Monica Galetti

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs Podcast. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:43

My castaway this week is the chef Monica Galetti. As a judge on T V's master chef The Professionals, she's been sharpening contestants' skills and occasionally cutting them down to size for over a decade. But food has been central to her life since the beginning. Her first memories are collecting eggs and mangoes on the family plantation in Samoa. After moving to New Zealand, she trained in hospitality, making a name for herself in the cutthroat world of competitive cookery, before following her dream, moving to London to train with restaurant royalty, the Roo family.

Presenter1:17

One of the few women to have made it to the top in her profession, she's now running a restaurant of her own, named in honour of her mother, who taught her the values that have been central to her success. She says, There's always a problem. Every day there's a problem. The main thing is to keep calm. If you lose the plot, the team will see it. And the last thing they need to see is us at the top running the show panicking. Stay calm and be quick on fixing a problem. Stopping a problem head on is vital.

Presenter1:44

Monica Galetti, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you for having me. So, if ever there's been a time to keep calm, Monica, it is now.

Monica Galetti1:52

Is now, isn't it? Isn't it just?

Presenter1:55

So Monica, of course, along with the rest of the hospitality sector, you're dealing with the all consuming problem at the moment of coronavirus, and your restaurant closed for the third time late last year and then remains closed today. How are you managing on a day to day basis?

Monica Galetti2:09

You know, the last closure, it was the third time, was really tough. Everyone was coming up to Christmas season, so you had pre-ordered everything from your suppliers, and we were given 24-hour notice, you know, and there was just so much money. I won't say wasted, you know. I gave a lot away to my team to make sure everyone had a doggy bag to take home and they were okay for a few days with it all. But to the business, it's just a complete write-off. And the pressure must be really intense.

Speaker 12:34

Yeah.

Presenter2:40

How are you coping with them?

Monica Galetti2:42

Um better, I guess, because we've had a few runs at it now.

Monica Galetti2:47

You know, the first lockdown was real emotional for me. It took me, you know, a couple of weeks to really accept what was going on, going from complete madness and being so busy to doing nothing. So I had to adjust to it and accept there was nothing I could do about it. And I think that's the hardest thing for people like me who are control freaks. You know, there's just taken out of your hands. You can't plan for it. You just got to accept it in some way and find a way to focus and get through. Keeping busy or finding a routine during the day, a reason to get up and be busy is what I've found has helped.

Presenter3:25

You're very good at keeping cool in a crisis. Is it true that you once cut the top of your finger off during a cookery demo and just kept going?

Monica Galetti3:32

I did. Oh my gosh, that was horrible. You know, bless. And I had a little girl on on stage with me helping. And this poor little girl, I hope I haven't put her off for a cookie. She says, Are you gonna be all right? And I was like, Yeah, yeah, don't worry. She goes, Okay,'cause you've got you're bleeding everywhere.

Monica Galetti3:50

And I was like, oh, it's nothing. And, you know, until I got off the stage, and they tried to find the other part of it. But right, because the

Presenter3:56

Right, because the quote I have about the other partners lobbed it into a bin.

Monica Galetti4:01

Yes, I just wiped everything off the bench into the bin because I had a little girl with me and I didn't want her to freak out or to panic. You know, so I just quickly wiped everything that was on there, including the top of my thumb. Yeah, so.

Presenter4:09

So just

Presenter4:15

On that rather brutal note, it's time for disc number one. What's it going to be, Monica, and why have you chosen this?

Monica Galetti4:21

This number one is Three Little Words by Bob Marley and The Whalers. Couldn't be more true to how we are at the moment. And also for me, just memories of family getting together, Christmas mornings in the summer in New Zealand. And it's just a feel-good tune.

Speaker 34:40

Long war

Speaker 34:43

Bow to say

Speaker 34:49

It'll be alright.

Speaker 34:52

And we don't worry

Speaker 34:56

How do they

Speaker 35:00

Everything

Speaker 35:02

Gonna be alright.

Presenter5:05

Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and the Whalers. Monica Galetti, you were born on the island of Upolo in western Samoa. Tell me a little bit more about the place. What what's it like? It's paradise.

Monica Galetti5:16

It's just, you know, beautiful, clear blue waters, some of the most friendliest of people you you will come across. And our culture is, you know, very much about music, dance, family, food.

Monica Galetti5:31

It is very special to me.

Presenter5:33

So you lived on a plantation, you had lots of extended family close by, so there's a strong kind of family network there.

