Now you are no longer a lecturer at UCOL, what do you like to do these days?
I’m enjoying having time in my garden and exploring other passions and interests. I’m quite a creative person, so I have been making some hats and taking them to the market, and decorating some old suitcases and things.
I am also doing things that ensure people can cook, because it is such a vital skill. I’ve started to put recipes together for people in the community because they need basic cooking skills - like how to make jam, because there is an excess of plums around at the moment, so I’m looking at doing workshops for people as well. So, I am continuing my passion with food. Also, because I am growing a lot of things in the garden, I am looking at what to do with my excess cucumbers, and courgettes are about to hit shortly.
Would you ever consider creating your own cookbook?
At the moment, I’ve got a variety of recipes from over the years from teaching classes and am just starting to explain what to do with your surplus produce in [a newspaper] once a week. That’s quite a challenge for me because I am mildly dyslexic.
In your opinion, what essential skills or qualities make a successful cook?
For anybody who is cooking, I think one of the essential skills is to try things. Don’t kind of say, “Ugh, I don’t like it.” The word “yuck” was actually banned from any of my classes because it creates a certain mindset. If you don’t try things, you don’t know what sort of combinations are going to work together and you’re not open to new experiences.
I’ve been through years of tasting students’ food, and there was one particular item of food that would make me gag, but with the students’ assessments I had to try that particular dish. And I will never let it be known what food it is.
It’s all about tasting and exploring things. My husband is French, so I love going to Europe and going to the food markets and just seeing what produce is around. I also spent time in China, teaching there. Seeing the products that we just don’t get and not turning my nose up to them, and instead seeing what they’re actually like.
What is the most common mistake you see people make when learning to cook?
Not tasting food and not understanding seasoning and how to work those flavours out. You must taste, taste, taste - it is so important. Taste and enjoy it, the food will show whether you have loved it or not.
If you could choose, what would your last meal be?
There are too many things; it would be a smorgasbord, a buffet of incredible things. I think what it would be would also depend upon my mood. I will tell you one thing though: I would want it to be well-cooked.
Where did your passion for cooking stem from?
It was the way I learned to read. There were two of us at school both having difficulties with reading, and I was given a cookbook. I suppose from there I became interested in it, and that’s where my passion came from. And you are always learning with food, it never stops. There are so many people developing new commodities - black garlic, that wasn’t around that long ago, and now it’s a beautiful thing to use. I play around with the food, and that’s where that passion comes from.
Is there a dish that you would like to cook over and over?
It always changes. I go through phases of what I like to cook. At the moment, I have so many cucumbers and things like that. I really believe in sustainability and using the produce that is around you, and I hate waste. Even that bit of cheese that is dried up in the back of the fridge, that’s not going out. I will figure out a way to use it.
What do you enjoy most about living on a lifestyle block?
I love my lifestyle block. We don’t see our neighbours from the house. I love my animals. I love to be able to grow, and putting my hands in the soil is a way of feeding the soul. It is also my background; I am a farming girl, and you get to see that food grow.
What do you see yourself doing in the future?
After 30 years of tutoring, I’m not planning on going back into the kitchen, as much as I do love food. I will be exploring the creative side of myself. I also did a bit of study in business at the end of last year.
Other than working with people and sharing my knowledge, I really don’t know. If anybody has any ideas, let me know. I am open to things.
What is one thing you would like to see in Whanganui?
What I have experienced with travelling, there are these storage units that have been turned into street food events. They have all these different places of different foods, like they had a brewery and cafe, and everyone was able to sell their specialised things. I think something like that would go really well in Whanganui, and I would love to see it.
