to make people realize that it do you know, meat, doesn't just arrive in your supermarket in, you know, plastic wrap, you know, and I think part of our reason as a food network, people or food people is to try and get that to people that this is a big community to get food onto our table.

Simon Majumdar (30:14):

And also what by doing that, I think we have to think about waste. We waste a third of our food in this country. One of the things I love about food network is they are so determined that as little food as possible will ever be wasted. And I think that's so important that once we see that from someone as important in the world as food network, and I will tell you every event I go, it's always full of parents and grandparents who have their kids there and they can leave the, leave them in the room, watching food network, cuz they all love watching Duff on spring baking and they love, I love watching Alex on anything and they, and they know they're gonna be safe watching it, but what they learn, the kids are learning while they're watching it. And one of the big things is, is waste.

Simon Majumdar (30:56):

So that's one of the things I talk about a lot. So that's a long answer, but but I hope it, but but it, but it's a, it's a, it's a fascinating question. And one that I think we all need to think about, and that's why I talk about the history of food. We, we need to realize that, you know, rice, yeah. America used to grow more rice than anywhere in the world in South Carolina, but the reason they could grow it is because it was all fueled by the slave trade mm-hmm so there's a dark history. So when we're eating something like this, that's we think of as very simple, like a banana or like a rice or one of these things, there's a huge history behind it as well. And I think that's one of the important things for me to kind of get over to people.

Jaymee Sire (31:33):

Yeah, no, I think it's, it's very important. It's something I'm very passionate about as well.

MUSIC CUE : Food Network Obsessed Theme

Jaymee Sire

Up next, Simon gives us some behind the scenes scoop on guys' grocery games and tournament of champions.

End Music.

Jaymee Sire

I think it's interesting that you brought up food network and the fact that, you know, the efforts to eliminate or at least reduce the waste within their shows. And of course we need to talk about some of these shows that you're on, you have been in flavor town market quite a bit as a judge on guys' grocery games. And I think a lot of people do have that question. You know, they see this, this big supermarket that, that they use for the show and wonder about food waste. Can you kind of give us some behind the scenes on, on why there is not food waste on that show?

Simon Majumdar (32:30):

Well, I think most of, well, all of it really starts with guy because that's who he is. And, and, and I, whenever people ask me about it, I go, you know, people see guy and he's, he's, you know, fun and he's so energetic. And I, you know, he's a force of nature. I mean, he genuinely just is a force of nature and I love being around him because it just makes me so, you know, cuz I'm a very kind of, I always say I'm a very repressed British guy. And so I spend time with guy and I also, and I think he sometimes thinks it's a bit weird that I have kind of very little his popular culture knowledge. And so we'll talk about things. I, I, he, he was very excited when he fed me my first cheese puff. I'll go, I've never seen what, I dunno what they look like.

Simon Majumdar (33:09):

And then he fed me when I go, oh, they're actually quite good. I said to people know about these, which he thought was very funny anyway. So I love, I love spending time on there, but it comes from guy. And one of the things that I think I learned from well, you, I hopefully I had it anyway, but from a, the good people are who I really love spending time with is you see, they operate from what I call a, a point of kindness and, and that means they want, the show will have to be done. I mean, again, guy operates from a point of excellence and if you see TC and you see how it's run and all the, and, and all of the production company that work with guy like Brian Lando and these amazing people, they come from that position.

Simon Majumdar (33:46):

And I think that happens with you know, flavor town itself, because one of the things is, you know, anything there that could be to waste will be put to use. So whether it goes to a food bank or whether it goes to schools or you know, the, the process that they have there is really, really important. So we're gonna create an amazing show and very little of it gets wasted in terms of the food that served to us very little because they, you know, we're, we're, we're careful about that. But the amount there that may go on into the community and is supporting that community, and it's one of those things that we know with guy that when the fires were happening in his area, you know, he's the first person out with his, you know crew feeding everyone.

