photographs CRAIG ROBERTSON
Growing up, meals sat around a dining table weren’t a thing for me. I’d watch families on television gathered together around the table, passing dishes to each other, asking about each others’ day and wish that one day I could have the same with my own family. There was no shortage of love when I was a kid, but it was just my mum, grandma and me, and the living room didn’t have a proper dining table so that explains the absence of that pictureperfect postcard of family meals together. Fast forward several decades and I now have a family of my own, with two perfectly formed, mischievous, but ‘butter-wouldn’t-melt’ stepsons in my life, and every meal with them is eaten at the dining table. The importance of family meals is huge for me – an opportunity to have some quality time with everyone, swapping stories, laughing (I’ll throw fighting and crying in there, just to keep things real) – but mostly, it has become a platform for humour where a tired cook (me) can sit down, hope the family like what I’ve made and listen to the often hilarious things that the kids and other family members have to say as we eat. I get a huge sense of satisfaction, especially knowing that all these meals will be remembered, not necessarily for the food, but the precious memories we create. We are by no means perfect – how dull would that be? But every person, big or small, that has a seat at the table brings so much colour, wisdom (yes, even the kids, at times) and laughter into my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way. So, the least I can do is to make some hearty, delicious dishes that I know will tick all the boxes for all at the table and, who knows, maybe a few of them make it into the kids memories when they look back at their childhood. A pipe dream, perhaps… but not really what matters, at the end of it all.
SAVE SUNDAY LUNCH
Our GF Nation survey showed that the energy crisis is putting the traditional Sunday roast at risk because many of us prefer not to switch on the oven. But getting together to share a meal with family and friends doesn’t have to cost the earth. BBC Good Food’s Save Sunday Lunch campaign is our way of keeping this tradition alive with budget-friendly, energy-efficient recipes, and by sharing ideas and dishes from Good Food’s diverse community of food lovers for everyone to enjoy together at the weekend or other rest days. See the survey results at
bbcgoodfood.com/ bbc-good-food-nation.