Good Day Cork marks World Day of Tea & World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue & Development with the release of an audio documentary - 'Kitchen Stories'.
Our audio documentary 'Kitchen Stories' showcases the vibrant food culture in Ireland through the stories and experiences of how people cook and eat in their homes. Each of the featured people have a unique cultural identity and it is through exploring this that the listener discovers how many commonalities there are in the way different nationalities prepare, create and enjoy food.
Kitchen Stories is hosted by food and culture enthusiast Banu Rekha Balaji who is based in Cork. The documentary features four foodie people who have also made Cork their home. The guests include a newly married Indian-Irish couple, a pastry chef who grew up in France, an Australian frontline worker with Italian roots, and a poet from Zimbabwe who lives in Mallow after having lived in a Direct Provision centre.
‘Kitchen Stories’ is produced and published by Good Day Cork. The documentary has been created with support from MamaBear Foods, Ode to Earth & Orla McAndrew Catering. It was edited by Daniel Clancy with music by Justin Grounds.
Messages from our host & guests:
Host Banu Rekha says, "Kitchen stories is close to my heart. It’s not just food , but also about the nurturing the love and connection that we have with food. Speaking to these wonderful people about their kitchen stories has filled me with a warm fuzzy feeling of comfort - in their memories and narratives."
“You show your love through cooking, for your family and you show how much you love your family with the food that you make” says Occupational Therapist and Australian woman Yvonne Pennisi.
Nqobizitha Vella novelist & health-worker came from Zimbabwe and first lived in a Direct Provision centre. “I got to know about Ireland when I was in the Direct Provision system. In Direct Provision you have the whole world living in one room.” Nqobizitha says. “Where I used to stay we could cook for ourselves. The problem was buying the food. It’s not all the time that we could afford to cook our own food. But they did sometimes. You get to taste food from Albania, from Nigeria, from the Congo, I learnt a lot”
For French Pastry Chef Christine Girault cooking is about passion. “Food connects you so much. When you cook you don’t need any words. I live, breathe food all the time. When I see food...straight away my creativity takes over and I start to play.”
Rahul & Grainne Sethi recently got married in Cork and are exploring each other’s culture through food and photography. Rahul grew up in Punjab but found a commonality with Irish and Indian culture when he came here. “We use lot of potatoes in our food, the amount of potatoes we use is similar to Irish food, which is nice.”
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#GoodDayCork #ChangeTheNarrative
Good Day Cork is a magazine and event space dedicated to building a kind world.
If you haven't yet, please follow Good Day Cork on socials.
If you live in Republic of Ireland, want to feel soft and uplifted then don't miss our print subscription plan. We'll send you quarterly issues ( once every three months) €40/annual.
All the links you need are here: https://linktr.ee/gooddaycork
Good Day Cork marks World Day of Tea & World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue & Development with the release of an audio documentary - 'Kitchen Stories'.
Our audio documentary 'Kitchen Stories' showcases the vibrant food culture in Ireland through the stories and experiences of how people cook and eat in their homes. Each of the featured people have a unique cultural identity and it is through exploring this that the listener discovers how many commonalities there are in the way different nationalities prepare, create and enjoy food.
Kitchen Stories is hosted by food and culture enthusiast Banu Rekha Balaji who is based in Cork. The documentary features four foodie people who have also made Cork their home. The guests include a newly married Indian-Irish couple, a pastry chef who grew up in France, an Australian frontline worker with Italian roots, and a poet from Zimbabwe who lives in Mallow after having lived in a Direct Provision centre.
‘Kitchen Stories’ is produced and published by Good Day Cork. The documentary has been created with support from MamaBear Foods, Ode to Earth & Orla McAndrew Catering. It was edited by Daniel Clancy with music by Justin Grounds.