Simon Majumdar (34:26):

And so if you have something to operate from a point of kindness, then the whole show will be kind of filtered through that. And I think guy, grocery games and tournament of champions, they just are that's, that's who he is. And you see, we triple D you know, I, I haven't been with him on triple D, but you see, as he goes around the country, yes, he's got to get X number of shows then in a very short time. So it has to be run, you know, as it is, but you know, on his levels of excellence, but the attitude he has with those people in those cafes and diners and all of those is genuine. Mm-Hmm . And I think when you, when you see that and you see it on the show, everybody else included the judges, the chefs who come in the crew, everybody operates from that point of view. And, and I'm not just saying it, cuz yeah, I want to be on the show. I love big old guys, grocery games at tournament, but you do when you see someone who operates like that, then you just, you know, you, you can't help, but try and operate like that.

Jaymee Sire (35:17):

Mm-Hmm no, I mean, you, you say a lot of things that have been said so many times on this podcast and so, you know, that they must be true. And I know this past season contestants were actually vying for a spot on tournament of champions via guys' grocery games. So there was a lot on the line. How does triple G compare to other food competitions that you've witnessed or judged?

Simon Majumdar (35:39):

I think I ju I, what I try and do is I say I judge them all very separately because I think they're asking different things of the chefs. And that's the thing. So they're not, you know, people go, oh, well a judging on say, if I'm judging on iron chef, I actually just found on my phone the other day, someone sent it to me, a picture of me judging on iron chef many years ago, probably 2010, 2011. Cause I was a little, I was a little more chubby then I've lost quite a bit of weight but I, I was obviously enjoying the iron chef food too much, but it's just a picture of me. And underneath I'm saying on the, what do you call it? The what do you call? I forgot what the word is now, but they put the words down at the bottom. My mind has gone blank,

Jaymee Sire (36:15):

Like the meme or the gift or something.

Simon Majumdar (36:17):

Yeah, yeah. Like the, yeah, it just goes, I love making iron chefs tremble and that's all I'm saying, apparently . And so on, on iron chef, if you are dealing with and bless them. I, I adore all of these people. I didn't event with Bobby FLA recently, but but you know, if you're dealing with Alex or you are dealing with Jeffrey or Michael Simon or, or Morimoto the, these folks there they've, you know, they've got strong enough egos that I can tell. 'em What I think. And also I've eaten the things. So if they try and make something, I I'm pretty straightforward with them and, and not brutal. But I think I had a reputation when I was just on iron chef. That that's all I was. And I was a bit mean to some people, which is fine. I, I mean, you know, I'm British.

Simon Majumdar (36:56):

So I think everything I say sounds mean , but but what happens is if you go into other shows, so if I did like well, I've, haven't done chop, but if you do like guys, grocery games, chefs are coming in, who are just really hardworking chefs from the best, you know, great restaurants where they're feeding their families and they're, and they're, you know, they're just good people. And so I'm not gonna be, I'm definitely not gonna be kind of beating up on anyone. I'll tell 'em what I think. But I do try and always say, look, this is really good. I wish you could have done this, this and this, but from this experience, you've tried to do this. And then, you know, I think that works. So there's, I think there's a variety. And then on things like beat Bobby FLA, you know, again, you're gonna be tough, but that's fun because you just get to give Bobby a hard time and, and he's got, again, he's got a thick enough skin that he knows that that's what it's all about.

Simon Majumdar (37:46):

Actually, people love to see him getting a hard time, but he does, he does cook just incredible food, which is why he probably wins a lot of the time. But that's true. He's just so I, I think they're very different shows. And, and one of the reasons why I love triple G is I get to show people that I, I, I have got a kind side to me and I do appreciate what they're doing because I love chefs. You know, they're, they're just the best people in the world. They will want to feed anyone at any time. They, they are people who would literally give you the shirts off their backs if you were in that situation. So seeing them in a position on television often for the first time and, and seeing guy, and you can see sometimes they're a little bit kind of frozen cuz it's it's guy for air or whatever shows.

