The Importance of Connection Through People, Culture & Cuisines

Building connections with different people, different cultures and different cuisines can help us to stay mentally healthy.

In this episode with Liz, we discuss:

1. How spices connect us to the world…especially when we can’t travel.
2. How she found herself as a single mother and therefore had to grow her business from a side hustle to where it is today.
3. Why she is so passionate about female entrepreneurs in emerging economies.
4. And so much more.

To watch this inspiring episode, click the video link below, or if you would prefer to read the full transcript click the blue button under the video.

[Music]

well hello

and welcome to the wine and wisdom show

thank you for being here tonight a

wednesday night

in april our last wednesday night in

april if you are here for the first time

cheers thank you for being here and for

those of you who are returning

again thank you so much for coming along

it’s so wonderful when i get to see your

smiley comments

not pictures i suppose but as you know

the show

it’s all about connection and i think

what we have learned more than anything

over the last 12 months is

as humans we crave to be connected with

other humans who

bring a smile to our face and warmth to

our hearts

and some wisdom to our brains and of

course tonight we’re going to be talking

about

connection a lot with my incredible

guest

but before i bring her on i’ve got a

couple of extra things to say to you and

firstly you know for those of you who

are coming here for the very first time

what we do here on the wine and wisdom

show apart from

having a little tipple is to for me to

be able to share

the incredible humans that i have been

lucky enough

to meet uh and surround myself with

throughout my life who

you know i believe are making truly

amazing differences on the ground level

uh to to our world and i think

well i don’t think i actually believe

that it’s just these people who are

behind the scenes is courageous these

resilient

self leaders who really are changing our

world

one person and one business at a time

and

tonight is going to be no exception with

that person because she is doing

some truly remarkable things but before

i introduce her i would first

love to acknowledge our

traditional custodians and elders spread

across the many lands that we are all

located on today

i’m personally coming to you from the

lands of the birrabirragal people

which you can see there in the balmain

area of sydney

but i do pay my respects to traditional

owners who have

nurtured and protected this wonderful

country

that we all get to work live and play in

so thank you to all of you all right

i am now going to bring up our wonderful

guest

her name is liz edgecombe hello liz

welcome to the wine and wisdom show

cheers to you

cheers to you liz thank you for being on

the show and for everybody who is

listening um

liz started an incredible company called

the spice people

25 years ago can you believe she’s been

in business

um all those years and it’s going to be

sharing lots of her

his wonderful stories from across the

globe and the impact

she is making with the fact that she is

what she calls a spice

evangelist which i love i don’t think

i’ve ever heard

of someone calling themselves that liz

so i’m i’m really to have

happy to have you as my first spice

evangelist on the show

you may have seen liz on channel 10’s

show called

my market kitchen but if not you should

go back but liz’s passion

and expertise is to bring

all the extraordinary spices from around

the world to your dinner plates

and because she does this it’s just this

incredible way for us to connect

cuisines and culture and people together

liz i know that’s just such a smidgy

little intro

but i would love for you to properly

introduce yourself

uh because you obviously know yourself a

lot better than i do

and share with all our uh audience about

you know what it is or the positivity

that you are sprinkling across our globe

thank you heidi i i have to say i think

you did a pretty fine job and

um yes spice evangelist it’s a bit

tongue-in-cheek but uh

many many years ago when i would go

around to

my customers i was called oh here comes

the spice girl so

i think spice of lentils is

girls in your 20s really i think aren’t

you otherwise that’s right you know

25 years ago maybe spice girl was apt

but

well thank you being with us so tell us

about tell us about that spot the spice

people and being a spice evangelist

uh well look you know it is a it is a

journey of 25 years so

to condense it all into um tonight i

will be sleeping over a few bits

for sure but um you know one of the

things that

i guess the spice people do and of

course me being behind the spice people

is that our passion is to um

open the door to a new world of cuisine

and flavor for everyone

so you said it in the introduction um

and that’s really what we’re trying to

do so

you know fundamental to all of that is

is as you said the connection between

culture cuisine and food you really

can’t separate them they’re

so inexpensively linked um

you know and for me by being able to

travel

pre-covered the world and and um

you know collect and share these

wonderful um dishes which are

infused with spices and wonderful

flavors

uh you know i’m really hoping to to

