Elawin
Guru
I stayed in a very rural part of Greece in the 1960s. I lived in a village called Exohi, which at the time did not even have road access let alone gas, electricity or running water! I also visited a village in Austria, where I have friends, on several occasions in the early 1960s up to the early 1970s, as well as several other quite rural locations also in the 1960s. I visited Italy too in the 1960s, and although none of these places could actually be described as rural even in those days, they were often not touristy like they are now. And of course I lived and worked in Germany.
I came home from all of these places armed with local recipes, I think all of them started my love of cooking.
It's not just places but also people who influenced me. In my younger days I had many boyfriends who were decidedly not English, and I am quite sure my parents were absolutely horrified. Many of them though used to take me to "proper" restaurants where they and their families would eat out regularly (as opposed to the restaurants and takeaways we have now), and quite a considerable number of them used to cook too, so I started learning quite a lot from them.
The people I miss most, and wish I had asked about food, are my cousin in Saudi Arabia, and my brother, who lived in Australia and came home by bus via Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East and eastern Europe. My cousin went to live and work Saudi Arabia in the 1950s, when foreigners were not normally allowed in except by invitation, and he lived there until a couple of years ago, when he retired to Spain and where he sadly died. I only saw him again on two or three occasions, but my Mum used to write to him right up until she died in the early 1980s. It was several years before I came across him again (on Facebook) and we used to reminisce but I always regret not asking him about food. My brother was not a foodie, although he used to tell us anecdotes about some of the food and drinks he had while on his travels. I just regret not asking them more.
A grandson of my cousin has recently moved to the UK from what was his home in China, close to the border with North Korea. Now that is food for thought!
I came home from all of these places armed with local recipes, I think all of them started my love of cooking.
It's not just places but also people who influenced me. In my younger days I had many boyfriends who were decidedly not English, and I am quite sure my parents were absolutely horrified. Many of them though used to take me to "proper" restaurants where they and their families would eat out regularly (as opposed to the restaurants and takeaways we have now), and quite a considerable number of them used to cook too, so I started learning quite a lot from them.
The people I miss most, and wish I had asked about food, are my cousin in Saudi Arabia, and my brother, who lived in Australia and came home by bus via Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East and eastern Europe. My cousin went to live and work Saudi Arabia in the 1950s, when foreigners were not normally allowed in except by invitation, and he lived there until a couple of years ago, when he retired to Spain and where he sadly died. I only saw him again on two or three occasions, but my Mum used to write to him right up until she died in the early 1980s. It was several years before I came across him again (on Facebook) and we used to reminisce but I always regret not asking him about food. My brother was not a foodie, although he used to tell us anecdotes about some of the food and drinks he had while on his travels. I just regret not asking them more.
A grandson of my cousin has recently moved to the UK from what was his home in China, close to the border with North Korea. Now that is food for thought!