Simon Majumdar (38:25):

But when you're doing something like one of the favorites that people still talk to me about now and was one of my favorites was cutthroat kitchen. Of course mm-hmm . And I did many, many, many episodes of that, including Peter got it. Which was, which was fun. But that's different because they're, they're messed up so badly. It's just a case of going well, let's hope there's something to eat here because you cooked it while blindfolded wearing blocks and gloves and you know, what, whatever else was happening. So they're very different I think, but you try and bring your passion into all of them and, and be honest about it. Be honest about the food in the end. I always say, I don't care about what happened to you in the end. I just want a good meal. And that's kind of how I think about it all.

Jaymee Sire (39:07):

well, you are also on the floor with guy on tournament of champions in a different capacity. And it was such an amazing season. I mean, they all have been, but you are the co-lo reporter. And part of your role is not judging. It's presenting these dishes to the judges and you kind of assume this responsibility of describing the dish because it is blind judging. I mean, do you, do you feel the pressure? Do you get nervous because that that's a big role

Simon Majumdar (39:34):

Oh, it, it, it is a big role and I take it and I know Justin does, before we do anything else, I want to put out a little, a little kind of what's this, this is my foundation that I'm forming with Justin, our union. We never get to eat any of the food. We see all this wonderful food being cooked by all these incredible chefs that we're smelling it and writing about it. And then immediately it's whisked away and we're whisked away to write our notes. So I have started the feed Simon and Justin campaign

Jaymee Sire (40:00):

That we get.

Simon Majumdar (40:00):

I love it. Unless guy is, unless guy is kind to bring some food to us. We don't get to taste Eddie and people are asking, oh, what's it taste like? I go, I have no idea, but but the, the thing that I love about this, this show was I wanted to show people that I'm, I love judging and that's always fun. And whenever food network ask me to come and judge, I always will. But what I love is to show my knowledge of food. Yeah. I've been doing this for many, many years and I've been all over the world and I understand all the ingredients, so I know what the chefs are doing. And I think I'm good at showing that to the camera and say, by the way, and also, hopefully we're funny, but it's not about us. Our job is to try and be very, not quiet, but try and be at the side.

Simon Majumdar (40:45):

So I find that what I do and trustin works in different ways, but I ask lots of questions and often just questions I know the answer to, but so the judge can the chef can go, yes, I'm cooking X. So are you cooking the rice this much? Cuz you want this? Yes. That's why I'm cooking the rice this, and then they'll get some obviously for the camera, they'll get something from the chef because it's not my role is to get as much information and try and prey that down into something that the judges will understand too. And here's the thing we're talking about the top, top judges we're not talking about, you know, and I, this is not criticizing any other judges, but I'm, I, I watch these judges and you see, you know, Alex or Roco or Eric repair or I mean, there's, I I'm just like, why would you know, anyone want to be judged by these incredible people?

Simon Majumdar (41:31):

You're gonna be so frightened but I've got to put something in front of them. That also makes sense to them. So there's a kind of double edge one. I don't want the chef sitting, watching this going, oh, I wish Simon had said X, Y, and Z. So I ask far too many questions and I keep telling them, I will ask the questions and if you're ever too busy, just tell me to move away and I'll come back. But I will keep asking questions because my job is to represent you. And what was interesting on the very first season, obviously we were getting to know it all and the chefs were not rude at all, but they were like, Simon, I can't tell you, talk to you. And then one or two chefs actually went out and I actually had one or two and I won't name names came and said, I wish I'd told you this, this and this. And we get as much as we can, but you can't get everything you can't. So I'm always asking questions now, season three, you couldn't keep 'em quiet.