bring that back and connect and share

people’s culture with the world you know

so that’s really been

um a great motivation for me over the

years and along that journey i’ve you

know encountered all kinds of situations

and opportunities

which has shaped the spice people today

so um you know look at the heart of it

um

i’m a really passionate educator and a

storyteller really

and spices are just my tools of the

train

yeah i love that and i suppose um

i’m sure you will agree uh liz that when

we are using spices to

to bring culture and cuisine to our

tables that

they go really well with wine don’t they

and that’s what we should be doing

connecting those beautiful spices with

wine what have you got in your glass

tonight

um i have a lovely rose from

peninsula so there you go

so that’s one of my favourite drinks yeah

i’d love to know what everybody is

having

at home what are you having is it a red

or white a beer or bubbles a gnt or a

cocktail or a mocktail

uh let us know in the comments uh of

what you’re drinking but

while you’re doing that liz uh i had a

guest last year he talked about

the one the wonderful dance between

choice and chance

and when we were talking about that he

was just

we were talking about how our life

you know it’s these can be those sliding

door moments where all of a sudden we’re

off this

on this track but other for some people

is something that they’ve wanted to do

since they were little girls or little

boys

what are what what was it for you what

brought you to what you were doing now

was it

was it choice or was it chance let it

let let us all know

oh look i love that and i i actually

think there’s a third part there

it’s like it’s choice and it’s chance

and then the third one is ability and i

think when they interconnect

you had something special and whatever

that is for you

and that person it’s always unique and

for me

there was a whole lot of chance um and

opportunity that that led me to the

spice people journey

um but then in the end to be here 25

years

i had to have some ability hey maybe

that’s the spice evangelist bit

oh yeah i’d imagine so but you know

do you know what i mean it’s like you

really you have to have that ability

to to run a business grow a business um

and do those things so

you know not everyone gets that that

chance and that opportunity

they might have made a choice that they

want a better world or they want to get

there but you know not everyone gets

the opportunity and i think that’s

that’s one of the things in life you

learn that um

when you get that opportunity don’t

squander it

because you don’t get them all the time

and you’ve got to be brave enough to

just go

hello this is could be it this could be

worthwhile

let’s just go for it and and have a go

and

um nothing ventured nothing gained uh

and i guess that was for me

how i sort of dove into the spice world

um i was just really you know i’m not

i’m not a chef

i don’t have that background i’ve got a

you know i’m a country girl

i’ve got an egg science background um

and postgrad in business so

i did have the capability uh to run a

business

technically technically

you live you learn a hell of a lot when

you get going i can assure you oh yes

you certainly do

you do and so for me it was just i once

i started traveling

and enjoying meeting these people and

enjoying the cuisines and the cultures i

just wanted to

recreate them myself if initially

but then as you say the choice and the

chance came along

and i had the opportunity to actually do

something with

herbs and spices um and share them with

other people and that was the journey

and um and then the beginning of it and

uh you know you can

see there’s been an evolving uh process

for

many years and liz you know i know that

you

i mean you started this as a side hustle

in fact it was just something you’re

doing on the side and then you found

yourself

to be a single mother all of a sudden

and really had to work very hard to

create this side hustle

into something that could support you

and the family

uh how did that all happen because

that’s that’s not a i wouldn’t imagine

that would have been an easy thing to do

well how did the divorce happen well

like everybody else’s

pick yourself up dust yourself off um

you know i can laugh about it now but at

the time it was pretty traumatic

um and i remember your guest the other

day gail when she’s talking about

menopause

um and how she got through it i think i

probably tried to get through my divorce

that way as well

doesn’t everyone hit the bottle when

they go to menopause i don’t know

i don’t know yeah so anyway but look it

was tough

um and i didn’t have two young children

um

and so i really had to think carefully

about

how i would go forward so um i coined

the term the tortoise and the hair

um but in reality i i needed to be there

a lot quicker than that but it

yeah by the using the tortoise and hair

approach i actually got there quicker

than i would have otherwise because i

think sometimes

we have that whole um fear and panic

and worry and that stress

and you’re going it can sort of

immobilise you

so if you break it down into small

digestible little morsels um with

where i took the waters and the hair

where i just went five percent

if i just do this five percent better

than last week

if i just think of five percent

