Grand Gestures the nonna bear hug we all need

Have you ever thought about how much of who you are – who we all are – comes from our grandparents? In our new podcast for SBS Audio, Grand Gestures, comedian Lizzy Hoo is on a quest to unpack our deepest multicultural Australian relationships – the ones with our grandparents. 

Across this series - devised and produced by Deadset Studios - notable Australians take you inside their family, culture, and traditions by introducing you to the grandparent who made a huge impact on them.   

You’ll hear what journalist Pat Abboud’s teita and gedo taught him about love, how actor Pia Miranda embraces her nonna’s Sicilian superstitions in her own life, and what lessons food writer Alice Zaslavsky’s Georgian babushkas passed down about food and family.   

Host and comedian Lizzy Hoo delves deep into the relationships that prominent Australians have with their grandparents on the podcast Grand Gestures

You’ll get a seat at the table for family feasts and folklore, and hear how the journeys our grandparents made from Malta, Italy, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, the Philippines and more shaped the Australia we know today.  And how First Nations grandparents passed on their traditions, knowledge, and even a love of country music! 

“Grand Gestures is like a warm hug from your grandparents. It’s full of warmth and stories that remind you of your own loved ones,” says Lizzy Hoo.

Grand Gestures takes you inside the heart of this inter-generational connection by taking a closer look at what gets passed along, and what we miss when the warmth and knowledge of our grandparents’ generations is gone.  

“Especially as we get older, we start to realise our grandparents are the keepers of all the family stories and histories.”

Food author and Masterchef contestant Alice Zaslavsky who appears on Grand Gestures

Grand Gestures has a diverse line-up of guests across 10 episodes, including:

• Singer Deni Hines talks about growing up in a family of three strong women; her

mother pop icon Marcia and her Jamaican grandmother Esme who moved in to help raise Deni when Marcia became pregnant as a teenager.

• Former Masterchef contestant Alice Zaslavsky shares how her love of gardening, food and teaching comes from her Georgian grandmother.

• Actress Pia Miranda became a household name through the Australian cult film Looking for Alibrandi. She speaks about deepening her connection to her nonno and nonna’s family and religion, including spending her 50th birthday in a Sicilian cemetery.

• Walkley Award winning journalist Pat Abboud shares the love story behind his grandparents’ arranged marriage and learning Arabic in the kitchen with his teita (grandmother).

“It's very beautiful for me to know and understand the life they lived in Lebanon before the Civil War. They had to escape and leave and come to Australia. And then the love they continue to have here, there's something really beautiful about what they shared,” says Pat Abboud.

• Singer-songwriter Emily Wurramara reflects on growing up going between her gagu (grandmother) in the Northern Territory learning Dreamtime stories and singing karaoke at her Filipino grandmother’s house.

• Comedian Emo Majok’s reflects on the legacy of his grandmother, who escaped war-torn Sudan and now has around 50 descendants in Australia.

• Author Nadine J. Cohen shares how, after the death of her parents, she and her sister were left with the responsibility of caring for her grandmother who survived the Holocaust, but whose mind returned to that time increasingly as her health declined.

Grand Gestures is a Deadset Studios production for SBS Audio. Host Lizzy Hoo is a stand-up comedian and actor, regularly seen on Network 10’s Have You Been Paying Attention? ABC TV’s Question Everything and SBS’s The Cook Up.