Dr Rupy: Romy, you're in a position of influence. Why don't more women of South Asian origin talk about the menopause?
Romy: I think the first thing is that people don't want to go to their GP. First, especially to the male GP, they don't want to talk about it at all. I think we are in a generation that a lot of women want to talk about it, what's happening to them. When I was back in India, when my mum was going through, she didn't understand it. She didn't what was happening to her body. And they would say, oh, the change, or the change, let's just shove it under the carpet and not talk about it. But I think things are changing. I have two wonderful daughters. For them, really would like that what's happening to my body. Of course, it's a change that is very important change. At the same time, I want them to talk about it. I want them to understand it. And at the same time, my husband is very supportive. If I did not have a supportive husband who did not understand what I'm going through, I think men play such a huge part in the change, the body's changing. You know, since when you are 13 or 11, when the young girl is started the periods, I think the dad should actually go and start buying the pads or anything that a child needs. And that is where it starts. If it's starting from there, I think then the women will be more open, will be able to understand it, and then they will be able to talk about it. But at the same time, if you see there's radio, there's television, but if you ever seen, there's no South Asian women has the opportunity to talk about menopause. Very rarely you will have someone, or even black community, very rarely. But I think it's so important and everybody is different. My body will be very different from somebody else's body. And that kind of is so important to learn through that because I, you know, I when I was 40, it started happening. I didn't understand what was happening. I was emotional one day, I would eat so much and then I would like, oh, why have I done that? And I would cry for no reason. I think then having the restaurant, running the restaurant, two little girls, I think there was so much going on in your life.
Dr Rupy: When was this?
Romy: 2013. So I think I was crazy to open my restaurant when I was. I think there is so much of that. And then when you're going to your GP, you're making them understand. Sometimes they don't get it as well. I'm not saying that all GPs are, they're wonderful GPs, but sometimes some don't understand you and some don't want to talk about it. But I think for my body, I could understand what was happening. Like you know, I ran so much. I ran practically six miles every day. But my body, the weight just went on. My weight gain was so bad that I just could not understand why I was gaining so much weight and I'm running six miles every day. So I think that when I met you, when I talked about it, then you told me about weight training. I think I learned so much from you and my pharmacist friend that this is happening to you. You're changing, your body's changing. I think if you can find somebody like that, someone who can actually help you, guide you, talk to you and not be ashamed of it because I think the stigma behind it, oh, it's a shameful thing. Why should it be shameful? It's your body, it's human. We all humans and it's going to change. I think that is very, very important that if we start talking, if I'm talking, somebody else is talking, then there will be women who will say, oh, actually this is happening. If I'm 51, if you see somebody other person who's 51, you will see how the age difference will look. We are same. And I think with our society also, the way we eat, we eat at very wrong time, late at night, we sleep with the carbs on, then we are again, we're having so much sugar in the weekend with all the weddings and rituals, celebrations. I think there is so much that that we put on weight on our stomach, weight goes on our back. I think that for me was very understanding. Even I'm exercising, my body's completely not loving the exercising what I'm doing. So the weight has really, really mentally, physically has made me stronger. Now I'm less emotional as well. And I know what to eat, when to eat. And I think that and I have cheat days. I do eat everything. I would never ever kind of stop eating because of the.
Dr Rupy: I mean, you're a chef, you're a writer, you're a chef. Yeah, exactly. You love food.
Romy: I love. I mean, I was asked the question recently, if there is food in front of you to cook or to eat, what would you do? I will be cooking and feeding people and then eating it. I think that is the connection that I will always have. I always call myself a chef first and then everything else later. I think that understanding and chefs have a tendency of not eating all day. We can easily do fasting. And then we eat the rubbish stuff at night and that is the wrong thing to do. And especially with my body, I think that was not working. And also what's really, really helped me, I now three days religiously do 16 hours fasting. It just works for me so, so well. And also first thing I get up now and drink is lemon. I don't do vinegar because it's not good for my teeth. Everybody should have their own ways. I just do lime, hot water, first thing in the morning and that is when I and I find that empty stomach running or exercising is so much better for me than having a full stomach and doing it. I think everybody is different. So do it according to your way. But I am so open to talk about it. I write about my, in my next book, I've written about menopause. Because I was not getting an opportunity to talk about it or write about it. Oh no, no, no, somebody else has written. But somebody else who is a white person doesn't understand my body, my or somebody, you know, like Auntie Oliver's body. We have really different bodies. We cannot be same. So I think that when you have a medium, you really need to speak about it. I think also daughters, I have two wonderful daughters. I really need to make sure they don't have the same issue what I went through and I want them to be vocal about it.