Messages from our host & guests:
Host Banu Rekha says, "Kitchen stories is close to my heart. It’s not just food , but also about the nurturing the love and connection that we have with food. Speaking to these wonderful people about their kitchen stories has filled me with a warm fuzzy feeling of comfort - in their memories and narratives."
“You show your love through cooking, for your family and you show how much you love your family with the food that you make” says Occupational Therapist and Australian woman Yvonne Pennisi.
Nqobizitha Vella novelist & health-worker came from Zimbabwe and first lived in a Direct Provision centre. “I got to know about Ireland when I was in the Direct Provision system. In Direct Provision you have the whole world living in one room.” Nqobizitha says. “Where I used to stay we could cook for ourselves. The problem was buying the food. It’s not all the time that we could afford to cook our own food. But they did sometimes. You get to taste food from Albania, from Nigeria, from the Congo, I learnt a lot”
For French Pastry Chef Christine Girault cooking is about passion. “Food connects you so much. When you cook you don’t need any words. I live, breathe food all the time. When I see food...straight away my creativity takes over and I start to play.”
Rahul & Grainne Sethi recently got married in Cork and are exploring each other’s culture through food and photography. Rahul grew up in Punjab but found a commonality with Irish and Indian culture when he came here. “We use lot of potatoes in our food, the amount of potatoes we use is similar to Irish food, which is nice.”
--
#GoodDayCork #ChangeTheNarrative
Good Day Cork is a magazine and event space dedicated to building a kind world.
If you haven't yet, please follow Good Day Cork on socials.
If you live in Republic of Ireland, want to feel soft and uplifted then don't miss our print subscription plan. We'll send you quarterly issues ( once every three months) €40/annual.
All the links you need are here: https://linktr.ee/gooddaycork
Good Day Cork - Kitchen Stories transcript
Rekha: My name is Banu Rekha Balaji I'm an occupational therapist in Cork. A mom. I moved to Ireland in 2003. I'm curious about food and about what's cooking in your kitchens. This is Kitchen Stories, a documentary to bring people closer to each other, through food, as Cork, blossoms, and steps into its intercultural identity.
[00:00:37] We've taken the time to focus on the food being cooked in four different homes. Each have a unique cultural identity, and it is in this. We find that we are different while being very alike. Kitchen Stories is produced and published by Good Day Cork with support from Mama Bear Foods. Ode to Earth and Orla McAndrew Catering.
[00:01:03] "Hello, that's Molly...."
Rekha: First impressions are not always the last impressions. Well, at least not when it comes to food Cork based health workers, Yvonne Pennisi, and Nqobizitha Vella confirm this.
Yvonne Pennisi: I'm Australian. I was born up in far North Queensland in about three hours, South of good old Cairns. I'll say the Irish way "Cairns".
[00:01:32] Yvonne:My mom's Australian, my father's well, Australian, but, Italian. So I was the first what we call a mongrel where Australians, Italians didn't marry Italians. So, yeah, I was the first non Italian-Australian.
[00:02:05] One of the things I actually missed when I came to Ireland is the breadth of food choices coming here was like into Cork. When I first got here like five years ago I was like, "Oh wait, where's the rest of the food?!"
[00:02:21] Yvonne:Was that what would have been like for yourself as well?
Rekha: Yeah. Well, we were lucky that by the time I got here, there were Asian shops, so we have a fairly good, you know, it's not too bad.
[00:02:40] Yvonne Pennisi: Yep. So it's like, for me, it's always looking for the Japanese food in the Southeast Asian food and stuff like that. So, cause you know, being from far north Queensland is a really huge Japanese influence up there. Yeah. Like over there, like going to, say Cairns, you had just all this fresh seafood and fresh sashimi, up in Cairns and all that sort of stuff.
[00:03:07] It was just, you know, straight off the boat, straight to the chefs. So yeah.
Rekha: What do you think of the food scene here? Not just the restaurants, but how people are cooking or, you know, what you eat like Irish, Irish food. What do you think about that?