Monica Galetti5:39

Yes. We have, you know, a family plot, big family plot. There's like a main house there and then around that would be sort of smaller, you know, homes of other relatives. So, you know, it was just a great place to grow up as a child. You were never alone. There was always someone to play with.

Presenter5:57

And when it came to play, you were a bit of a tomboy, so I'm imagining lots of climbing trees and stuff like that.

Monica Galetti6:02

Absolutely. You know, climbing trees, always getting in trouble because I'd sit on a on a cocoa plant and eat the, you know, the pulp that you make chocolate from.

Monica Galetti6:10

You know, and getting a smack on my bum'cause, you know, they say you'll get so tummy if you eat too much of it.

Presenter6:11

Um and I

Presenter6:15

Now your biological father wasn't part of your life, but as I mentioned in the introduction, your mother was a huge influence. How would you describe her?

Monica Galetti6:22

very strong. She became the the head of our family. The the Samon uh way of life is, you know, sort of run by the head of the family who's sort of the title of a chief. And my family is sort of quite prestigious in in the title that they come with. And so mum was head of the family for a while until she passed.

Speaker 16:31

Of

Monica Galetti6:39

Uh

Presenter6:39

She was the main breadwinner and worked long hours, I know, when you were young as a telephone operator. So who looked after you and your siblings while your mum was working?

Monica Galetti6:47

My aunties had um Auntie Bigne was the the main one in in charge because Auntie Balsau was in a wheelchair'cause she was born with polio. But you know that didn't make her by any means the the the less strong of the two'cause she had opinion and the man she could pinch, you know, if you were naughty or if I was naughty, yeah, I'd get a pinch, but also very loving, you know. I remember them, you know, holding me to put me to sleep, you know, some some nights I remember crying, wanting my mum and and and stuff and Auntie Bigne just rocking me to sleep.

Presenter7:21

And from the time you were five or so, you got involved with food preparation. What was your job?

Monica Galetti7:27

Um, I was just so curious. Um the majority of the hard work that was done was what we call a umu is is um when all the food is sort of baked uh in a huge pit. They make a fire with uh volcanic rocks. And when the d fire dies down you take it all apart and all the food's been prepared and mixed some by the women and and the men like uh you know a whole side of pig for example. The vegetables are wrapped in banana leaves and the fish like so.

Monica Galetti7:51

And you then layer them inside these rocks and cover it up with banana leaves so that it's sort of roasting and steaming at the same time. So I used to try and help out. I think they sort of got in the way more than anything. Trying to peel like the green bananas with them. They have this peeler that they sort of made with a piece of wood. And I just remember being covered and getting all sticky with it.

Presenter8:13

Before our stomachs start rumbling, Monica, I think we'd better get into disc number two. Take a moment for some music. What are we going to hear next?

Monica Galetti8:17

Take a moment

Monica Galetti8:19

Next is a tune that really means so much to me. It's called Sam War Matalasi, My Beautiful Sam War by the Five Stars.

Presenter8:27

And your mum used to dance to that. She was a dancer.

Monica Galetti8:29

Yeah, I mean our culture is is very much you know a lot of it is to do with Samoan dancing, traditional dancing. And another one of my first memories I I remember was sitting on a veranda watching my mum on in a dance group practising and just how graceful she was.

Monica Galetti8:47

Babu Sar

Speaker 38:48

Amoae Batalasi.

Speaker 38:56

Ua si do sio mira el esam.

Speaker 39:04

A to Mangala Dulawa.

Speaker 39:12

May I feel?

Presenter9:20

Samoa Matalasi, my beautiful Samoa, the five stars. Monica Galetti, when you were very small, your mother and stepfather made the difficult decision to emigrate to New Zealand. How did you find out they were leaving?

Monica Galetti9:33

Yeah.

Presenter9:33

And how old

Monica Galetti9:34

Were you?

Monica Galetti9:35

I think I must have been about five, five or six. Yeah. I don't recall being told that they were leaving. I think I said goodbye to her one day and then sort of being explained in the way that mum had gone away. But, you know, at that age, you just think, you know, mum's gone away, she's coming back. But, you know, she had taken my brothers with her, my two older brothers with her at the time, and my aunts, who had raised us, you know, while mum was working in that, sort of pleaded with mum to leave.

Speaker 19:54

Yeah.

Monica Galetti10:07

me and my sister back in in Samoa with them.