something better i could do in the store

what could i do with this customer how

could i make um

you know the bar you know the sale from

a hundred dollars to a hundred and ten

dollars you know

each time just do do those kind of you

break it down it was like then you look

back and you go

wow i spent an extra 150 you know so

it was you know figuratively speaking uh

but you know i literally doubled the

business within six months because you

know i

had two children to feed and um

to look after and i had to find a way to

do it and

even i knew the business had potential

and it was still it’s me small

i really needed to to level it up to the

next level and

back myself and it really came down to

that i just had to simply

back myself you know batten down the

hatches and just go

that’s it first all the way up the hill

you know yeah

and that’s my big bill panties yeah

that’s it and you know i i i surprised

myself

literally i literally surprised myself

and went oh my god i can do this

um and you know because you don’t

necessarily have someone around you to

support you with that because

you’re so busy giving support to your

children you know if you have another

partner or anything else

or other family members you know you’re

torn between a lot of commitments as a

woman

and so these decisions are pretty

important to

you know think about the way you go

about it rather than

just thinking oh my god i’ve got to find

a hundred thousand dollars quickly

so yeah so that was sort of you know my

philosophy yeah

and you know it stood me in good stead

and

um you know there are other things that

i do in my business that are perhaps

unique

i know a lot of times when people come

and visit

or call in for the first time if they’re

a new supplier

and things like that they they basically

sort of

say you really have a unique way of

doing things and i said really

i’m like doing this uniquely i thought i

was just doing what everyone else did

and yeah it comes from because i just

simply had to back myself

and find a solution and work it out

myself

and and you know maybe some things i do

are not necessarily the same as

everybody else

but in my world i thought i was doing

the same so yeah they’re right for you

right that’s

i mean that’s what you’ve got to go with

they’re right for you

and i mean i would imagine liz you know

having spices which come from all around

the world you’ve

you’ve experienced a lot of travel

because of that unfortunately

our world is shut down in that respect

but

spices could still bring us together

right they can still connect us

through our food how how can you see how

do you see it now where

in fact the spices that you’re providing

are actually able to connect people more

well i think the events of last year

really have and continue to

create a major shift and in people’s

values

and priorities so how the spices connect

you and help with that

well really simply at the heart of it um

coming together and sharing a meal um is

one of the most communal

and binding um kind of things in almost

every place in the world like we all

have to eat

um and you know one of the things about

spices is if you think of the spice

roots of the world

you just you’re immediately think exotic

you know you you’re inspired you’re

going you know the sahara desert and

moroccan knights

movies of lawrence and arabia the whole

world just tran

you just transported off into this

magical mystery

kind of tour and you know it kind of all

that sense of adventure

and excitement it just follows the spice

route so

dishes and flavors that are you know

i suppose iconic and famous along the

spicer to the world

are the ones you’re going to look out

and seek to because they’re going to

invoke the most

i suppose um you know warming

and and heartfelt memories and and you

know connect

people and things like that so i think

you know spices are really one of the

the greatest ways to bring the world

together i mean don’t forget look how

much time and energy was spilt

was spent in history creating this spice

route in the world in the first place

yeah all the british and the european

and the and the spanish and the

portuguese

when they and french you know they

conquered the world and bought all these

these spices that were so precious and

so highly sought after

um went to great lengths to get them so

there’s such a

great history and um amazing kind of

story

so it’s natural to think that dishes

that are exciting like that are just

going to

you know connect people and you know

give a bit of excitement and variety

when we’re all

you know we’re stuck at home and we

couldn’t physically see people

and stuff for that i mean i’ve even

heard people doing

zoom cook-ups with their families in you

know overseas and cooking dishes

and having a shared plate um so they’re

both cooking the same dishes in

different parts of the world

and sitting there with the zoom saying

well welcome to sunday night dinner

together again you know

something you know and having a shared

table so

you know it’s it’s um it’s wonderful

that that food and particularly

food that had spices really yeah you

know you play a great role in um

helping people be connected and their

sense of well-being

i think in this time and i’d love to

know for those who are watching either

now

or later on what is your favourite spice