Jaymee Sire (42:22):

Simon Majumdar (42:22):

With one or two exceptions because they know they, the, the, they know now that we, we are on their side, we, we have a purpose to play and they see us presenting the food. And they also know that we're presenting the food from a kind of, from a kind of sophisticated point of view to the, to the, that they may not be able to because they're, they're really interested in their cooking and they might not necessarily have the time to kind of write down something that will go to the judges. So I think they're beginning to realize the purpose we play in, in the, I mean they did anyway, but I mean, really I felt this season that they were like, well, we're together. Mm-Hmm and adjusted. And I love, we, we, we don't do any competition between ourselves cuz our job is just to get people through. So we don't have any of that. But I love spending time with him. He's one of my favorite people on the food network. He's fun as heck. He's just so smart. I mean, it makes me, I always think I have like the genetic Tortu once I turn to Justin, because he's like, he's, he's so clever. And then, but we go and afterwards we'll sit and we'll have a beer or something and we'll just chat. And I just love, I love hearing him talk about food because he's brilliant.

Jaymee Sire (43:30):

Yeah, no, I agree. We had him on the podcast last year and, and you guys both again, a wealth of food knowledge, but in different ways. So I think it's a perfect, you know colo reporter situation. We, we also just chatted with the winner. Tiffany Faison and oh yeah. You know, obviously talked about her experience on the show. What did you observe about Tiffany as, as she, you know, worked her way to the top?

Simon Majumdar (43:52):

Well, I think, and I, I can't remember exactly. No, I think I called her on three or four of her cooks. So I feel very pleased that I was with her watching that journey. And do you know, this is, this is something that I think anyone who watches sport will get, do you know if you are watching a knockout competition of any kind say we're looking at, I know we've just had March madness. I dunno anything about American sport, but my wife tells me March and I looked a bit of it because of the way tournament of champions kind of word. But, but say the FA cup in England or the world cup, there are certain times you look at a team and for whatever reason at the very beginning, you just go, there's some, they've got it. There. There's something about them this season.

Simon Majumdar (44:32):

I dunno what it is. They've just got the, that kind of what's that song, eye of the tiger. There's something about them. And Tiffany had it this season, there was something I said very early on when I saw her and I said, yes, other chefs, she may do a mess up because of the randomizer. And that's the key. You could be, you know, the greatest chef in the world, but God puts those randomizes in front of you. And they tell you to do something blackened with an ice cream maker and a whatever. I mean, it's just crazy stuff, but everything that came out from her kitchen that I saw just looked ridiculous. And I will say that, and I don't know, ruin it too much. Obviously you've talked to her as the winner anyway, but that dish that she cooked in the last edit of rabbit three ways.

Simon Majumdar (45:16):

And I actually said to her as her cooking, and I said, I'm not just saying this. This is the best I've seen, probably anyone cook on a cooking competition for as long as I can remember. And I've seen the very best mm-hmm on food network competitions. And I even said it to, you know, guy afterwards. And I didn't say it to the chefs cuz I'm not supposed to be giving an opinion. You know, obviously I don't say it to the judges rather because I just give them the information. But afterwards I said to her, that dish, if that dish didn't win, you know, then I think something would've seemed wrong to me. And that's not to say that Brooke, wasn't cooking amazing food cuz she's, I don't think she's capable of not cooking amazing food. And I've, I've called her a million times, you know, doing this however many times doing the shows, but Tiffany just took it to this level on this competition that I have not seen for many, many years.

Simon Majumdar (46:05):

And I was so thrilled for her and it, and I actually, as we were waiting for the competition to, for the results and we're standing at the back, I actually said to Justin, I said, if this, if she doesn't win, then whatever Brooke cook, you know, should be put in the Smithsonian, cuz it must be that good. And, and, and she did. And I think for the show, it's great because we've had three amazing winners, all of whom I know not Brooke as well, but I know Brooke, you know, now I've got to know a lot more Manita is a very, very good friend and we've known each other. I judged her on the very first season of next sign chef back in 2000, whatever. And obviously Tiffany I've called now and we've become very good friends and we we've done triple G together.