Presenter10:10

Of course, you know, you you would have known, you must have been told that they were trying to build a better life for all of you.

Monica Galetti10:17

Yeah. You just you know, I had no understanding of thing at that age of of what a better life was when for me I was having a good life, you know. Um, I thought things were good at that age. Yeah.

Presenter10:30

They were sending money back to you for your upkeep, to your aunts, but a few years later it stopped coming. What happened?

Monica Galetti10:36

All of a sudden I stopped going to school and then I I remember we didn't have food for a long period of time, for for a few months, and um one of the aunts big family uh another one of the aunts was sort of uh tapping into the money that mum was sending before my aunts that were raising us could get to it.

Monica Galetti10:56

So you didn't what how

Presenter10:56

How did you survive? How were you keeping it?

Monica Galetti10:58

Um, I I recall being very hungry, um, having to eat rice for like breakfast, lunch and dinner. And to this day, I can't really eat rice because of that. And then just realizing then all of a sudden

Monica Galetti11:11

My sister and I were on a plane to New Zealand. Okay, so your parents had my mum had found out and that was when the penny dropped and my you know, my auntie's uh auntie saw and and

Presenter11:15

My mom had found it.

Monica Galetti11:21

Auntie Beana had to tell my mum what was going on. Yeah, um and I think at first they were quite afraid of telling mum because they knew they were gonna lose us.

Presenter11:24

Yeah.

Presenter11:29

Yeah, of course. And you and that must have been difficult for you too, saying goodbye to them.

Monica Galetti11:29

Of course.

Presenter11:35

Hmm.

Monica Galetti11:36

Um yeah, it was it was really sad because, you know, you just didn't realize that, you know, you were seeing your aunts for the last time and all of a sudden you were on a plane, you know, and that was the the the goodbye to to Samo for me. So, yeah, it was tough. Incredibly

Presenter11:54

Emotional for you still. I can hear it in your voice. I mean, you were only eight years old.

Presenter12:00

How do you think those experiences have gone into making you who you are today?

Monica Galetti12:07

I think, you know, they just make you stronger. Our our way of life and and and the way, you know, that um we've been brought up is these things happened. You can be angry about it, but dwelling on it is is sort of quite poisonous for the soul.

Presenter12:25

Alright Monica, time for your next disc. Tell us about what we're going to hear and why you've chosen it today.

Monica Galetti12:30

Oh, this is a good one. This is um You Oughta Be in Love by Dave Dobbin. So this is from an animation that ran in.

Presenter12:36

New Zealand and was huge. Am I right?

Monica Galetti12:39

Yeah, The Foot Rock Flats. You know, Annie Kewie, you know, sort of knew this from the the eighties, I think, uh, when it came out. And it was about a working farm dog and this song came out uh when he had fallen in love.

Presenter12:41

Um

Monica Galetti12:54

Dog in love. Yeah, but it was huge. I mean, you've got to check out Foot Rock Flat. You know, for me, it's sort of, you know, we've taken on another country, another culture, and adapted and then grew to love New Zealand. And it's just, again, something that evokes a lot of great memories from New Zealand.

Presenter12:55

Yeah, but it was just

Speaker 313:13

A winning love is hard enough to find

Speaker 313:20

When you got it, never leave it behind.

Speaker 313:27

How long?

Speaker 313:29

Give it all you have.

Speaker 313:33

When it's given back

Speaker 313:35

Be a powerful man and where is he coming?

Presenter13:43

You oughta be in love. Dave Dobbin featuring Ardesia.

Presenter13:47

So, Monica Galesi, there you are in New Zealand and back with your family, initially in Auckland and then Wellington. It must have been quite a culture shock, leaving a small island to go to a big city. What do you remember about that time?

Monica Galetti14:00

Yeah, it it took a while to settle into food being so different, you know, and also, you know, having to learn English and I just missed blue sky and ocean. Even though there was a lot of it in New Zealand, it just wasn't the same. You know, I missed walking around barefoot because I just found the ground too cold.

Monica Galetti14:24

Um yeah, it was

Presenter14:25

Was a a big change for us. And am I right in thinking that, you know, at that point your your first career choice was to be a brain surgeon?

Monica Galetti14:35

Um yeah, that was a few years later. Um I I think it was more, you know, um watching my parents and over the years that were to come as accumulation of of their struggles and and their sacrifice, I'd always aimed to do well in some way so that they wouldn't have to work so hard anymore.