you know what is the one that you use

the most in your cooking whether it’s

your

every you know week weekday cooking or

the one that you use when you have uh

people over

either at your table or via a zoom

screen

that you’re in your entertaining spice i

suppose you know what

what is that for you and liz while we’re

waiting for our audience to put a few in

what is

what is that one for you which one do

you use most

for me um yeah the new um moroccan

spice would have to be my go to um i

reckon i could write a recipe book and

maybe i will one day for 101 ways you

can use this spice

i just honestly it’s you know if i’m

just not feeling inspired to cook

anything different i’ll just get a pinch

of that

and just you know just sprinkle it on

something and just tickle it up whether

it’s a pumpkin soup

or rubbing it on a chicken or you know

making a beautiful moroccan tagine

you know i can just find so many ways

just to

liven up your food a little bit you know

just you don’t always have to make

you know an exotic dish you just you

know for me

um i’d rather use spice rather than salt

so for me just a way to you know add a

little bit of depth of flavor to

most of my dishes you know i even

sprinkle the moroccan on salads and

you know even um a whole lot of those um

you know those little salad toppers

where you cook you oh yeah

yeah pumpkin seeds and pepitas i’ll

you know toss them in um some moroccan

spice and a bit of oil and salt

and make them like a you know a lovely

crunchy topping for salad and

you know there’s so many ways you can

use it so that would be my

go-to but my favourite spice

that i absolutely love is an australian

native called lemon myrtle i could just

honestly i could get high on it i just

love

i honestly do it’s not that i i don’t

cook with it with everything

but i just love the smell and i’m just

always

you know you just do that with the lemon

myrtle all day

i actually yeah i love i’ve had the

lemon myrtle scented candles i just love

the scent but it is so delicious

absolutely beautiful i was actually

thinking today

um liz oh with kylie’s yo gosh

kylie i asked for one and you’ve given

us a whole lot

there but that’s lots of wonderful

spices

thank you for sharing that uh definitely

i love all those as well

liz i was thinking today as i was

watching the news and seeing the

terrible scenes in india

and thinking about the fact that so many

of

the spices that we all use and you

probably source from there and i’m sure

just watching

what’s going on in india knowing you

know the

how that’s linked to everything you do

has been pretty sad actually

ah look it’s just terrible a number of

my staff members

um are indian or sri lankan and you know

i’m constantly being updated you know

from the real

source if you like rather than the news

about what’s been happening in the

different areas

how their families are how they’re going

um

and it’s you know it’s hard to see i

mean i’ve i’ve spent over a month

traveling through india for different

areas of the spice regions and other

cultural areas

and so you know i’m really fond of the

people and the culture and the society

there and i really

i can see how hard it is for countries

of that size and population

to really you know handle something like

this because

their facilities just they’re just not

there and they don’t have

the infrastructure the support i mean

even

in a not when it’s not a pandemic the

death rate in these countries is huge

because of the lack of

facilities and capabilities to help them

so yeah look it’s terrible and um you

know we do get a lot of spices from

india and

uh we have been aware of the situation

for some time so

we have been working with uh people you

know to

basically order long if you like

um that we can you know still obviously

you know get our spices um but it’s the

shipping

around the world which is um which is

perhaps

actually making the biggest uh challenge

to all food companies

um yet products around the world because

of the

the um it’s it’s kind of like um the

shipping channels

there’s a lot of shipping in one

direction as i understand it

and not enough coming back the other way

so there’s no container swap overs and

things like that so

um you know the world has just gone

upside down everywhere

yeah you have i don’t know i don’t know

the answer but you know

my heart goes out to everyone there yeah

mine too

it’s it’s truly just devastating to

watch

and i know uh i mean you you do a lot of

work on the ground in countries like

india in regards to your link for

well your passion for helping um females

to start businesses and you do that

through a great organisation we’ve

talked about called

kiva uh i was looking at some statistics

today

in australia for example 30

of the businesses that that we have here

in australia are owned by women

uh i just i’d love to hear from you

regarding

what your thoughts are on the kind of

rise because it is a rising we’re in the

top 10 of the world of

uh female entrepreneurs what are your

thoughts on the rise of

women starting their own businesses what

why is that happening

i mean it’s a fantastic thing i’m not

like that’s what i’m trying to say is

that it’s just such a great

thing that more women are starting

businesses i think that in fact the

stats in america are

much more than australia but you are