Yvonne: It's lovely. Irish food, I guess it's really comforting in some ways.
[00:03:31] Some of the stuff like the, the black pudding and stuff like that for me is just "Oh, yummy! Divine!" The thing that is so funny when I went back to Australia, I just was like, I don't care what I eat. I just don't want chips.
[00:03:58] I was happy just to not see chips for at least six weeks, not touch, eat chips for six weeks. Because, for me that was like... I still remember I was with a Canadian friend and we were at the Races and I, and I got so excited cause I saw green chicken, Thai Curry. I go so excited and I sat there. I was like, "excellent!"
[00:04:18] So I went and got the Thai Curry, the person went "Do you want that on rice or chips?" And, he said it about five times. I just didn't understand. Well, like this does not compute. I just didn't. I just did not understand that you put curry on chips.
Rekha: For me, that was just, that kind of took me back when I went to a takeaway and they were like," Oh, you know, curry chips" and what in the world!
[00:04:48] Yvonne: Yeah. And, you know, just ordering out. And I did it the other day for a friend's birthday. Like in Australia, if you go out to the pub and so you get steak chips and salad or mashed potato and vegetables. Here it comes with chips and mashed potatoes and they were asking, did I want salad or vegetables. It's just that cultural thing.
[00:05:15] I just didn't get it. I was going to get lots of potato, cause I actually then ordered garlic bread as well. My flatmate was in hysterics at me.
Rekha: Carb Fest!
Yvonne: Yeah. You're, just talking about the food and it was like, there's some really lovely Irish food. But yeah, I guess sometimes I want more spice and...
Rekha:"...flavour."
[00:05:46] Yvonne: ...Thank you! I'm just trying to...
Rekha: Well, not, that Irish food doesn't have flavour, but it's just the variety in flavour, I suppose.
Yvonne: Yeah. And it's more subtle, it's more around sort of subtlety of flavour rather than, you know, being smacked in the face with, you know, a kaffir lime leaf chopped up over, you know, red Curry prawn soup.
[00:06:15] So it's, you know, from some of the Thai stuff, it's like really smacking you in the face with these intense flavours where it's much more subtle, the Irish flavour is still gorgeous. It's just different.
[00:06:43] "Hello! Hello!"
Nqobizitha Vella:"It's N-qobiz-itha.."
[00:06:49] Oh yeah, you got it right now. You know I'm an asylum seeker in Ireland. This is my sixth year. I'll be here six years in October.
Rekha:And you came in from Zimbabwe?
Nqobizitha: Zimbabwe via South Africa to Ireland. I grew up in Matabeleland, the province of my people.
[00:07:11] Yeah. I always tell people that, when you're talking with me, you cannot talk to me and not talk about that, you know, the Direct Provision System.
Cause I'm intertwined. Cause that's where I... That's what introduced me to this country. You know, the system. Yes. I got to know about Ireland when I was in the Direct Provision System.
Rekha:And was it a, was it a big shock for you food-wise?
Nqobizitha: Uh, to a certain extent I would say that. But at the same time, it's normal for that to happen.
[00:07:55] You know it's a new environment. So it's bound to be different. It's bound to be shocking because it's a different setup altogether. Different people, different race, different cultures, different backgrounds. But the most interesting part is that, in Direct Provision, it's like you have the whole world living in one room.
[00:08:19] So it's of people from different countries who are from different backgrounds -like now we're talking about food - who love different foods, so that made it difficult for the management to cater for everyone. You know, especially when it comes to food, you cannot make everyone happy.
[00:08:43] If it can happen in one family that you as a mother, you have four kids. They don't like the same food - all of them! You'll find that this one loves pasta, this one loves rice, this one loves chapathi... This one will be happy today. Tomorrow they won't be happy because it's number two's favorite tomorrow!
[00:09:05] So imagine catering for people from 15 different nationalities. They will not be happy. That's why there's so much... Some people, they complain a lot about it, but it takes someone to understand that. Okay, fine. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you do?