Presenter14:55

After you left school, you began studying for a diploma in hospitality management. Would you say you were a good student?

Monica Galetti15:01

Once I'd walked into that kitchen, I had never been more focused on anything. I knew exactly where I was meant to be and this was my calling and I would do nothing else.

Presenter15:13

And what was it that that that just connects?

Monica Galetti15:15

connected with you.

Monica Galetti15:16

Um, I walked into the kitchen and the chef was piping

Monica Galetti15:20

Chocolate decorations, the old classic decorations you did, you know, to set and then you put them on cakes and what have you. And I thought it was the most amazing skill I'd ever seen and how beautiful it was. And I wanted to be able to do that. You know, things like the butchery and how quick that he was doing it. I was so amazed by it. And I think it was so different from the food culture that I'd grown up with. You know, there was so much more thought and it was precise as opposed to the one pot cooking, which I absolutely love still. But, you know, it was just so amazing to me. And I knew it's what I wanted to do.

Monica Galetti16:00

What

Presenter16:00

We'll find out where that epiphany took you next after some more music. This is disc number four, Monica. Why have you chosen it?

Monica Galetti16:06

Hotel California by the the Eagles. Oh my word, I absolutely love this song. I was in in school and I think I must have been like fourteen or fifteen and and I remember this guy Aaron getting up during the school assembly and playing this and singing to it.

Monica Galetti16:24

And I just thought it was the most amazing thing. Poor guy, I think I followed him around for like six months after that. And it wasn't because I had a crush on it, it was just to make him play.

Monica Galetti16:34

The song for me, I used to hide every time I used to enter the music room.

Speaker 316:40

Welcome to the Hotel California!

Speaker 316:44

Such a lovely place, such a lovely place, such a lovely face.

Speaker 316:52

Rent in a room at the Hotel California Anytime of year, any time of year, you can find it here.

Speaker 317:05

I'm like a strippin' he twist

Presenter17:09

The Eagles and Hotel California, which Monica Galetta, you can listen to as many times as you like on your island. It's not going to be rations. After dawn, it's all yours. Thank you. So, Monica, after you graduated from college, you got a job as a chef in a fine dining restaurant in Wellington. And it's around that time that you started taking part in culinary competitions. So, how did that happen? Why did you start doing that?

Monica Galetti17:15

It's not

Monica Galetti17:31

Yeah. The chef there was a very competitive chef and Stephen asked me if I'd be interested at trying my hand at the competition and I said, Yeah, I'd like to give it a go. Turned out I had a bit of a flair for the competitions. I went on to sort of win the regionals and in Wellington and then won the national competitions overall in New Zealand and then that took me abroad to start competing, representing New Zealand and in Oceanics and then in European competitions.

Speaker 117:45

Yeah.

Monica Galetti18:01

I just had this crazy hunger to learn.

Monica Galetti18:04

And I mean, I'd I'd finish work at midnight and my boss would then get a box of ingredients out. They'd all go home and I'd stay there until about two in the morning knocking up a three course meal. And I thrived on it.

Presenter18:16

So in the late 90s you travelled round Europe and eventually came to London. How did you get your first break once?

Monica Galetti18:23

Since you were here. Growing up as a young chef, the cookbooks I had and I remember were in the The Rue Brothers.

Monica Galetti18:30

And the Rue brothers, for me, back then and even now, you know, it's like gods of cooking. And I just think, wow, it would just be amazing to just meet them one day. And whilst I was travelling, I sent my CV off to, of course, the waterside, to the Gavosh, you know, basically of the top restaurants back then, you know, in the 90s. And Gavosh were the first to reply. And it meant stepping back down to a commie position. I was already like... chef apart, I've been cooking like six, seven years already. But I didn't care. I had my foot in the door of the most amazing kitchen. And, you know, if that's what it meant, then that's what it took. What was it like working in such a prestigious kitchen?

Presenter19:12

Yeah.

Monica Galetti19:13

Frightening.

Monica Galetti19:14

I think the fear is something you sort of instill in yourself as well. You know, there's so competitive in that kitchen. Everyone wants to be better, if not as good, as the chef cooking next to them. You know, or Michelle would go on his break in the afternoon and he'd be shouting out, Make sure you all get out and have your break. He was like, Yes, chef.

Monica Galetti19:35

And as soon as he left he'd all sneak back in the kitchen.