Dr Rupy: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. The last time we we spoke, it was a few months back. And I remember you telling me about your exercise regime. You were running a phenomenal amount. And I could sense the frustration because you were like, I'm doing all the right things. I'm following a lot of the guidelines, over exceeding the guidelines that the NHS gives me in terms of moving every single day, doing your aerobic exercise, etc, etc. But you were hitting brick walls all the time. And you were just telling me before we started here about your weight training, your deadlifting, you're deadlifting, I think more than me at the moment, which is amazing. And the weight has sort of melted off you. I mean, you look fantastic. That's the first thing I said to you when you came this morning.
Romy: I think also it's just made me, my legs were really strong with running, my upper body wasn't. I could get really tired very quickly if I was doing upper body training. But now my upper body is getting really better. I like, I can do planks and things like that before. I can do five minutes planks now.
Dr Rupy: Five minutes. Wow.
Romy: So I'm really pushing myself. I just think it's just that really help me mentally. And I've given up alcohol as well, like I said. So I'm, we'll come back to alcohol one day because you do like my red wine. And I make my own.
Dr Rupy: And your gin. Yeah, yeah.
Romy: But it's just that one of those things that I'm so determined. I'm not saying that I was size eight or 10 when I was young and I want to be that. No, I don't want to be that. I want to be really fit that I can carry on doing the marathons and half marathons that I have done five full marathons and 40 half marathons. I want to keep on doing that. I think the the thing that really messed up was the running didn't really like my body wasn't liking running. I think what I'm like I'm doing spinning now. I do walking, running and then weights. So I think that all that is kind of working. It's like a whole circle that's working for me. Maybe it might not work for someone else. But I just think also eating is really important what you eat, what you put in your mouth.
Dr Rupy: Absolutely. And you know, you've been in the public eye for many years now. You've done TV shows, you're regular on daily shows, you run your own restaurants, all the rest of it. I think it would be easy for an outsider to think Romy just has this abundance of energy. You've always got a smile on your face. I think you can be perceived as someone who fits that. But actually underneath it, particularly during the change, you were struggling quite a bit. How is your mental health shifted since doing all these different things?
Romy: You should have asked my daughters and my husband and some of my friends how horrible I was. I was really horrible. I would really get, if you're saying something even funny, I would just burst into tears and start screaming. I think I was really not a nice person, not in a nice place, but I didn't know what was happening. I think it was just that and also the weight that when you put and you don't like when you have put on that weight, I think it just mentally really, really puts you in a darker place. I think 2019 was the worst year for me. I think with many, many things, closing the restaurant because my lease was up and then my mum passed away. I think that affected really badly. And then my first book come out, I had a major accident on the motorway. I think there were so many factors that if you speak to my daughters and they if they see me now and they when they see a few years ago, I was not in the right place because I didn't know, they didn't know. But I think if something now, if somebody's saying, I will just walk out of the room and just scream to myself and then come back and calm down. I think we are all humans, we have those things, but I think how you deal with it. I think now my daughters are both in university. That also affected because it does affect you because if your first child goes and you know, you have a younger child at home. But when Neve went recently, that was really emotional. I think that kind of, you know, you start kind of what's happening. But I think she's happy. She's really happy. My both the daughters are very happy. I think my relationship with my husband is much better now. I think because we can communicate better. Everything was about our daughters. We are both working, you know, he's a, he works and I did my restaurant and doing things on TV, writing books, going around the world to cook. But I think that now also women, Southeast Asian women or any kind of women from any colour, I think after your kids have gone to university, I think it's really important to have the relationship back which you had maybe 20 years ago, 25 with your partner. You need to go away, you need to have things you do. My daughter has filled a jar before she went to university and written a note in like everything, go to walk together, go to a pub if you don't want to drink, go to see a film or a or go on a holidays and pick that out every week. So we kind of doing that, you know?
Dr Rupy: That's amazing. How lovely is that?