Rekha:And I suppose when you have melting pot of cultures and especially, African cultures, African diaspora, like food is a big part of sharing culture, isn't it?
[00:09:37]And the fact that you weren't able to cook for yourselves or cook for other people, it means you can't share a big part, I'm thinking, that you can't share a big part of yourself?
Nqobizitha: Fortunately, where I used to stay we could cook for ourselves. Like if you didn't like the food in the kitchen, you go in and cook yourself.
[00:09:57] But now the problem was buying the food. You know our food is costly because it's imports. So it's not all the time that you can afford to buy your own food and you have to eat what they cook for you. But we did cook for ourselves and you did get to taste food from Nigeria food from Albania food from... ...different places, Congo and stuff like that.
[00:10:27] That's one of the things why I appreciate the system so much, because I learned a lot. I'm a person who likes to know things. I like to know things. So I'll talk to people about their backgrounds, their cultures, or what they believe in about their food mostly.
[00:10:46] And I would want to taste. Like people used to come to my room. They'll be like, I cook this. Would you like to taste it? And I'll taste it. And I'm like, "Oh, it's lovely. Thank you very much!"
[00:11:02] And sometimes maybe if I love the food, I'll go back to them and say, "okay, next time when you cook that food, please count me in. I loved it." So yeah, that's what was happening. I learned a lot.
[00:11:19] Christine Girault:You see, my house has over 70 books of cooking and baking your house...
Rekha: Christine Girault lives in Cork, hails from France, and brings with her the skills of a professional pastry chef.
Rekha: This is truly like a passion for you, It's not just a job or a career?
[00:11:34]Christine: Ah no, it's the passion. It's not even - it's not about money. It's not about fame. It's not about that at all. It's about the true passion, the fire in my belly. This is basically what cooking is about, you know? Being my own bubble. It's actually quite a good thing for me. You know, I could start cooking and it's six hours have passed by and I don't even know I've done it.
[00:11:59] Rekha:You know Christine, I don't even know when we met - what is it nearly seven, eight years ago?
Christine: I would say so definitely anywhere between seven and 10 years ago. Yes.
[00:12:12] Rekha:Then only when I started to look back on the questions of today's podcast about what we're going to be talking about, I realised actually, I don't know too much about you. I like you. And I know we get along, but we don't, I don't, know too much about you really?!
Christine: Maybe because I'm probably so secretive. No, I'm joking! I'm kidding!
Rekha: But it's amazing how we've kind of connected without any of that knowledge, without any of that background information or even a shared... we didn't even have a shared experiences.
[00:12:45] Do you know? We weren't doing the same things at all. Like we weren't at the same workplace... but we kind of connected.
Christine: Exactly! And this also, I think it's also like that food connects you so much, you know? The passion that you have for food and the passion that I have is what it's such a connection, you know?
[00:13:01] And you don't need - sometimes even when you cook - you don't need any words, you don't need to talk, you just need to cook. And you know, in that zone, I think you relate very much to that. And I relate to that. So I think this is where the connection is coming from as well. And you know, absolutely food is like the biggest wedding for me.
[00:13:18] It's like I'm married to food. I leave breathe food all the time. So it is true. It's gonna last a lifetime I'm sure. I hope it is. You know when I see food, I see spices, I see colours. Straightaway my creativity takes over and constantly play with it. So if you see today for example, I posted something on Instagram and it was about a food mandala, it was different colours.
[00:13:47] And you know what? I took a dal and I put beetroot into it and it become red. You know what I mean? So this is how I play with things and it's still, I still taste it and I still make sure it tastes right because we could all put loads of stuff on Instagram, but doesn't mean that it tastes good by the way, you know! This is online!
