I have been passionate about food and cooking from a very young age, but what I love most is vintage recipes. I am fortunate to have some old family recipe books that I cherish not only for their recipes, but their ability to give me a special insight into changing tastes and eating trends. I can think of nothing better than creating a birthday cake in the form of a cauliflower from a 1930's recipe and knowing that eighty years ago this cake was produced for a special birthday celebration by my Great Grandmother. To read the scraps of paper concealed within the pages, detailing celebration menu's, family meal planning and even shopping lists gives me a real sense of comfort.
I attribute my interest in vintage and often 'kitsch' recipes to my Grandmother, Minnie. She was a great cook and her kitchen was always filled with the smell of warm caramel from her home made brandy snaps and the lingering aroma of green chutney making. I have amazing memories of my late Grandmother's Sunday Tea's, which involved fetching out the best china from the 1950's glass cabinet. Fine bone china tea cups with delicate pink rose decoration were placed on a table draped with a crisp table cloth and adorned with well polished cutlery. Home-made chocolate cake with it's thick fondant icing and rich chocolaty butter cream was always present. As a child I had no concept of cocoa content and I'm pretty sure my Grandmother didn't, but I can still taste that cake now and remember the glee with which I devoured it, scraping up every last crumb from my dainty china plate. The sandwiches made with red salmon from a tin that was combined with some vinegar, married up with some thin slices of cucumber and sandwiched between two pieces of white bread from a waxed paper bag that had a big Elephant on it, I seem to remember it being called Jumbo bread. I remember that red tinned salmon was a bit of a treat, reserved for Sunday's and visitors, being considered better than the tins of pink salmon used for lesser occasions. Bowls of home made salad and pyramids of scones all sound a bit basic in today's foodie culture. The funny thing is that the memories I have of thickly piped birthday cakes, home made fondant fancies and peppermint sugar mice are superior to those held from food eaten at restaurants of good standing. Perhaps it's got something to do with just enjoying the food and not worrying whether it's in vogue.
My feeling is that in our modern quest to become foodies we have forgotten the art of simple food pleasures. I love bringing out vintage china and cooking from vintage cook books because there is something homely about it all. Creating a sense of occasion on a Sunday afternoon is so fantastically old fashioned and yet such a great way to end a weekend and create a sense of family togetherness.
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