Romy: It's beautiful. It's such a thoughtful thing and she's very thoughtful. I think we can easily give up on our relationships, you know, we all are humans. But I think how you can if it's breaking very badly, I think it's hard to join, but it's easier to kind of bring it together. I think that has helped. And having my HRT, like I'm started on my gel, which is a gel just working and the Marina coil. I think that also has helped me so much. But that also has helped me with relationship with my husband as well. I think it's how like you said, where you are you ready to talk about it? I'm so ready to talk about it because I think it's so important that we can easily give on our relationship, we can easily have bad days with our kids. My husband, when I when Neve was little, she was six months old and when I was doing all these things, my husband was looking after the, you know, both the girls. I saw them for seven years. This is no joke. I saw them for one hour in the morning. That is it. So I think the relationship, I was also very angry that I don't have a relationship with my kids. They're very much daddy's girls. They would go away with daddy and they wouldn't, you know, now my relationship with them is so much better that I could do those things and they're proud of what I do. But also they are the one who want me to talk about it. They are the one, Mommy, you should talk about this. You should do this program, you shouldn't do this program. So I think that relationship also really helps.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. We were talking at the start about how Asian women struggle to talk about menopause or even periods, you know. I used to do a bit of work with Binti, the period charity that's focused on South Asian women, women from South Asian descent. And I think with regards to women's health in general, there is a lot of taboo and there is a there's a lack of voices. So I think partly one of the reasons why people struggle to find out good information about the menopause is for that reason. But also, I think we were chatting a little bit earlier about how you're struggling to find a voice on mainstream platforms when, you know, the South Asian story or the black story, for example, of women going through the menopause is is missing. And I think we're having a moment right now where menopause is gaining a lot more traction, is getting a lot more attention as it should be. But the South Asian voice appears to be missing. And you were saying that you've struggled, you know, to to find that sort of mainstream platform to to talk about it.
Romy: I have. I have tried many different channels. I've written like a proposal as well that we should kind of talk about it because where I live, it's a very, you know, different community to the communities where you would go. There are a lot of different, you know, if they're Punjabis, they're Bengalis, there are people from Pakistan, Indian Muslims or, you know, there are so many communities. We're not just one community. We all look different. We maybe speak the same language like, you know, a little bit, but Indian food, we are so regional. We are so different people. So they have to understand that India is such a big country and we have communities here from different communities. So I think some communities might have partners who are very helpful and chat about it, but then there are communities who wouldn't and they will and you can't have tablets for it. Tablets sometimes don't work. You need to understand that your body is going through something which is a part of us. It's it's it should be proud of it. We should not be, oh, what is happening? It should be a part of it, like it's your body changing. Women who can create babies, women who can, you know, have periods, it's all a part of a journey. It's all a part of something that is, I think it's it's is beautiful. And then I think for me, when I want to talk about it, is no, the menopause program has been done. But come on, it hasn't been done to the Asian communities or the black communities where they might not have that kind of help, the language barrier. Then there is so many taboos about, you know, we cannot talk about it, or this is not, this is not a problem. It's not a problem. It's a part of a body that's changing. So I think there are so many of those. And then there are there's also poverty in some of the communities. But also that they don't want to talk to go to a doctor and then talk about that. I think, you know, being in in UK, which is not a poor country, and then having going to some communities, they're struggling like you said with pads, sanity pads. I think that's appalling that a rich country like us will be having that issues. But I think that is so important that which you said you did that work. I think somebody round can help people that is so, so important and going to schools as well. You know, younger, when we when we talk about drugs in school. So why drugs are bad for you? This, you know, smoking or alcohol, there should be classes for A levels or or people who are going to go to uni or whatever, they should have those. They should have that talk about it and with young men as well, like young boys, because then they will understand. Then you will be able to give the support. I don't get that that we're not doing that in schools. But I think, um, like you said, there is a lot of awareness, but I think the awareness with our communities are not not reaching.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. And that lived experience piece, I think is very important because, I mean, that's the reason why we're having the conversation today. It's very easy for me to talk about the menopause and the different drugs that are available, the exercises that we should be experimenting with, the things that would help with weight gain or some of the the mental health issues that accompany a change in hormones. But without an appreciation for the lived experience of someone that encompasses the cultural taboos, the the day-to-day, the conversations that are not happening within families or across communities, it it's kind of meaningless. And I think that's why you as a woman of South Asian origin, talking about it with your position is is it's so important because it will enable a lot of other women to feel heard in this discussion.