Simon Majumdar (46:43):

And so many things. So I was thrilled for her because I know she was saying at the same during the competition or yeah, always a bridesmaid, never a bride mm-hmm . And for me, I think people needed to see just how good she is. And she's remarkable. I mean, she, she genuinely is a remarkable chef, but the truth is, you know, you had 30 whatever chefs on that and probably just about every one of them could have got through to the final. We have people who have all won major tournaments, have all beat. I know I listened to the show you had with Joe Joe and, and you've had Justin and you've had Eric. I mean, these are, I mean, silly, good chefs. And here's the thing as well, which is silly for me. People go, oh, does it bother you? That it's always a, yeah, like a WOBA whos one.

Simon Majumdar (47:27):

And I go, no, it's the best chef was one. That's the, that's the bottom line. The best chef was one who happens to be a woman. Mm-Hmm , that's how I think about it. Yeah. And they're the best chefs, you know, if the guys wanna win, they just need to cook better bottom line you know, it's I have no problem with this. People get very funny about it, but I'm just like, they're the best. I mean, you know, I mentioned Antonio, Antonio, I keep saying to her, she's how she hasn't won this because she's one of the best, most competitive chefs I've ever seen. And her food is ridiculous. I go to her restaurants all the time. That's where I go when I want to eat, you know, I go, I just wanna go out with my friends or my wife and just eat really great food. Mm-Hmm so, you know, I've, I've got, I've got lots of hopes, you know, I never make any assumptions. Anyone wants me back, but if they do tournament, then I've got big hopes for next season.

Jaymee Sire (48:15):

Yeah. Well maybe she's next. I mean, like you said, it's a completely blind you know, judging. So it is the most fair of, of all the cooking competitions out there. I think. Well I can listen to you talk about food for hours, but we, we are gonna wrap up with some rapid fire questions and then we have one final question for you. Alright,

Simon Majumdar (48:34):

Excellent. Excellent. Let's do

Jaymee Sire (48:35):

It. Let's do it. Next travel destination.

Simon Majumdar (48:39):

Well I'm outside of the country. I'm I? Our plan is to go to Bhutan okay. Which is a country that I've always wanted to go to. You have to get a license to go in there. Wow. You have to like go. Yeah. Yeah. It's very SP it's a closed country. Very apparently amazing. So we're going to go there and you have to guarantee to spend X amount of money while you're there and all of this, but it's one of those countries that's kind of north of India and related to my family, my father from Calcutta. And it's one that I've always wanted to go to. It's very high on my kind of bucket list. We're gonna go on some trips with some of the organizations we know to some of their trips where we see them working around the country, maybe the Dominican Republic, we just got back fairly recently from Guatemala.

Simon Majumdar (49:20):

So we, we are gonna go, you know, wherever the good Lord sends me. And then the other thing we're gonna do, I've been to every state in the United States. Wow. And I love it because I love seeing just how different this country is. Just how amazing the people are. My wife hasn't. So we're gonna go to some places that she hasn't been Wisconsin in the Dakotas, you know, go to Mount. We're gonna be by Mount Rushmore for, you know, July the fourth. We're gonna have some fun with that. Nice. And so I, and I love traveling around the United States. I, as a dual citizen now, you know, I'm very proud of being British, but I'm immensely proud of being American because it's given me opportunities I've never had before.

Jaymee Sire (49:56):

Love that. One item that's always in your grocery cart

Simon Majumdar (50:01):

Serrano chilies, always because I cook a lot of Indian food and Serrano chilies are the best for Indian food, little fruitiness to them as well as the spiciness. So for me, if you're cooking with Indian food or follow any of my recipes on the websites Sanna chilies are the thing to have

Jaymee Sire (50:15):

All right're perfect cup of tea.

