Years ago my mother dug out some very very old cookbooks we have apparently inherited from our grandmothers. They are written in old German and it gives me a headache to read them (the 's' look like 'f', which if really funny when you read a text with lotf of fs').
At first I didn't understand her fascination with the old books. For one, they're dusty and don't seem like hygenic paraphenalia to have around the kitchen. Second, there are basically no images in them. No mouthwatering photos to help me decide what to cook. How on earth am I to know whether or not I might like 'Sauce Robert' for example, just by reading a recipe?!
But they grow on you, these old books. For example the 'good butter' some recipes call for is endearing. And the fact that everything was used to make food, even broccoli stems (for soup. With a dollop of the good cream, if you have any available) is a lesson to learn and tells a story about how life was when these books were written. How very rich have we become as societies, that no cookbook today has any recipe for broccoli stems, because there is so much broccoli available all the time?!
But food doesn't only connect us to the past. It's almost magical to be able to discuss the breakfast cereal bars both Tracy and I made (the recipe was from smitten kitchen, if I remember right), or to try out Sarah's recipe for lemon curd. Both Tracy and Sarah live in the USA and I have never met them in person.
The project I announced last week, the one I would ask your help for, is about food. I would like to share via food. Or recipes, in this case.
I would like to ask you to write down your favorite recipe and share it with me, via eamil or the comment section here on the blog. If there is a story connected to the recipe, even better. If there is any reason this one recipe is more important than others, and you are willing to tell why, that would be fabulous. I would collect these recipes and illustrate them, make them into the 'Food for thought cookbook' (giving credit to the writer of each recipe, of course).
It would be lovely if we could make part of this cookbook into a free pdf download so that we can share even with those who can't afford to buy a cookbook right now. But I'd also like to print the book, sell it and donate the money to an organization that helps people in need. Maybe an organization that feeds people, although I'm pretty partial to 'Médecins du Monde' or the Red Cross (always get the feeling they know what they're doing).
That way we could share goodness in more than one way. With each other and also with those who need help right now.
What do you think? Will you help me?
ps: Dear Mama, you are more than welcome to participate, but you must promise to include the secret ingredient you always leave out, please.
