voices in food.
RECIPE: DEBORA ROBERTSON. FOOD PHOTOGRAPH: INDIA WHILEY-MORTON. FOOD STYLING: POLLYANNA COUPLAND
This may be a slightly weird confession to make, but I can say this here because I suspect you might be a little weird too, and that you might understand. I get as excited at the sight of a well stocked, beautifully arranged summer produce stall, greengrocer’s shop or supermarket aisle as one of the more grabby Kardashians might get at the sight of the latest limited-edition Birkin bag.
The colours! The choices! And often these days, the cost! In my quest for the best, I don’t want to lose my head to the less-than-perfect.
Of course you should let your nose be your guide. If your fruit and vegetables smell of nothing, they will taste of nothing. Years ago, there used to be a posh home fragrance shop in London’s Marylebone High Street that sold candles and essential oil blends which were supposed to smell like Provence. One of their bestsellers was called At The Greengrocers, or some such Marie-Antoinetterie, and it smelled like green tomatoes. Personally, I like my tomato home fragrance to come from actual tomatoes, of which you could buy almost a year’s supply for the cost of a single candle. That or fly to Provence, with change for a bag of tomatoes for the trip home.