[00:14:08] So we need to make sure that it's right and this is why I keep playing with the recipes and I keep playing with it until I have more and more knowledge. And I think food should look very appetizing, no matter what we do, you know? And obviously when you keep doing this - I mean, obviously if I eat all the food that I make I'd bit size of Ireland and France together, but I just give it away to my neighbors!
[00:14:30] And it's also a really good way of knowing if it's good or not and getting good feedback. That's the whole point of being a chef as well. You need to get the good and the bad as well, you know?
[00:14:54] Rekha:Rahul and Gráinne recently got married in Cork and are exploring each other's culture through food and photography.
Rahul:So I'm the youngest in the family grew up in Gujarati culture, but at the same time, my dad's side of family were in Punjab. So we had a Punjabi touch as well.
Gráinne: What was your impression on Irish cooking? Like obviously you missed it if you wanted to start cooking Indian food again?
[00:15:21] Rahul:Yeah. It's interesting. It's nothing like very heavy flavours that we have compared to in Indian food. It's nice. It has a lot of meat portions as well, which is a lot of protein as well. But at the same time, what I learned about food from you and your family is that there's a big part of roasted vegetables or a nice salads or something like that, which I really appreciate because, I'm from a vegetarian background where my mom never allowed me to boil a single egg in my family.
[00:15:49] So coming from that background, like growing up as eating all the vegetarian food and lentils and all that, it's perfect for me to have that salad around with the meat, which was, which was really nice. And even with the food at times I kind of felt... the use of potatoes and all, if you see the Indian food, we have a lot of use of potatoes in our curries like ‘dosas’..
[00:16:09] ‘aloo parathas’ in the northern side, even in curries like ‘aloo mattar’, ‘paneer’ or something like that. But the amount of potatoes we use is the same as Irish food, which is nice.
And what about you? What do you think about the Indian food since we started dating and all the different Indian food compare to what you get in takeaways?
[00:16:30]Gráinne: So it's nothing like... even the takeaways and cooking, following recipes and things like that. I remember I came across a curry that I was like a red lentil curry and I was excited to cook it for him. And he's like, "this is not what a red lentil curry is." And I was like, "But I followed this recipe perfectly!"
[00:16:53] And that's the biggest thing, recipes and ingredients. Recipes do not matter in Indian cooking. It's like, "Some Curry powder". I'll watch a video and it will be like, "A teaspoon of curry". And it's like "a teaspoon of chili powder" and it will be like two teaspoons or a bit more on, it's still just like one teaspoon!
[00:17:13] And it's just constantly going and, and adding more of this and more of this. And I'm like, what just happened? Like there's none of that is what is said to be cooked. But I think a lot of it is... it's very different. And also learning how the food is so different in different parts has been really interesting. Because obviously India is huge and all the different kinds of cultural reasons, why the food is different in the different areas.
[00:17:40] So the facts... it's been very obvious to me, based on Rahul talking about his Punjabi / Gujarati relationship with the different food there...
Rekha: and Marathi as well..
Rahul: Exactly, I lived in Pune as well.
Gráinne: So it's very, very interesting. And as Irish person, like when I learned there were more than like three different types of lentils, I just didn't know..!
[00:18:05] So we would have had like green lentils, red lentils and split lentils and that was about it. And it was very much... it would be used to thicken soups and things like that, or as an option for vegetarians, because there weren't many options like previously, but now finding out that you've got so many different types of lentils that can all go into one dish, I'm like, "what's the point? What's the difference?"
[00:18:28] And learning about that has been quite interesting.
Rahul:Yeah. It's just a lot about how all different lentils bring a different texture to the food. Like if you're making dal, you might you might use some portion of the medium ones and then the small ones just to get the stickiness and the build the lentils around.
[00:18:53] Rekha: Your Instagram page... do you want to tell everyone what it's called?
Gráinne: it's ‘irish_indian_cooking’, underscore between each...
Rekha: Can I say what amazing pictures they are. Amazing, amazing styling and photography.