Romy: It's also, you have to understand it affects you mentally, not just physically, it affects you mentally. Then you go in your zone and you don't, you're thinking everything is against you, everyone is against you, and you're doing things which's not working. And also understand that not everybody can afford to go to a gym. Fine, you can't afford to go to a gym. There's a way on now social media, you can do yoga at home, you can walk. So there are certain things if we could explain it to people, there are certain things that your body, you can do it without going to any of these. You can do without paying. So I think sometimes it comes, the barrier comes with the money issues as well, without not help any any any, you know, there are doctors like I have a friend who's a GP, he would always say to me, you will never come to women issues with me. You are my friend. He's a woman doctor. So I think that we need to like, no, you know, Dr. Johnson, I would say, don't call me Dr. Johnson. You're not coming to me. But I think that is something different you can go it. But I think if you have if you haven't got the help, then it's really hard, I think.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah. You mentioned food and obviously food is a huge part of your life. Within Bengali community, Punjabi as I am, you know, we we do have a sweet tooth. We do like our heavy base creams and curries and stews and all that kind of stuff. What have you changed within your own diet and what kind of conversations are you having with other women and other families about how they can incorporate more nutritionally dense foods that could help with menopausal symptoms?
Romy: So I grew up in West Bengal. So I'm also like you, very Punjabi. But I and my husband is he's a Punjabi. He's a very Punjabi. He eats a lot of he's got very sweet tooth. But the problem with him is skinny, tall, six foot four, skinny. And it's like, come on, where is that going? I think what I have changed in my diet and also that we all eat now because the daughters have left home, that if I'm making something, he's got to eat that also. We're not going to have two different things. But if I in Bengal, a lot of people eat fish. So rice is their diet and Punjabis, we have a lot of lentil pulses, which is really good for you anyway, and then the wheat based. So what I have changed in my diet, if I want a fish, the other day I did a mustard fish, like a blended into mustard seeds and lemon juice and salt and pepper. But I had a drizzle of oil and cooked it in the oven rather than pan frying it.
Dr Rupy: Right. Okay.
Romy: So I steam it's or you could steam it as well. And then you don't need any oil. So I in a parcel, like I don't have banana leaves at home. So I just a baking sheet, wrapped it around and it cooked like within 10 minutes it was done. And also don't overcook your fish. You have to have eight to 10 minutes. This, you know, 180 degrees, you know, you can't if the moment you're cooking, the white stuff is coming, it's just just have to have that kind of thing. So what I've changed is also like if I'm doing any kind of dal, and sometimes I see on social media, dal that drives me crazy because our dal, like Punjabis, we have the tadka on the side, which is the tempering and then our dal we cook. But just, I think ghee, if you use very little of it, it's very good for you because it's a good fat. So years ago, I did not understand that that a fat which can be bad, the oils which can be bad. So I think reading books, understanding during my menopause, ghee is a good fat. So if you're using a teaspoon or a tablespoon, whatever, and making a little tadka, you're actually making for six portions or five. You're not using too much.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah, 100%.
Romy: You need that good fat in you. The amount of exercise I do, I need that good fat in me. So I think that I have been starting to learn and how to moisturize onions. Like, you know, remember when I said it drives me crazy when people don't cook the onions and don't give love to the onions.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah. So just to clarify that because you you want, you know, a good 15, 20 minutes on your onions before you start adding.
Romy: That's a the best tip for people, don't even need 15 minutes is onions cook on high heat. Okay. So if you're cooking onions on high heat, whether you're using oil, butter, ghee, whatever, any kind of oil you're using, make sure your pan is very hot. You add the oil or ghee, it expands. So you're using less, first is that. And then second, when you when the pan is hot, the oil is hot, you add the really diced small onions in it, cook in high heat. So what happens, it the onion does not absorb the oil. So the moment you're cooking on low heat, the onions will absorb the oil. You will need water, oil more to more, more, yeah. So high heat, continuous stir within five to six minutes, the onions will caramelize. And then you add whatever ginger, garlic, tomatoes you want to add. So tomatoes are always really good if you're using fresh or tinned. That kind of brings the water for you. So you don't need to add more water. So within 10 minutes, your paste is done. Oh god, I have so many things I've learned recently that you can do. And my dad's a very, very good cook. So he's he teaches me so many things. And he's like, why are you adding more oil? Why aren't you doing this? So I think those things have made me so much aware. And then again, like vegetables, if I'm making aloo gobi, I will not do it in a pan now. So I will have my onion, ginger, garlic, whatever I'm using, and then florets of the cauliflower with potatoes, sprinkle with spices I'm going to use, and then chilies or whatever, and then tomatoes in it, little bit of drizzle of oil in the oven, I make my aloo gobi.
