KEY POINTS:
Champagne and travel was the theme of a talk by Sarah-Kate Lynch, Julie le Clerc and Janet de Neefe at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival today.
The three food writers spoke on a panel chaired by Lauraine Jacobs and shared how their life experiences and travels have shaped their writing.
Lynch, former Herald restaurant reviewer, radio host and editor turned novelist, spoke about her ventures to France to research her latest book, The House of Peine.
Because it is a story about three sisters who run a champagne house, she drank only French champagne, "no water!" for a whole year and had lunch with publicists from Moet and Chandon at a chateau built for Napoleon.
"We each had a waiter with white gloves. I was scared!" If Lynch's experiences are anything to go by, it would seem the life of a food writer is a good one. When an audience member commented on this, she laughed and said: "Well, someone has to do it!"
A natural entertainer, Lynch admitted that her culinary skills were not the basis for her focus on food (she said her husband Mark does most of the cooking) but her love of eating and travel. "I am always looking for inspiration and I can get off a plane and on the taxi ride get a thousand ideas. Part of writing is your life experience."
Julie le Clerc, Cuisine writer and food editor for the New Zealand Woman's Weekly, was inspired by the discovery of her Lebanese heritage on a visit to Morocco and Lebanon. This trip was the catalyst for her book Taking Tea in the Medina.
"It was a remarkable experience - it made my family make sense." She said she was exposed to a variety of ingredients which are uncommon in New Zealand cuisine and became the basis for the recipes in her book. "They love sweet and sour flavours in Lebanon and use a lot of grains and pulses, rosewater and saffron. They are ingredients that are easy to get here."
Janet de Neefe, a Melbourne native living in Bali, first got her sense of passion for Asian food when she visited in the 70s.
She said she was thrown into the exotic east where they ate frogs legs, satay and salad with peanut butter, and cooked with chili and shrimp paste. After that trip she tried to recreate the meals at home and eventually decided to return to Bali " to do some research and unravel history".
de Neefe started teaching Balinese cooking in Melbourne and wrote a book of memoirs and recipes - Fragrant Rice. However, the terrorism in Bali at the time stalled the publication date for eight months and it was these events which inspired her to write her intro chapter: The Bomb that Shook the World.
Three common threads link these three talented writers - they are all urban-raised, their connection with food comes from eating at a family table, and travel has influenced their writing.