very linked to helping other female

entrepreneurs to get started

why is that so important to you how do

you see this kind of rise in

female entrepreneurship happening what

do we need to look for and do

so we can do it better well there was

about five questions

yeah yeah i don’t know where i went with

that but i’ve somehow got five questions

in one

absolutely um look i think helping um

women in australia for instance i think

the biggest thing in australia and i

found it as well

that um the glass ceiling is really

still here

and as much as we are the land of

opportunity and we are so much

more privileged than many other

countries in the world

there is still a limit and there’s still

um

a kind of undertone in australia and i

think gail your other guest

mentioned it too where we really

struggle with success

and we really want to put a limit on

someone’s success

and in particular the success of a woman

and you know one of the things that i

have had to do

is to try and find ways through that

glass ceiling even as an entrepreneur

not just in the um

corporate world which i understand many

women you know struggle with

i certainly looked at it and went not

for me

um if i’m if i’m gonna bust my gut it’ll

be for me

um so i wasn’t going to bust my gut to

to be told that i couldn’t be the the

next ceo

simply because you know um you know my

my nose was crooked or something and um

you know i didn’t wear high enough heels

um so

uh but you know i still found it was it

was tough and you know look i’m i’m a

very resilient person

um and you know i’m very fortunate in

that

but not everybody is so you know really

for me it’s just about trying to

encourage

and extend the olive branch for those

that

aren’t that have the capability um they

want that choice

but you know everybody needs support and

um if i can encourage someone just to

you know believe in themselves one bit

more and and take that next step then

you know i

i feel that that’s really important

because those of us who are strong

enough

should you know be able to you know

extend a hand and help others that

aren’t as

strong in their emotional belief of

themselves and

you know anything you can do to help get

there is um

really what you need to be a resilient

woman in business and you know it’s

um it’s tough i i mean i had a new

employee that started only last week and

i was telling him about my journey

about some of the times when i could

have lost my business due to aggressive

competition

and i suppose underhand tactics

and things and i really had to dig in

and i had to fight you know there was no

doubt about it this was my turf and my

business and i

really had to be ten foot tall instead

of five foot five

yeah yeah yeah

but um but you know look i think one of

the things that i am

also very passionate about is is helping

with kiva which is what you

started on your journey

women around the world isn’t it women

around the world have this issue

so um but for me um kiva is um

the charity that we love to support it’s

our charity of choice

and the reason we do that is because um

you know

it is in these emerging economies where

very few people have the opportunity to

get funding for the simplest things like

you know a broken down piece of

machinery an extra cow to add you know

to

to you know so they can get milk to make

cheese to feed the family

um or you know a herd of goats um

or wire or fencing to repair their

fences so that they can keep their

livestock

and you know without that a lot of these

um

traditions and cultural practices and

ways of life will be lost because people

are going to go to the cities where the

factories are there and the allure of

work

because they can’t support their current

lifestyle so for us it was really

important to help people help themselves

in everyday lives so it’s not just about

when disaster strikes or anything like

that it’s

it’s it’s helping people to you know to

keep their lives and keep their culture

and keep their practices alive

and you know educate their children um

you know keep them fed and

you know if my little micro loans to

each of these groups of communities of

women

help them do that um and i know they do

that’s the best part about kieva is i

know they do because

they repay their loans and i mean it’s

just such a beautiful time like

you know when you give to a charity and

you feel good about it

isn’t it wonderful to actually get that

direct feedback

that your your loan has made a positive

impact on someone’s lives

because you know because that loan has

been repaid and you get to see

that and then you get to learn it again

you know

so yeah beautiful it’s it’s a really

i really feel good about the charity we

support

yeah absolutely and i think you know

when we come back to

the our theme for tonight about how

this kind of connection between people

cuisines and culture

it just that encompasses everything

you’ve just that said in fact lives

because

you know via your success through your

business that you are kind of paying it

forward to

other people people who are buying your

product

they’re connecting through cuisine with

people around their table or via a zoom

screen

across the world and there’s just this

beautiful link between what you’re doing

and this connection

piece and you know as i said right at

the beginning you know this show is

