Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People | Claudia Roden - Coco and Poussy (133/155) @webofstories | Uploaded October 2023 | Updated October 2024, 17 hours ago.
To listen to more of Claudia Roden’s stories, go to the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFxE7ofp5PbJrqZf8sttxHqJ
Claudia Roden (b. 1936) is an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/Mizrahi descent. She is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including "A Book of Middle Eastern Food", "The New Book of Middle Eastern Food" and "The Book of Jewish Food". In this unique interview for Web of Stories, Claudia Roden is talking to her granddaughter Nelly Wolman about her life in food. [Listener: Nelly Wolman; date recorded: 2022]
TRANSCRIPT: I called this woman whom I had met in London, who had been – or maybe she was still – a member of Parliament. And she told me, 'We were invited to have drinks at my cousins'. And so, where do they live and so, over there. Immeuble Baehler. It's the Baehler Building and that was my building. And so, I thought how funny. But they were at the back of the building. Their lift. And so, I went in and there was this very distinguished man with grey hair, and she said, 'He is my cousin Coco. Coco Kousa'. 'Oh, hello'. I forget the second name, but I don't forget that one. Because 'kousa' means 'courgette'. And he was so distinguished, and he was a collector of fine art, and he was selling... he was buying and selling and collecting. He would go to Turkey, he would go to places to buy, and he would sell to Saudi. And he had all these incredible things in his flat. A very big flat and grand in the old-style way. And his servant came in and brought us drinks and mezze. And I just thought, this is wonderful.
And then there was a big painting... He had several paintings, but one... He said, 'This is my mother', and there was this beautiful woman in a green party dress. A long dress and he said, 'That's my mother when she was young. She's still around'. And then suddenly the doorbell went, and he said, 'Ah, there's my brother Poussy'. Because Egyptians love pet names. So, that was really lovely to be there. Also, the brother was very distinguished, elegant man. Grey hair and of course I dyed hair, I would have had maybe one or two grey hairs in those days. Or maybe more. And when I came back, I told my mother about going to the Baehler Building and I said there was this painting of his mother. And she said, 'Well, you know who they are. They are the Poussy and Koko that you were fighting all the time'. We were fighting downstairs in the... there was a sort of big central circle. And throwing things at each other when they appeared from our balcony. And they did to you. And I just thought, 'Oh my God, are they the ones?' Yes, they were. So, it was because I just kept thinking that it was a world that totally disappeared. But I did meet people that I knew from the past. And I realised, no, it's still there, just we went away.
To listen to more of Claudia Roden’s stories, go to the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFxE7ofp5PbJrqZf8sttxHqJ
Claudia Roden (b. 1936) is an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/Mizrahi descent. She is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including "A Book of Middle Eastern Food", "The New Book of Middle Eastern Food" and "The Book of Jewish Food". In this unique interview for Web of Stories, Claudia Roden is talking to her granddaughter Nelly Wolman about her life in food. [Listener: Nelly Wolman; date recorded: 2022]
TRANSCRIPT: I called this woman whom I had met in London, who had been – or maybe she was still – a member of Parliament. And she told me, 'We were invited to have drinks at my cousins'. And so, where do they live and so, over there. Immeuble Baehler. It's the Baehler Building and that was my building. And so, I thought how funny. But they were at the back of the building. Their lift. And so, I went in and there was this very distinguished man with grey hair, and she said, 'He is my cousin Coco. Coco Kousa'. 'Oh, hello'. I forget the second name, but I don't forget that one. Because 'kousa' means 'courgette'. And he was so distinguished, and he was a collector of fine art, and he was selling... he was buying and selling and collecting. He would go to Turkey, he would go to places to buy, and he would sell to Saudi. And he had all these incredible things in his flat. A very big flat and grand in the old-style way. And his servant came in and brought us drinks and mezze. And I just thought, this is wonderful.
And then there was a big painting... He had several paintings, but one... He said, 'This is my mother', and there was this beautiful woman in a green party dress. A long dress and he said, 'That's my mother when she was young. She's still around'. And then suddenly the doorbell went, and he said, 'Ah, there's my brother Poussy'. Because Egyptians love pet names. So, that was really lovely to be there. Also, the brother was very distinguished, elegant man. Grey hair and of course I dyed hair, I would have had maybe one or two grey hairs in those days. Or maybe more. And when I came back, I told my mother about going to the Baehler Building and I said there was this painting of his mother. And she said, 'Well, you know who they are. They are the Poussy and Koko that you were fighting all the time'. We were fighting downstairs in the... there was a sort of big central circle. And throwing things at each other when they appeared from our balcony. And they did to you. And I just thought, 'Oh my God, are they the ones?' Yes, they were. So, it was because I just kept thinking that it was a world that totally disappeared. But I did meet people that I knew from the past. And I realised, no, it's still there, just we went away.