Dr Rupy: Oh, so you bake it.
Romy: Bake it. So I'm trying to do all those things. But also if you're going to do it in a pan, and that also, you're not looking at it, you don't have to waste time, you can do something else. But if I'm doing a pan, I will make sure how I'm doing it, you know, that I'm not using a lot of oil. But I just kind of understand like reading different books, which oils are good, which fats are good for you and you need that. But at the same time, instead of adding cream, I would add nuts.
Dr Rupy: Right. Okay. Yeah.
Romy: So I would add nuts to make it creamy. Like, you know, if I want a creamy kind of chicken, I will add nuts to it. Different kind of nuts.
Dr Rupy: What kind of nuts do you use?
Romy: So I'll use, I know cashew is quite high. So if I have cashew, almonds, even hazelnuts. What I do is blanch them. So you take the skin off, then you grind it and then you blend it and you use it. Almonds, anything kind of nuts you like, pistachios. It depends on which dish will go with that. You can't just have any nuts in your dishes. So I learned that that you can make it more creamy without adding all that. But then nowadays, you know, coconut milk, light coconut, but I just tell people that if you can buy fresh one, the easy tip is like in India, the women would grate it and you can make your own coconut milk. It's much.
Dr Rupy: It's so much better. I know. I wish I lived near a place that had fresh coconut. I know. Just like grating it.
Romy: You get that contraption, don't you? That you put on the side of your kitchen and you just.
Dr Rupy: You can do that. You can just, if you have time, you can grate it and then you can do loads of different things, which I've I have in my next book. So the tips and things like that. I have I have said to people like you can do these way and and I think awareness is like I'm learning. I'm I don't know anything A to Z about India. That's why I write books is all about travel cookbooks and and it I learn so much from different people how you the techniques and methods. I think it's important that we should eat everything, but just like not fattening things every single day.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think there's a time and place where we can have the full like full fat or whatever it might be. And I think what you're articulating there is like a very big difference to how we all can consume to optimize our our well-being because, you know, for certain people at different stages of their life or going through the menopause, they might benefit from a very low carbohydrate diet, for example, you know, and they might have astonishing results. They they lose weight, they feel better in themselves, their numbers improve, their cholesterol ratios improve, all those different things. You give the same high fat, high protein diet to a man or a woman from from South Asian origin, could have the complete opposite effect. And I I've seen patients and and even, you know, close friends of mine go on these low carbohydrate diets and the cholesterol ratios just go like through through the roof. And it's because we utilize and partition fuel and fats differently, all of us. So, you know, what might sound a bit too starchy or too carb heavy with lentils and sweet potato and all the rest of it, actually may be beneficial for a lot of people and being mindful of the fats as well. And I agree with you about, you know, ghee or olive oil or even like little bits of butter as well. As long as you're using the appropriate amounts and you're spread, like you said, you're spreading it across like four, six servings, then that that is a great way of using what is a very important nutrient to absorb all the other vitamins that we have in things like dark green leafy vegetables that require fat for absorption.
Romy: Also like millets are very important, like ancient millets in India, traveling which I've learned is so good for you. And and if you want to have, you know, carbs like that, have millets. Millets are the most amazing, you can make so many different flat breads with it. But also like, you know,
Dr Rupy: What do you call it? It's a bajra.
Romy: Bajra and jowar. That's it. Yeah. So you can eat those and, you know, like corn. Corn, yeah. Um, so different parts, ragi, which is again a different kind of a flower, which you get in the mountains and I've been, but you can find in this country now as well. I think also in UK, we should go back to our how it started, go back to the millets. Millets need less water to grow as well. It's very good for the environment. I think also I'm thoughtful of what I'm eating. I'm not just for my body, but also important what I'm kind of, you know, you need a legacy for your whoever is going to follow you. It's really important to kind of do that. And my love, I I really have fallen in love with bajra and jowar because I just think you need also need to know how to make those, you know, it's just a tip and trick because I couldn't make them and I used to get angry with them, but now I just learned how to make them. It's so easier, so quick and so good for you.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah. You we were talking about lentils. And so the the way you make lentils, I'm assuming is you you make them plain and then you add the tadka afterwards. Are there other ways that other people in different parts of of India, Bengal or wherever about that would would make?