Gráinne: That's the biggest challenge for me is actually the styling part. Cause I'm like, I don't know what to do with this.
[00:19:12] So we're experimenting and it, it does get a bit frustrating at times when you're like looking at your dinner, going cold and I'm like, "no, no, no, I want to try it this way". And like "Try a bit more of this" and stuff. So, it's been a fun kind of journey in the last year of that kind of appreciation of food.
[00:19:30] And then trying to share that in more of a creative and artistic way with the photos. So, it's been great. Cause I think there's some things we've, cooked and posted that a lot of Irish people may not have tried before, unless they've been to India.
[00:19:47] We're not looking to be online chefs, giving people recipes. We want to inspire people to cook to try something new and also to just appreciate different foods. I suppose that's kind of what our aim is anyway.
Rahul:Absolutely.
[00:20:16]Rekha: You're listening to Kitchen Stories, a documentary by Good Day Cork created with support from MamaBear Foods, Ode To Earth and Orla McAndrew Catering. Our guests describe the joy of cooking at home, cooking for others and share those finer moments in between.
[00:20:52]Rekha: What does dinner time look like in your home here in Ireland?
Nqobizitha: Actually I stay with my son. So it's just the two of us. So what happens is during the week, I only eat vegetables and then on weekends that's when I get to eat meat because, you know, healthy eating and stuff. So I cook two meals cause he doesn't like a lot of vegetables.
[00:21:19] You know how kids are. So, I would cook maybe rice and meat for him. And then I cook my own my own vegetables on the side. What used to happen was that I wanted him to join me in this healthy eating habit, but I found out that every time I'm finished eating his plate would still be full.
[00:21:38] He'll be trying hard to eat but at the end of the day he'll end up having a sandwich or cereal. So I was like, "okay." I remember asking him, "what is it that you're going to teach your kids?" Because you know vegetables are very important and you don't like eating vegetables. And then he was like, mom, it's not my fault that I don't like eating vegetables.
[00:22:02] "My kids I'll teach them to eat vegetables from birth. And that's the only food that they'll know."
[00:22:12] "So you taught me to like meat, so now I'm enjoying it and you're now trying to change me. I cannot help you."
Rekha: They really know how to turn the table. Don't they?!
Nqobizitha: Oh, he did turn the table. I was so embarrassed. I was like, "yeah, you're right."
Rekha: And will he eat the maize meal? And if you made a, if you made a meat dish that was traditional, would he eat that?
[00:22:37] Nqobizitha: Oh yeah. What I like about him is that he loves all the traditional foods. All of it!
I love food and whenever I get to get interviewed, they asked me, what is it that you miss mostly about your country? About back home? I'll be like "food." Yeah. That's food I miss.
[00:23:00] And another thing, the quality of food that we get here, like for instance, what I was talking about - the meat - it's different. It tastes different, our meat. That's why here I get to maybe use spices to make it able to make it nice. But you know, back home, we can just put salt in, just enjoy.
[00:23:20] Because mostly our food is organic. It's natural. It's not processed. So you get to get the real taste of foods. So I miss my food like no-man's business.
Rekha: Yeah. Me too.
[00:23:54]Yvonne: I see Ireland... I've seen Cork getting more and more different cultures coming through and you can start seeing that with the food coming through. I just about cried when I went into a shop and I saw ‘labeneh’. And I was just like, "Oh my God! Do you know what that is?" I was like, "Oh my God, I haven't had this since Australia, please I want this!"
[00:24:11] Rekha: I mean you could go to maybe the markets and then you'd find these gems there.
Yvonne: Oh yeah! And that's some good little Italian sort of shops around here. It's easier to get. In some ways it's easier to get Italian sauce stuff here.
[00:24:30] But, it was hard when I first came here trying to find stuff that had always just been in the supermarkets on the shelves. Like you always had fresh leaves to do your Thai cooking, Vietnamese mint. You know... mortadella... it was just everywhere. It was just really easy to get.
