Reconnecting with mum
STAR EMAILFROM: SARAH McHALE
I so enjoyed the article by Emma Winterschladen [Sep, p84] reminiscing about being inspired by her mother. It took me right back to my own childhood in the 1960s and my mum’s cooking. Her profession as a travel agent supported her love of food, especially when it came to sourcing ingredients. She’d regularly return from trips abroad with a hunk of parmesan, garlic bulbs and even fresh herbs snaffled from hotel gardens and wrapped in damp loo roll! She’d buy olive oil from the local chemist and was overjoyed when the supermarket began stocking dried spaghetti wrapped in dark blue paper. She inspired my own early attempts in the kitchen, giving me My First Cook Book. Now I’m thrilled to have her index box file stuffed with A6 recipe cards. I never tire of leafing through them, purely to gaze at my mum’s handwriting and wonder what dinner party each one was destined for.
She’d have loved this magazine and the current fascination with celebrity chefs - her own library included recipes from Escoffier and Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet. Thank you, Emma, for reminding me just where my love of cooking came from.
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