{"podcast":{"title":"Conversations","slug":"conversations-320217","podcast_index_feed_id":320217,"rss_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/feeds/7711104/podcast.xml","website_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/","image_url":"https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/9419a7d446ad3f4620983df5d8d048f1.jpg?src","author":"ABC Australia","episode_count":2000,"summary":"Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption. Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC's most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, weaving together narratives from history, science, art, and personal storytelling. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more at the Conversations website.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-24T00:20:44.125501+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-320217"},"episode":{"title":"Top-secret cake recipes and a 'Garden of Eden'—nourishing the soul with homestyle Jewish cooking","slug":"top-secret-cake-recipes-and-a-garden-of-eden-nourishing-the-soul-with-homestyle-jewish-cooking","published_at":"2026-08-26T01:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-320217/top-secret-cake-recipes-and-a-garden-of-eden-nourishing-the-soul-with-homestyle-jewish-cooking","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-320217","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/merelyn-chalmers-monday-morning-cooking-club/107066110","audio_url":"https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/nq/Z/sp.mp3","summary":"Monday Morning Cooking Club's Merelyn Chalmers her family's story of survival, and piecing together hundreds of treasured family recipes from Jewish communities around the world, including her mother's top-secret yellow cake recipe. Merelyn grew up tied to the apron strings of her mother, an Hungarian Jew who had survived Auschwitz and eventually ended up in Western Australia. In Perth, she met a man who had his own remarkable World War Two survival story, after fleeing Poland and being conscripted into the Polish regiment of the Red Army. For the couple, Perth became their Garden of Eden, where they raised Merelyn and her older brother in peace. From her mother, Merelyn learnt how to make the perfect pastry in her pyjamas at midnight; how to fry schnitzel properly; and how to make a succulent roast for Shabbat. And from her father, Merelyn learnt how to appreciate both an Aussie barbecue of snags and steaks, as well as the acquired taste of Gefilte fish. Years later, Merelyn would join a group of women who decided to raise money for charity by putting together a cookbook filled with treasured family recipes from Jewish communities in Australia and around the world. As a member of the Monday Morning Cooking Club, Merelyn finally convinced her mother to share her secret recipe for yellow cake, a chiffon cake that had become famous in suburban Perth. A Year of Jewish Cooking is published by Simon & Schuster. You can find out more about the Monday Morning Cooking Club online. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores cooking, cookbooks, holiday cooking, Jewish cooking, stories of survival, origin stories, Bondi, Shabbat, Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Pesach, Hanukkah, family…","meta_description":"Monday Morning Cooking Club's Merelyn Chalmers her family's story of survival, and piecing together hundreds of treasured family recipes from Jewish commu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3166,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/conversations-320217/episodes/top-secret-cake-recipes-and-a-garden-of-eden-nourishing-the-soul-with-homestyle-jewish-cooking/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-320217/top-secret-cake-recipes-and-a-garden-of-eden-nourishing-the-soul-with-homestyle-jewish-cooking.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}