[00:25:05] Yvonne: I love cooking. I think it comes from that whole... that childhood thing of just cooking for other people is part of showing you love.
[00:25:28] Rekha: Do you have any story that might come to you that reminds you of connections and family connections with food?
Christine: I do. I have a lovely nephew and his name is Gabrielle. We call him Titi. And he, funny enough, he calls me Tata yogabecause we did a bit of yoga and he was very small - yeah it's kinda cute! He's like five years old.
[00:25:53] But I recall when he was about two and a half and he was making with myself and my sister. My sister loves cooking as well, Alex. And we wanted to make basically "pain aux raisins", which is Danish pastry, like a brioche dough. She wanted to make Danish pastries.
And this meant my little nephew, who was two, was just hanging off my legs and my sister's legs and going, "I want to play with you guys." Basically "It is not cool now, you're playing together."
[00:26:24] So he brought up a chair and he's put himself standing up on the chair and he wanted to make custard "creme patisserie."
Obviously it was hot - be careful guys if you're doing this with your children! - but he was rolling the dough.. And I have a few photos and it's the, the most enjoyable thing I've done.
[00:26:44] Because he was such a child. It was huge. He was so passionate about the dough. I swear he was turning around, you know, he was watching me and then he was doing the same thing. And I was like "children are such a sponge"... It'd be great if they were learning that from a very small age, you know? And especially when we have more time.
[00:27:04] And then he was rolling his Danish pastries and he was giving us instructions and giving out a little bit, which is brilliant - a bit of the "French attitude" into the whole mix! And he was so happy by the end results. And I was like, this is one of the best memories I have about food. I can't wait to see him to cook again with him.
[00:27:33]Rekha: And your best effort in the kitchen? Your unforgettable moment in the kitchen?
Nqobizitha: I have lots of those! I have loads of those. What I like to do is I like to cook for people. And when I cook for people, I serve them the food and I look at their faces when they take the first bite. I remember there was a time I cooked my meal for a group of people from all over the world, from different countries. So it was a gathering.
[00:28:07] I remember there was this one Irish lady, the way she ate the food. I was scared. I said to myself, she's over-indulging. She's going to get sick. The maize meal and chakalaka is a mixture of beans, carrots, peppers like red, yellow, green pepper, and garlic and curry. So she was eating that with the chakalaka in.
[00:28:40] The way she was enjoying, she kept going for seconds. I was scared that she was going to get sick, because if you eat a lot of it you get like constipated or something.
Rekha: But there's something really lovely when you see someone enjoying your food, isn't there?
Nqobizitha: Yes. I was enjoying it when she was eating and the way she went, I think she went for like three and a half times. She kept saying "Oh, this is very nice."
[00:29:09] And I was like, "Oh my God."
Rekha: "Slow down."
Nqobizitha: I couldn't tell her "slow down". I was not used to it to that extent. I would say to my friend, "she's eating a lot. She's eating too much, she's going to get sick." But yeah, she enjoyed it and she kept talking about it even some days after.
Rekha: So you're, you are kind of experimenting that way.
[00:29:35] Nqobizitha: Oh yeah, I do. Actually, when I was in high school, I did food and nutrition. And I was taught that you create your own recipes to get what you want, or you just get creative in the kitchen and, voila! You get what you want, even if it's not the original thing, but if you're close at least you know there is some form of fulfillment there.
[00:29:58] Rekha: Yes.
[00:30:05] Gráinne: Even now, it's kind of funny. I found a recipe book in my parents' house recently, and it was for spaghetti bolognese. And the only seasoning in it was like a half a spoon of pepper and a pinch of salt. And that was like the only seasoning. So this is the sort of cooking that was going on. It was all this amazing new experiences for people to have these European cuisines, but actually it was nothing close to what you would have in Europe.