Monica Galetti19:39

But it was also an amazing experience to to to be able to to learn in that kitchen. I'm quite on you know, lucky that I was taught butchery by Michel Rue Junior. I know that he said of you that he was tough on you as a mentor.

Presenter19:52

Or but because he knew you were good.

Monica Galetti19:54

Yeah, you know, he told me that much later on. It would have been nice if he told me that at the beginning.

Monica Galetti20:01

I guess he can show favouritism, you know. I knew I was his favourite all along.

Presenter20:08

Time for disc number five. What have you chosen for us and why?

Monica Galetti20:12

Disc number five is La Vien Rose by this version is Louis Armstrong's. There's been many versions of it but for me this is one of my particular favourites. I remember this one sort of you know in my 20s, the excitement of about to leave New Zealand to travel and of course you know where it's taken me to to now.

Speaker 320:40

Be close and mold, be fast The magic spell, you guess This is Lavi and Roo

Speaker 320:59

You kiss me every size

Speaker 321:04

No I close my

Presenter21:06

Mm-h

Speaker 321:06

Uh

Presenter21:06

Louis Armstrong and La Vianrose.

Presenter21:11

Even today, Monica Galetti, restaurant kitchens do tend to be male-dominated. Why do you think that's still the case?

Monica Galetti21:18

Well, I think nowadays you're seeing much more women in the kitchen, definitely in my own kitchen, so to speak. I employ a lot of women and there's more of us out there than when I started. I remember there were months when I'd be the only woman in that kitchen. But I think over the years the mentality has changed. It's okay to ask for help, you know, to lift heavy things instead of trying to be as strong as the guys, you know.

Speaker 121:40

We know it a little bit.

Monica Galetti21:47

And I know in my kitchen, the best way to get the best out of my team is not to shout at them. Yeah, you're going to lose your temper if something goes wrong and you shout at the situation. But, you know, if my team are happy and you gear them up for a service, you know, it's like, come on, guys, are we ready? We're going to smash this. And everyone's like, yes, Chef, I love that. You know, that excitement firing them up as opposed to just constantly belittling someone, telling someone they're no good. And why are you doing that to someone if you're wanting them to be at their best?

Monica Galetti22:21

Have you ever been in in environments that weren't so positive? Yeah, you know, and and in different kitchens and and what have you. And how did you deal with that? You know, I had a lot of anger when I was much younger as well. So, if someone got in your way, you told them, get out of here, you gave as good as you got. Absolutely. And also, being a tomboy, I had, you know, I had two older brothers who used to kick my butt, you know, taught me how to be a bit tougher. So, I guess I knew how to cope with guys a bit more. And also, for me, once I had a chef's jacket on, you were fair game. Everyone was a chef.

Presenter22:37

You gave as good as

Monica Galetti22:55

So it's about the jacket, not the person. Yes, it's the jacket.

Presenter22:55

Uh

Presenter22:57

Yeah.

Presenter22:58

But you were angry, too, you said. I'm going to have to ask you about that.

Monica Galetti23:02

I did my first year at the GAV and I got a phone call on this Wednesday morning around Michelle giving me the phone and telling me, you know, come in the office and take the phone call. It wasn't a good phone call. My partner at the time was back in New Zealand, had sort of passed away overnight. So I had to leave and go home. I remember I trashed Michelle's office. Yeah, I think absolutely destroyed Michelle's office. So I went home back to our house, dealt with the funeral and everything. And I spent a year back at home. And then I run up Michelle.

Speaker 323:20

Um

Speaker 323:26

Yeah.

Monica Galetti23:43

And he was like, oh, I think he said, you know, how's it going? And I just said, I'm not doing well, Chef. And he said, come back.

Monica Galetti23:50

I just couldn't be in New Zealand anymore. It was too painful to be there. There was just so many memories. So I had to leave and I knew I wasn't coming back. And I wanted to escape. And the Gavoche was the perfect escape. It's all I could focus on. You know, to get through it. It was all I knew.

Presenter24:09

Let's take a minute to hear some more music, Monica. It's time for your next disc. What are we going to hear and why is this going with you today?

Monica Galetti24:17

This is My Girl by The Temptations. And, you know, this was actually, it still is, a song that I used to sing and play for my daughter since she was born. And I remember, I think, when she was about five, and we were dancing around a lot in the kitchen, and it came on, and she was like, oh, it's my song.

Monica Galetti24:38

Of course nowadays when I play it for her she just rolls her eyes at me.