Romy: So there are so dal, when people like when I've did my first book, there's a dal recipe which is a very Bengali kind of start. They it's a very broth, it's very runny because some part of in Bengal, they will have a like water liquid dal first. So people need to understand dals cannot be starchy all the time, cannot be thick, cannot be there are hundred ways of making lentils, okay? There are so many different lentils as well. So some take longer, some take less time. But you have to like, um, you know, in Bengal, like my friend's mom would make the dal with turmeric and salt and then she would put mustard seeds and green chilies or thing later on. You know, just like on the top just before serving or my another friend of my mom, she would cook ginger, garlic, everything in or curry leaves, she would add and then cook the lentils and the other ingredients together. So that is easier. It's like a one pot wonder. So you're not wasting too many pots either. So I think there are so many ways. I just what really annoys me is people making coconut dal all the time, but please learn how to make it because there's a way of making it, you know? But then you taste it and then you taste somebody, you will understand what I'm talking about. I think it's the cheapest. So everybody has red lentils at home. It's the cheap, good, healthy diet that you can use. And if you're a meat eater, I've learned from chef Gil Miller, who's a wonderful chef. He taught me once he came to my restaurant as a guest chef, that if you put red lentils and you want to slow cook your lamb, whatever leg of a lamb you're cooking with onion, ginger, garlic, whatever you want to put and put the lentil in, it gives you the most creamiest, wonderful meal that it is so delicious. So there's so many ways of making it. Then you can make pancakes with it. You soak it, blend into with some spices and then you can make a pancake. Chilla, we call it in some some parts.
Dr Rupy: What's it called? Chilla?
Romy: Chilla in like in Gujaratis, they call it chilla. So, um, and then, um, you can just use make the pancakes, savory pancakes, which is in Jaika, you should make it, which is made in with, um, gram flour, which is, uh, pakora flour. So it's really good for you anyway, because you know that chickpea that is not chickpea. When people say gram flour and chickpea flour is same, it's not. So the the gram flour is made of black chickpeas.
Dr Rupy: Okay.
Romy: So the black gram is roasted and then it's made into that. It's not made from white chickpea. White chickpea flour is very different.
Dr Rupy: Okay. Okay.
Romy: So the ones we use in our house is from the black chickpeas. They're roasted and then.
Dr Rupy: What's the different name of it? So you have gram flour and you have?
Romy: The chickpea flour, like normal people use, you know.
Dr Rupy: It's just called chickpea flour.
Romy: Yeah, yeah. So don't, you know, the gram flour is is not is roasted black chickpeas. It's a black gram. It's like that, you know, that that kind of lentils that they use to make the flour.
Dr Rupy: There are a lot of patterns of Indian food that are actually very healthy. They're steeped in tradition and Ayurveda and everything. But the reputation of Indian food is stodgy, very high fat, not good for you, basically. That's the that's the sort of like impression that most people in the UK and the US would have of Indian food. What are the sort of, um, facets of of of our rich sort of diverse diet have you utilized in in your cooking that has helped potentially with your your menopause symptoms?
Romy: So the spinach is very good for you anyway, whether you're pregnant, whether you're going through what various things, you know, there's so many different ways of making it. You just don't have to have a palak paneer or a sag aloo, which English people call it sag aloo. So you can actually just use it in the lentils, you can use it in the meat, you can use it in various ways of doing it. So I think when for most of my cooking now involves a lot of ovens now, I do a lot of in the oven or one pot wonders I try to do because then you're using a lot of you're utilizing a lot of your things. And also I would say to people, just get a boxed vegetable box delivered, which is much, much more, or if you're living near South Asian shops, just get those boxes and there's so many different kind of vegetables there. So use those vegetables in not just frying way. You know, the okra can be cooked in so many different, which is very good for you. Again, it's it's got that starch, it's got that sliminess, which is good for you. And some people don't don't like it because of the way it's cooked, but you can cook it really crispy without deep frying it, you know? I haven't used one of those things which are going air fryers. I don't use it.
