Tea with Tooting Mama
Tea with Tooting Mama
Podcast Description
My personal Substack tootingmama.substack.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on Sri Lankan culture, food, resilience, and personal journeys, with episodes like Mahesha Rice's story of overcoming adversity, Tasha Marikkar's exploration of Sri Lankan cuisine through her cookbook 'Jayaflava', and Krisha Puwanarajah's insights on her food business connecting people to heritage.
Join Ranji Thangiah, also known as Tooting Mama, as she sits down with chefs, cookbook authors, restaurateurs, hoteliers, and food entrepreneurs to explore Sri Lankan cuisine. In each episode, guests share personal stories, food memories, and their favorite Sri Lankan dishes.
Expect laughter, life lessons, and even heartbreak, as they reflect on identity, family, and rediscovering their roots. Whether you’re after insights into authentic Sri Lankan recipes, connecting with the vibrant Sri Lankan food culture, or hunting for the best Sri Lankan food spots, Tea with Tooting Mama is your perfect podcast companion.
In this episode of Tea with Tooting Mama, I’m talking to Laura Hicks about her remarkable life story, starting at age 17 with her battle against a rare form of bone cancer. She discusses how her illness led to a deep passion for cooking, taking part in MasterChef.
Laura is a dual heritage British Sri Lankan. We talk about how this affected her growing up, how she brought Sri Lankan food to Masterchef, and how this experience led her to a career in food and reconnecting with her Sri Lankan Dutch Burgher heritage. Laura has done a lot to showcase Sri Lankan food on mainstream TV, but this wasn’t without controversy as trolls questioned her right to identify herself as Sri Lankan.
Laura highlights the influence of her family’s hundred-year-old cookbook, created by four generations of women, the challenges of balancing motherhood with her restaurant career, and how she hopes to publish her family’s cookbook.
At the time of recording, Laura was pregnant with her third child. I’m delighted to say Laura has since given birth to her gorgeous son, Billy Hynes.
00:00 Introduction and Early Life
00:18 Battling Cancer at 17
00:54 Chemotherapy and Its Aftermath
01:27 Discovering a Love for Food
03:16 Journey to MasterChef
04:04 MasterChef Experience
06:57 Sri Lankan Heritage and Family
09:06 Identity and Cultural Challenges
12:31 The Hundred-Year-Old Cookbook
13:23 Exploring the Family Cookbook
13:51 Generational Cooking Stories
14:12 Diverse Culinary Heritage
15:27 MasterChef and Culinary Career
16:10 Supper Clubs and Popups
19:40 Balancing Family and Career
21:50 Favourite Sri Lankan Dishes
24:52 Nostalgic Restaurant Memories
25:58 Future Plans and Aspirations
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