Speaker 324:41

Got some chef.

Speaker 324:45

On a crowded day

Speaker 324:51

When it's cold outside

Speaker 324:55

I've got my month of May

Speaker 324:57

Uh

Speaker 325:00

I guess you say What can make me feel this way?

Presenter25:12

The Temptations with My Girl. So Monica Galetti, Michelle put you forward to be a judge on MasterChef the Professionals and you joined the team back in 2009. On screen you have a reputation for being forthright and formidable but reviewers can be quite sharp and some at the beginning even dubbed you nasty Monica. That must have been difficult to deal with.

Monica Galetti25:35

Yeah. Uh You know, I just sort of wish they'd come and say it to my face. They wouldn't dare.

Monica Galetti25:40

You know, it was a different world, isn't it? I was just a simple chef. It's all that mattered to me. And then to suddenly end up on television, there was no preparation of what would happen once you took part on a TV show to sort of deal with negative sort of feedbacks about who you are and what you do, why she has a tattoo on her wrist. It was just a lot for me to accept feedback, being called a so-and-so and being harsh and what have you. This was back in the day when just started, social media just sort of taken off then. For me, I was just doing a job and perhaps spoke too much in the beginning the way you did as a chef.

Speaker 126:13

Uh

Speaker 126:15

Back in the day when so short

Speaker 126:18

Yeah.

Monica Galetti26:29

Um, and and just realized maybe the language has uh got to change a bit more. So what was that? Just very direct? Yeah, yeah, very direct. And I don't know, because I was a woman doing it, uh, you know, I was being called a Ramsey, really.

Monica Galetti26:43

But eventually

Monica Galetti26:45

You just learnt to deal with it. Did I deal with it? Well, I just stopped watching the show.

Monica Galetti26:51

Whenever it was out, it used to give me a panic attack knowing it was happening. Really? So you never watched it?

Presenter26:54

Really? So you never

Monica Galetti26:56

No, because it was associated in the beginning with a lot of negative feedback. So much so, I remember some nights when the show would come on, I'd jump into bed and my daughter just to like shut it out. So, you know, eventually you harden up to it and you just learn to just ignore it. It's not a real sort of judgment on who I am as a person, as a mother, as a chef. It's you know, people with pretty big keyboard and they've got nothing to spend their time on. But yeah, it's been amazing being a part of that show. And it's the nurturing side of it and the discovering of new talent, especially when we're down to like the final 10 or 12 chefs and we're spending more time with them. It becomes very tough to start losing them at that point. I mean, sometimes our judging can take hours trying to make sure that you know we keep our favorites and then we're making the right decision. And it is very serious. We take it very seriously.

Presenter27:57

Yeah.

Monica Galetti27:57

Tap.

Presenter27:57

Time for some more music, Monica. What are we going to hear next?

Monica Galetti28:00

Next has got to be, you know, one of my favourite, favourite, favourite songs, and any of my daughter attests this. It's Purple Reigned by Prince.

Speaker 328:12

A move break

Speaker 328:14

Yeah.

Speaker 328:30

I never wanna be a man, I just wanna we can't

Presenter28:38

Prince and Purple Rain Monica Galetti and you are wont on occasion to bust out some serious air guitar to that track out.

Monica Galetti28:46

How can you not?

Presenter28:47

Yeah.

Presenter28:49

Monica, as I said in my introduction, there are very few women who've reached the heights that you have and few people of colour too. I know that you've said you want to see that change. What needs to happen, do you think, for it to do so?

Monica Galetti29:01

Yeah.

Monica Galetti29:02

I tend to think that

Monica Galetti29:04

It's because of the backgrounds that we come from, you know, culturally. You know, I come from a similar background where, you know, the food is very humble, it's very simple. The world of fine dining can be frightening, you know, if it's not what you grew up in. And I think when the doors are just thrown open and you're given the confidence to step into that world, you know, without any barriers at all, and you've made to feel very welcome in it, you know, that you belong, then it's no longer as frightening. And I think the interest of food has shifted to be more inclusive, which makes us feel that actually, yeah, my style of food is going to be all right, or I can give it a go. I remember making for the first time some Samoan food from Michelle and a sort of bit nervous about it, you know, but he lost it. I think I did the pork buns for steamed pork buns. Basically, street food was offering up for Chef Michelle to do. He loved it. Absolutely. Of course, he did.

Presenter29:52

Yeah.

