Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice

After a short hiatus Eleanor is back and this week she spoke with Will Pham , a British Vietnamese artist and community organiser, about identity, migration, and the role of art in storytelling. This episode reveals how identity is shaped across generations—and how art can bridge personal history with collective memory, especially within diasporic communities navigating change. Will reflects on hi...

On Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice this week I spent some time with Shan, a friend from Coventry who came to keep me company over Christmas. Shan came to the UK from China over 20 years ago. We discussed the unique journeys of mainland Chinese immigrants compared to those from Hong Kong and other regions. We explored the diverse cultural landscape of Coventry, language barriers and cultural adj...

Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice this week is James Lee. You can also listen to this episode on Spotify , YouTube and Apple Podcasts James and I first met at the House of Commons during a campaign to ratify the Istanbul Convention. Since then James' career has taken him from being a trustee at Muscular Dystrophy UK, City Bridge Trust to his current role as director at Publica, an urban design pr...

In this week's episode of Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice I was delighted to talk to the multi-hyphenate and award winning artist and author Khairani Barokka. We discussed how she first came to the UK, her book, Annah, Infinite , published by Tilted Axis Press in September and why she wrote it. Okka's new book is an experimental work of creative non-fiction that challenges art history, confront...

This week I sat down with the brilliant James Olabre. James is the Operations and Development Manager at Transport for London. We were both directors at EVR (End Violence and Racism Against ESEA Communities) now rebranded as Sesame .Over the years we have met at events but never quite managed to have a proper chat. I wanted to know more about him as a friend, and his life as a Filipino in the UK....

Very pleased to have Jasmine Thien on Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice this week. Jasmine is a fully blind, Bruneian born Chinese actor, writer, spoken word artist and stand up comedian. Her work explores intersectionality, ableism, culture and trauma in ways that are authentic while remaining accessible to all. Jasmine has written a semi autobiographical play called I Dream in Colour . She will...

This week I sat down with Pierre Tran. Pierre is a Paris based reporter, who has worked for specialist websites, newspapers, international news agencies, and magazines, covering corporate news, politics and financial markets. He has also been a sub-editor. Pierre and I first met in 2023 at the National Union of Journalists Delegates Meeting in London. We had lunch together with other union members...

I first met Anthony Leung when I was hotdesking at the Design district. Anthony is the founder of Mean Write Hook , a media and marketing company with vision. He moved from Hong Kong to Canada and then to London. In our conversation, he talks about the impact living in such different places has had on him - he feels as much Canadian as he does being from Hong Kong. We also talked about cultural in...

Dr. Ahneez Abdul Hameed is a Malaysian medical doctor specialising in clinical microbiology. She's also my friend and classmates' daughter from back home in Malaysia. I met her as a child when her mother, Begum came to the UK to do her postgraduate studies. We caught up recently when Ahneez came here to do some exchange work. I asked her to make some time to do a podcast with me, and she graciousl...

Naziaty Mohd Yaacob is an architectural educator, entrepreneur and artist. She is a former associate professor and architectural design practitioner. Naziaty (Naz) and I first met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when I was there on a family visit. I’ve always admired her work as a disabled activist and her work as a lecturer. She fights for both accessibility and access. In this episode we talked about...

Daniel York Loh is a phenomenon in the cultural scene. An actor, writer, playwright, director but also a social activist. Forgotten 遗忘, 2018 He is also an activist. In this podcast we discussed his works and his philosophy and our interest in Wuxia (Chinese martial) films. But most of all I appreciated the opportunity to chat about novelist and co-founder of Ming Pao, Jin Yong's work. Daniel’s r...

I have known *Lin for a few years but didnt know much about her life before she moved to the UK. Today's episode was an opportunity to delve into that - her leaving Vietnam as part of the boat people in her mother's stomach. Moving from Hong Kong to the UK, and to the U.S. Coming back to London as a single mother. It was not easy. *Lin's decision to study acupuncture for the next stage of her life...

In this week’s episode I discuss the term 'balik kampung’ with David Kam. David and I are both from Malaysia. 'Balik kampung’, in Malay, signifies going back to your home town/village. Being in London and the barriers to going back because of Malaysia's inaccessibility as well as the non-acceptance of LGBTQ people are topics that are rarely discussed. However concepts of home and how we place that...

This week in Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice I meet Bonnie Chui. Bonnie has impressed me since we first met and even more so since we became friends, agreeing on women's rights and discussing on accessibility and disability rights. In today's episode we discuss being a mother in an intercultural and multicural context. I’ve been in a similar position but while I was a full time mum, she also ru...

Welcome to Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice . I’m Eleanor Lisney I was born in Malaysia and have since lived in the UK, France and the USA . Over the next few months I’ll be interviewing ESEA people about food, culture, disability and intersecting and shared identities. This week I meet Eric Wu who is a Master of Public Health student at Imperial College London. He is a registered dietitian and...