Simon Majumdar (50:17):

Well, as you know, I, I think I'm a bit of a, the perfect person to ask for this because being British, you know, yeah. Cup tea, we call tea in England. We call it English penicillin, cuz it solves every purpose. Both putting the Ketle on. First of all, you've got to buy an electric Kele. I knew I was gonna marry my wife when, for our first Valentines together, she bought me an electric kettle. you can't be boiling water on the stove. That's just, that's that's beastly. The waste of you've gotta, you've got yeah, absolutely. So, and then, and then you've got, obviously gotta have the right tea. So there's different teas for different moments. But my favorite tea of all is called Taylor's Yorkshire. Gold is from Harrogate. They, and they bring tea in, they it's four types of tea from a Sam and Africa and it's, it's a bag heaven, full fend, but I actually does. And I have it every morning and every night, a big cup of that with a piece of chocolate or something. And you've got to let it seep for the Americans. I mean, God bless, I love America more than anywhere, but you can't make a cup of tea in this country. You could put people on the moon and yet you can't make a cup of tea. It drive me crazy, bringing out a thing of hot water and a bag with about three tea leaves in it. Stop it.

Jaymee Sire (51:22):

You're your wife's favorite meal that you cook for her?

Simon Majumdar (51:26):

I'm actually cooking it for her today. I've been prepping it beforehand. Her favorite thing is Japanese pork Kasu. Ooh. And so I, so I get really nice, like pork chops. I, I kind of bash them down a little bit, bread them and then I'll just fry them and I finish them in the oven. So they don't over burn. And then I'll, I'll do that either with some rice or some, maybe like a Japanese style Curry vegetable or something. We'll have some fun

Jaymee Sire (51:50):

Yu. That sounds delicious. What food network star are you closest to?

Simon Majumdar (51:54):

Gosh, that's an interest question. Well I think, I mean, I mentioned Justin and we've become, even though we're very different in ages and we have, but we have so much fun. And I, apart from the fact, he, he makes me feel like a very thick I love hanging out with him cuz he's so funny. And, and the other one is I just think the most remarkable person who is, is Elton brown and Elton and I have known each other, obviously, you know him and you've worked with him Elton and I have known each other from the very first day I stood on a, a food network stage and he's been kind and he's brilliant. And I love we'll often share texts about food history or food science when we're running around. We've got that nerdy technique, love hanging out with him. And you know, the, but the, the truth is whenever I'm in a room with the folks from food network, I I'll always have a good time.

Simon Majumdar (52:40):

I think food network will, you know, choose the right people. The thing I have to tell people though that I think they sometimes think, you know, that we're all together all the time. I always think they think we're we do our shows. And then at night we all get together in a van and drive around solving mysteries together or something. And I go, no, no, we don't. That would, we we're doing our own . That would be a fantastic show. Tell, yeah, I'd be, I'd be shaggy. And we drive, but except for my hair, but we drive around, you know, doing this. But I just say to people, look, whenever I spend time, I'm just grateful enough to be doing the shows, which is the truth, you know, just like, I'm really grateful that you asked me to come and do this, but yeah, I've got a couple of really good friends because that's, it's like, I would say it's like high school. You have some people you really get on with. And then you have some people you really get up with who you like, the ones you'll text. And so I'm like that. But I don't, I wouldn't know anyone would mention me as one of their favorites, but come on I'm somewhere. I'm I'm somewhere in the background.

Jaymee Sire (53:34):

No, no, you're not. How many hats do you own?

Simon Majumdar (53:39):

Not enough is the obvious answer of course, because but probably I I'm looking, I'm looking across at my hat rack over there, which has some of them on many boxes around it with hats that people have sent me. I'm guessing somewhere between 50 and 60. Wow. not, but not enough, but obviously, and people are very kind. Somebody actually emailed me yesterday from a hat company going, we'd love to send you a hat just to wear. I go, well, that's very kind of you. Thank you. so I love for me hats. I mean, it's not just the fact that I've got a head, like a billion ball. I just love wearing hats of whatever reason they seem to fit. My, my oddly shaped British head

Jaymee Sire (54:17):

Well, I know the fans love seeing all of your different, you know, hat choices on all the shows as well. I mean, you're not, they can't see, you're not wearing one today, but you have headphones on. So there's a good reason. Alright, one final question. Before we let you go, we ask everybody this question on food network, obsessed what would be your perfect food day? So breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. There are absolutely no rules for this question. So you can time travel, regular travel, spend as much money as you want. Anyone can serve this, this meal or these meals to you. So it is your day. We wanna hear which, which you're eating.