[00:30:31] And I think Ireland's at that stage now when it comes to Indian food. it's like we have these things that we call like korma or something like that, but it's nothing like what you actually would get in India.
Rahul:Absolutely.
Rekha: Can you tell me of any memory that comes to you in relation to food and family dinner time?
[00:30:51] Gráinne: It's always been a big thing in our family. I'm one of four kids and it was always a case of we'd all be at the dinner table, even if we're fighting with each other, we'll all be at the dinner table to have dinner together. And we'd be waiting, be ready for when dad comes home. And it would be very much a part of that.
[00:31:10] And I remember my mum, oftentimes if it's her birthday or some sort of event going on, you could get her anything, but what she'd actually want is to have dinner together and to have that time. My siblings - I've had a brother who's been living in, lived in Vietnam for a while.
[00:31:31] My sisters lived in Singapore for a while. So to have the actual family time together is really something very different. That as kids we probably didn't appreciate so much, but now we really appreciate it.
Rahul: When I was being introduced to Gráinne's family, I really saw that part. For them as a family it's the same - they sit together as a family, eat together.
[00:31:50] Which really helped me. And again, really influenced me to work on my cooking and we had the foods together, so that everyone enjoys it. So it's kind of like a nice bonding environment in the family going on.
[00:32:16]Gráinne: I'd love to see more Irish and Indian food kind of combine together. While we're learning more about the spices and the cooking and kind of just getting the flavours quiet right, then I think we're getting to the point where we can maybe try and explore a bit more with that. Definitely.
[00:32:31]Rahul: Yeah, definitely. That's something I wanted to re-create as an Irish breakfast - the hash brown is something Gráinne mentioned. We tried to cook that with the Indian spices and flavours and I was hoping to do something in future. Like have some Indian flavoured sausages along with a fry. Like have some egg or something like that.
[00:32:52] Rekha: That is so interesting, I would eat that!
Rahul: Yeah. I think like a kind of a takeover of Indian way of Irish breakfast would be something nice. And that's something we're looking for as well in the future as well, but I think a lot will boil down to when we go to India and the way she learns and the way I learn as well from my family, when we travel around India and pick up different spices and see which goes well with meat or particular vegetables.
[00:33:15] But yeah, there's definitely hope. We can definitely do something
[00:33:32]Christine: One of the dishes my grandmother used to make when we, myself and my brothers and sisters used to go to her - she used to make some semolina. And she used to make semolina as a dessert, she used to make it in chocolate. And we all know it's quite easy to make, but the way she makes it is not the same as we make it now.
[00:33:49] And do you know what, every time I make that it makes me the most happiest person, because I recall being with her, if you understand. It's the biggest comfort that you could have, you know? Food connects you so much, the passion that you have for food at the passion I have is like, it's such a connection.
[00:34:07] And you don't need, sometimes - even when you cook -you don't need any words. You don't need to talk, you just need to cook. And, you know, in that zone, I think you relate very much to that. And I relate to that. So I think this is where the connection is coming from as well.
Rekha: Absolutely.
[00:34:21] Rekha: And now I'm kind of regretting that I'm not living so close to you anymore, where I can pop up on a day when you're making...
[00:34:31] Christine: You can move in, no problem guys! You can all move in!! There's no problem! That would be so cool actually. The whole family... your kids and everybody, let's go!!
Yvonne: Eventually when I buy my own place: wood-fired pizza oven. Everyone can come around, make your own pizza. Drink, eat and be merry! Bring the guitars out, drums out, have a dance, sing away! Let's have fun.
Rekha: Oh, brilliant!
[00:35:01] Yvonne: Okay. I've just got to find a house first!!!
[00:35:09]Rekha: You've been listening to Kitchen Stories, a documentary by Good Day Cork. Created with support from Mama Bear Foods, Ode To Earth and Orla McAndrew Catering. Edited by Daniel Clancy and gorgeous music is from Justin Grounds.