really all about connection because i

truly believe that

a connection i mean it makes such a

difference to our lives it makes such a

difference to our mental health

it makes such a difference to the way we

show up

every day and the types of

work that you’re doing is not only

connecting you to other people that you

don’t even get to meet but you

allow them to connect with others

through their businesses

that they create connect the connection

that they get to have with their

families because they’re able to

send their children to schools and

there’s connection there

so it’s just this incredible ripple

effect that can

just keeps on going um so thank you for

what you’re doing and i

i think it’s a good time for us to bring

up uh the fact that we have mother’s day

coming up and

and you’ve got a wonderful way to help

people connect

um with their mothers or their

godmothers or their fur baby mothers

whatever

that might be through a

wonderful offer that you’ve got would

you just like to

take us through that yes look i mean

well we’re talking about connection and

supporting and resilient women

um mum’s the word isn’t it so i think

it’s you know it’s always nice to

um to give back at mother’s time

and show you care so we’ve put together

a little pamper pack in the food so

we’ve got a gorgeous little chai infused

candle

with a lovely little spice bag where you

can store your spices

and we’ve got a beautiful treat from

bramble and hedge which is a

gorgeous little homemade nougat

um and we’ve also got our beautiful chai

which is all natural sugar-free

um preservative-free and you brew it

in the teapot so you can see the three

sort of levels of indulgence if you like

beyond beautiful just the simple one

that you can show mum you care

uh so yeah just a little treat so not

only are we helping people around the

world with kiva where

we’re trying to give something to mums

everywhere

yeah so i will put that link to everyone

watching now or later i’ll put that link

in the comments so you can click on

and use the code uh to get 10 off

and liz is actually going to match that

10 that that discount

and pay it forward to kiva so that um

other women around the world to have a

gift

as well coming up um over the next

couple of weeks which is just beautiful

so thank you liz for doing that i think

well said i’d forgotten about the whole

you know special deal but you know as

you do when you’re

talking but yeah look we we’d love to

declive and what a great excuse to um

give a little bit more

absolutely now i have two final

questions for you the first one is

obviously the last year has been a very

tricky one you work in an or

in a sector where you are relying

on as you said before transport to get

to and from this country so you can

continue your your business and you’re

used to being able to travel to all

these

these different places to to source what

you’re wanting to source

that’s all stopped um things have had to

change rapidly in the retail space it’s

been very fast-paced

and ever-changing the way people are

consuming and buying

so i wondered you know what what do you

do

now to ensure that you are resilient

enough

to deal with this ever-changing

and sometimes overwhelming uh business

world

or just personal world that you’re

living in what what what do what are the

practices or the one

main thing that you do to keep yourself

resilient

um yeah always a good question there’s

probably never one answer

but my go-to is i call it switch it up

it’s just a simple thing that you go um

you know switch it up change gears

change direction

get out of there yeah you know

basically if you’re stuck in that spot

if i

for me if i go for a walk or a bush walk

or

walk the dog or go for ride my bike or

do something practical

that’s got nothing to do with work or or

whatever other emotion it might be

attached to it could be family pressure

certainly last year

there were family pressures because

suddenly you know

the whole world is imploding and that

included your children and

your you know your parents and everybody

else so there was

um a whole lot of extra additional

emotions that weren’t there in other

years

uh and they all had to be worked through

and they’re not easy journeys um

for sure so there were plenty of times

when i didn’t need to switch it up you

know i

i generally don’t get down too often but

yeah i certainly had my moments last

year and

i just found if i i call it moving

meditation

if i get out there and do something that

is that

this just removes me from all of that

noise i i get it’s my i get that space

to breathe and

and um you know and and the way forward

becomes a lot more clear so for me

you know doing something physical like

that and and um getting out

and out from that that situation is the

best thing for me

for sure because you know we all need it

none of us are superhuman

i’d love you to answer sophia’s question

there about the most rewarding thing you

felt you’ve done during this journey of

being a spice evangelist

oh look that’s probably pretty simple i

mean the most rewarding thing for me

is what i give to everyone and you know

for me

nothing gives me more joy than when i

find a beautiful dish somewhere in the

world and i bring it back

and i recreate it and i make it easy

and available for everyone else to do

