“Cookery means the knowledge of Medea and of Circe and of Helen and of the Queen of Sheba. It means the knowledge of all herbs and fruits and balms and spices, and all that is healing and sweet in the fields and groves and savory in meats. It means carefulness and inventiveness and willingness and readiness of appliances. It means the economy of your grandmothers and the science of the modern chemist; it means much testing and no wasting; it means English thoroughness and French art and...
My favorite days, wherever I find myself in the world, be it California, London or Provence – the places I call home – are market days. I eagerly anticipate them. I love to meander from stall to stall, to linger, to smell, to taste, to soak up the atmosphere unique to each locale, to chat with friends, talk with farmers about their latest harvest and strike up conversations with passersby. Season after season, these farmers markets stir my creative juices and literally nourish me, body...
My fathers motto Always leave room for dessert I grew up in London. Damp, cold, wet London. The long-awaited arrival of summer and less inclement weather caused the local population to flood outdoors to local parks and expose their pale, vitamin D deprived bodies to the suns rays. We were no exception. With the first hint of a blue sky and vaguely warm weather we would rush across Hampstead heath, have a picnic and cavort in the grass, rolling down hills, flying kites and sailing small boats on...
“Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost; united and well matched they are as body and soul, living partners.” Andre Simon (1877-1970)By the time I reached the grand age of eight, my grandmother finally deemed me old enough to prepare the table for a dinner party without constant supervision. I considered this a huge honor and set about the serious task determined not to make a mistake or have her correct the placement of a particular fork, plate or glass. My mother...
“Tea is the elixir of life.” Myoan Eisai, Kissa Yojoki How to Stay Healthy by Drinking TeaIt was a cold, frigid weekend morning. A low-hanging grey sky spat sleet out over London. I waited anxiously for my brother. He was running late and I was concerned about the driving conditions. This was long before the advent of cell phones, and I had no way to reach him. An hour later I heard him tromp up the stairs of our house. He walked into the kitchen and looked glum.‘What happened? Are you...
Every winter during my early childhood, as soon as the school holidays began, we piled into the family car, packed to the gills with winter coats wrapped around an assortment of delectable treats from our favorite English purveyors of fine food — namely whole stilton’s, Christmas puddings and Brandy Butter from Fortnum Mason — and made the very long, often-frigid trek from London, across the choppy English channel, the bleak landscape of northern France, through Paris, down the Route...
I spent part of my childhood living in a small hilltop village in Southern France. The village streets were narrow, cobbled and devoid of cars. Every morning my brother and I set off to collect baguettes and croissants for breakfast. The tantalizing aroma of freshly baked bread floated through the narrow alleyways tickling our olfactory senses and would bring us running. We would scamper through the twists and turns, up and down centuries-old worn steps until we arrived, panting, at the back...
Late last winter I found myself on a plane headed for the mountains in Idaho. The season had come to an end early due to a dearth of snow – good thing too lest I be tempted to go and play in the white stuff – I was there to work, so the fewer distractions the better. Some 700 aeronautical miles separated Santa Barbara from my final destination, and I was struck, as I looked down on the landscape 30,000 feet below, at how monochromatic everything looked. Close to 700 miles of a bland...
I grew up in a rather eclectic household in England, cooking and eating a kaleidoscope of foods from around the world. The combination of fruit with savory foods was not all that unusual: prosciutto and melon from Italy, roasted pork with apples and prunes from Denmark, game with berries, and all manner of sweet condiments and wine accompanying cheese from England and France. Eating savory dishes with fruit was not restricted to our kitchen as the vibrant ethnic food scene in London provided a...
A few years ago I had a conversation with the illustrious editor of this very magazine, Krista Harris, on the eve of the very first Eat Local Challenge. We were discussing how and where we were going to get certain foods. “My kids drink a lot of milk” said I, “Where am I going to find a local dairy?”, “What about coffee and butter?” I asked, suddenly envisioning breakfast without either one – a grim prospect if you ask me! We decided to quickly research solutions.The first thing...