Dr Rupy: You haven't? You haven't got one?
Romy: I haven't, I haven't got one.
Dr Rupy: So look, look, I'm going to tell you, I was so snobbish about the air fryer. I'm very snobbish. Yeah, and my mum got onto it about a year and a half ago. No, probably two years ago. And I just thought my mum's, she's got all the gadgets you can imagine, like a dehydrator, the magic mixes, like all that kind of stuff. And I just thought this is just another one of those gadgets that's going to end up in the garage unused gathering dust. But the air fryer is pretty phenomenal. I I have to give it to her to her. It dries out the food quite a bit, but it gives a crispiness with very, very little fat required that I I can't replicate in an oven unless I'm using something like a Rational, you know, like in a commercial kitchen. I don't think this is a commercial gadget. I don't think there's any requirement for a restaurant to have it. But at home, it's pretty phenomenal. I've been using it quite a bit. Give me your go and give me the the straw man argument. Tell me what you don't like about it.
Romy: I don't know. I think it's laziness. You can you can make a really crispy potato in oven, I think, or.
Dr Rupy: But it's cheaper. It is cheaper. I think that's one of the reasons why particularly over the last like a couple of years has become pretty fashionable in houses because you don't need to preheat the oven. You can just whack it straight in. I'm I'm I sound like I've got an air fryer book. I don't. I haven't got any air fryer book recipes coming out at all. But I I don't know. I'm I'm pretty bullish on it.
Romy: I will I will, you know, it's like you and me, we get sent things, but I refused it. Maybe I should go back and tell them to give me one.
Dr Rupy: You should. You should. Honestly, and just try it. I'd be really interested in your thoughts on the the texture and, you know, the differences. I I put, um, the the two big things for me I I found are mushrooms, so just the ripped oyster mushrooms, put it in there with a little bit of olive oil and salt. Um, or aubergine, that's kind of what got me thinking about it. So just chopping it up and then putting it in there for again, like maybe 10 minutes. And the oven to get the same sort of texture, I'd need at least 15 or 20. Um, and, uh, oh, just yeah, like, uh, starches like potatoes. New potatoes I find like give a really good wedge.
Romy: So it's a good thing for students to have.
Dr Rupy: Definitely. 100%. Yeah, yeah.
Romy: Maybe I should go back and see. I don't know. I I love cooking. I love experimenting different ways rather than just putting them in there. Maybe I should. I don't know.
Dr Rupy: I I use it as an addition to everything else. So like, you know, I might put some white beans in it and then just get that crispiness and that will go on top of like my salad or whether I've made a curry or whatever it might be. It just gives a different element that I don't need to rely on my oven for. Anyway, that's my. There's my little championing of an air fryer.
Romy: Do you like slow cookers?
Dr Rupy: Oh, okay. Okay. So you do like. All right. So you do like some some.
Romy: Some slow cookers when I I don't use it anymore. When the girls were very little, so I would kind of put things in it, meat and and whatever I'm using, beans and let it cook while I'm doing something else. But I haven't used for years, but I do like it. Oh, dal, it makes a good dal. Slow cooker makes a good dal. So you can add everything in it and it makes really, really good. Even if a kitchery, if you want to make a kitchery, which is lentils and rice and spices and ginger, garlic. So you can do that as well. But air fryer I haven't. So I'm not being snobbish. I just find that I have so much time that I can actually want to create a recipe and then write about the recipe and then people can have that. Not everybody would like a air fryer. I think there are people who are writing books on it and they're brilliant books, you know. Um, what's the name? Poppy. She's written an air fryer book. I think she's brilliant. She does, you know, she's very good at what she does. She's fantastic. I think for me, I have to be different. I cannot be running around as what other people are doing. I don't have to follow. Um, you know, I don't want to be I want to be me. So I won't.
Dr Rupy: If it's not you, it's not you. Yeah, yeah.
Romy: So it's not me. I'm not nothing against it. But I just think I had a very good company sending me, which is quite expensive, and I said, no. Because I just think then I'm not going to be I'll become more lazy then.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough. It came out of necessity for me whilst we had the kitchen being built. I didn't have a kitchen. And all I had were these two air fryers that were sent to me. And that's when I became like a bit of an air fryer zeller.