that i just you know

for me this is my gift to the world is

to be able to bring it from here

to make keep it as authentic as we can

and um but just to inspire others to

try these beautiful dishes and and hold

their hand and say

it’s really easy to achieve it’s it’s

not hard

you know just bust out of your routine a

little bit

and you know see what a wonderful thing

that

cooking these dishes can do to your

sense of wellness

and enjoyment in life because you know

that’s the biggest

the biggest legacy you can do is in your

life is to know that you’ve contributed

to the

enrichment of people’s lives and that’s

what spices do it’s it’s an

enriching culinary journey and that’s my

little gift to the world it you know it

sounds like i’m not trying to be

you know hoo-hooey but um or anything

like that but i’m just saying

everybody has a gift in what they do and

i just think i know that that’s my

special thing that i can share with

people and you know that’s what gives me

the greatest joy

yeah and that’s beautiful listen i mean

when you look you look at someone like

kylie’s comment here and you know she

she’s got like she i know kylie and

she’s actually an ex

excellent um cook but spices like you

know we just love them and

again just exactly what you’re saying

about this beautiful connection between

people and sharing of food and what that

does to our wellness

and our mental health and the way

we feel about ourselves it’s such a

beautiful thing

um so that’s great the last question liz

uh we’re on the wine and wisdom show

we’ve

we’ve had a little wine together um as

another one

everybody else has now it’s time for

wisdom i’d love to know

what is the most impactful piece of

wisdom that you have been given in your

life

and why did it make such an impact to

you

i think um it’s a really simple one

um and that is go for experience over

asset every time

and what i mean by that which is you

know a cliche perhaps but

you know there’s in life you only have

one life

and if you live it well you don’t need

one more than one

so are you going to regret that lifetime

experience of traveling with someone

who’s a friend a colleague or a great

adventurer

are you going to regret not going on it

because you bought the lamborghini

that’s my question in life and and you

know as much as it sounds so simple you

can apply that to just

so many situations yeah and i think

really for me you know i’m not madonna

i’m not a material girl

for me it is about experiences and

that’s what keeps me invigorated and you

know you need

something to keep you invigorated you

know when you buy something

even when it’s new clothes and things

like that you fall in love with it for

five minutes you wear it once or twice

and then you go you know and so that but

you talk about your journeys and you

talk about your experiences

you reminisce with family and friends

and that’s that connectedness isn’t it

it’s really

it really is deeper than you know as i

said i say you know go experience that

asset every time but it really comes

down to a much deeper

meaning than that and you know that’s

what that’s what keeps us whole that’s

what keeps us anchored

that’s what gives us a sense of being

who we are and

you know that’s really important because

if you know who you are

you’re comfortable with who you are um

you know that’s

you know it’s just a good feeling you

feel much better don’t you about

yourself

you sure do and i think we can and

you’re so right with those experiences i

think we can all

remember just those experiences that

we’ve had around

around the sharing of food and the

connection of people around the table

somewhere either you know down at the

park

under a tree you know or in you know in

the past

in some far-off land it’s just that

sharing of experience that

fills our memories and fills our lives

and it’s what fills us up and makes us

feel wonderful and again just

saying that word again which i can’t

stop tonight but or ever really

it’s that whole connection piece and

it’s just so important to our lives so

liz thank you so much for coming on

tonight

and sharing your wisdom and sharing this

journey that you’ve been on

from side hustle to this incredible 25

year journey where

you’ve gone through many ups and downs

but what you’ve done

all along the way is not only connect

the people with

beautiful food and beautiful spices and

beautiful recipes

but you’ve also paid it forward so

there’s other women around the world who

have been able to

start businesses and have that

connection and

the and give them the financial courage

to be able to

start something beautiful so thank you

very much for what you’re doing

and i think everybody would agree that

um having wonderful wonderful people

like liz in the world

is such a great thing i will be putting

the link to her website and the link to

that

beautiful opportunity to get some lovely

gift packs for

the mums in your world that would

um yeah also pay it forward to other

women around the world so

thank you everybody for being on either

now or in the or when you’re watching it

later

liz thank you again uh cheers to you

cheers to everybody watching

and um i look forward to seeing

everybody in two weeks time

all right thank you so much i’ve loved

it

yeah great to have you on thank you liz

bye good night everyone

[Music]