Presenter30:04

You own your own restaurant, Mary, along with your husband David. He's the head sommelier. How did the two of you meet? Were you on pastry at La Gavroche and he was on wine with a wine storage at the pastry window?

Monica Galetti30:17

Yeah.

Monica Galetti30:19

Um there are some cellars outside the Gav and he used to s you know, be out there working and I was in the pastry. I used to always knock on the window to say hello. Um yeah, he said he knew he was in love with me when he first saw me. So that's why I tell everyone he fell in love with me in love at first sight, you know.

Presenter30:35

Oh, through the window. Yeah, he can help himself. And he must have a nice glass of wine picked for you at the end of the day. That's got to be one of the perks.

Monica Galetti30:36

But yeah.

Presenter30:42

Of course is the whole re

Monica Galetti30:44

She's an unmarried her.

Presenter30:48

So Monica, I'm about to cast you away. What do you think you'll miss?

Monica Galetti30:51

At the moment we feel like we're stranded on an island.

Monica Galetti30:56

Yeah.

Presenter30:57

In trade

Monica Galetti30:57

You're just ready to go.

Presenter30:57

You're just ready to go.

Monica Galetti31:01

Um, I it's it's conversation, it's people.

Presenter31:04

Yeah.

Presenter31:05

Well, you'll have your discs to keep you company and we'll allow you one more before we send you off. It's disc number eight, then what are we going to hear, Monica Galetti, and why is it going with you?

Monica Galetti31:14

Disc number eight is a feeling good Nina Simone. It's my go-to tune when we're about to go out, for example, doing something exciting, or waking up on a Sunday morning knowing that it's going to be the three of us. It speaks for itself.

Speaker 331:32

And I'm feeling good.

Speaker 331:41

Fish and you see, you know how I feel.

Speaker 331:47

River running free, you know how I feel.

Speaker 331:53

Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel.

Speaker 331:58

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new

Presenter32:03

Nina Simone and Feeling Good. So it's time to send you away to the island, Monica Galesi. I'm giving you the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare to take with you. You can take another book of your choice. What would you like?

Monica Galetti32:15

The complete works of Oscar Wilde. Um I was helping uh a friend of mine clear out um her book collection, they were downsizing, and came across it. I think it's ten years I've had it, and I said, Oh, this looks good and she says, Oh, take it and I don't even think she's read it.

Monica Galetti32:34

still in an immaculate condition and it sits next to my bedside table because I said, you know, one day I will get and every now and then I'll maybe pick it up and read up one of the poems in it and then put it back down. So ten years later I still haven't read it and I'll probably have to be on that desert island to actually finish it. It's time has come. You're in for a treat.

Presenter32:52

You could also have a luxury item. What would you like?

Monica Galetti32:55

Luxury item would have to be diving gear.

Monica Galetti32:59

I have a Paddy open water certificate and I love diving.

Presenter33:03

And finally, which one of the eight tracks that you've shared with us today would you save from the waves?

Monica Galetti33:08

Ah, yeah.

Presenter33:09

That's a terrible thing to

Monica Galetti33:11

After

Presenter33:11

Horrible. That's why we leave it till last.

Monica Galetti33:11

Horrible that's what

Presenter33:13

Ah Uh

Presenter33:15

Three little birds

Presenter33:17

Bob Marley, it is. Monica Galetti, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you so much.

Presenter33:37

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Monica. I'm sure she'll finally make some headway with Oscar Wilde during her time on the island. Over the years, we've cast many chefs away, including her mentors, the Roo Brothers, Ruth Rogers, Keith Floyd, Raymond Blonde, Delia Smith, and Nigella Lawson. You can hear all of those programmes via the Desert Island Disc's website and on BBC Sounds. Next time, my guest will be the entomologist, George McGavin. I do hope you'll join us.

Speaker 134:14

Hello, did you know that in a million years there'll be no more total solar eclipses because the moon is gradually moving away from the earth? Or that during China's Cultural Revolution people were arrested for bourgeois habits like keeping a pet or wearing tight trousers? I'm Melvin Bragg and those are two of the extraordinary things I've learned while presenting the latest series of In Our Time. Each week I ask three expert academic guests to break down and illuminate everything from quantum gravity to the nature of humanity, from Confucius to Augustus, from Beowulf to Baudeker. So if you're curious about the world around you or you simply want to win your next general knowledge quiz, subscribe to In Our Time on BBC Sounds.