Simon Majumdar (54:51):

I love this question, but I mean, it's so hard for me because I, I love traveling through time. As you said, as long as, and also traveling around the world and traveling. So breakfast would be, I'd go back to the time of Victorian times. There was a, a chef called MI or a household manager called Mrs. Beaten wrote one of the most wonderful books, book of household management. And she describes breakfast for the kind of middle and upper class British people, which had about 50 different dishes. If you've ever watched Downton Abbey and you see, they all come down to breakfast and sit around and there's a whole kind of galley there with millions of different dishes on it with kidneys and all kinds of wonderful things and eggs like on Downton Abbey. I think I'd want to do that to kind of misses beaten style, British breakfast that you would eat, you would eat before you went out, hunting on horse back or went out shooting grouse in a beautiful aristocratic estate in Britain.

Simon Majumdar (55:40):

So that would be, I think that would definitely be the number one lunch, you know, lunch for me. I think I would go to one of my just favorite restaurants anywhere in the world, somewhere like Eche Barry in Spain, which is a considered one of the number one restaurants in the world is primarily speaks, serves Scalian steak, but it's just incredible. It's got three Michelin stars, everything about it from the moment you arrive till the moment you leave is perfection. The, the wine list is fantastic. The people are kind and you just, you feel like you are literally on a kind of feather Bower as you're being carried out and it's, you know, and every now and every now and again, here's the thing for everybody and we're coming up, you know, I know when we're interviewing this, we're coming up to mother's day, but people, I think all the mothers and wives and everyone should be treated to that this weekend as some kind of something really blissful that they don't have to think about anything else.

Simon Majumdar (56:31):

I think supper I would go back in time to Roman times Roman the great Roman, you know, kind of feasts where you lie sideways on a SHA long while servants, servants, peel grapes for you and bring you out the head of ostrich's or stuff, door mice and all of that crazy stuff that, that I've just been reading about one emperor who brought out 600 stuff 600 ostrich heads. So they were boiled so they could break the brains and they ate 600 OSUs brains. Wow. I'd be involved in like one of these, one of these crazy feast and finally dessert. I would sit in bed with my wife watching TV. We'd have a bowl of ice cream, really good ice cream, and it'll be her choice, like something, something from thrifty or something that she really likes. That's really kind of fun, flooded silly Uhhuh and we'd sit and watch her her favorite programs. And I'd sit and just spend time with my wife, because what's better at the end of your meal of the perfect days, eating than just spending it with the person you love. So that's what I would do. And it doesn't matter. It could be, it could be ice cream that cost us, you know, a dollar from the dollar store or something, but I'm just with the right person and that's the best way to spend any day of eating.

Jaymee Sire (57:40):

Wow. Well, that's, that's a perfect ending to your day and a perfect ending to this very insightful interview. You had us laughing and crying and, and, and wanting more. So we appreciate you taking the time. It has been a delight talking to you.

Simon Majumdar (57:54):

Oh, it's been great to see you again as well. I, yeah, I know we were sharing kind of food places to go and eat. I remember we've, you know, swapped emails on that before. So anytime I really enjoyed talking to you, they were great questions and it was really fun.

Jaymee Sire (58:07):

Thank you so much, such an enlightening and lovely conversation with Simon. You can watch him on the latest season of tournament of champions. All episodes are available to stream on discovery. Plus also, if you or a loved one are struggling with thoughts of suicide, there are resources and help for you. The national suicide prevention lifeline is 1 802 7 3 8 2 5 5. And the link to their website is in our episode details. Thanks so much for listening and make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. So you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review. We love it. When you do that, that's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.