High School
High school was really hard for me. I had dyslexia and struggled with lessons in the classroom. And while I formed many beautiful friendships then, which I still hold dear today, I often felt like I didn’t fit in.
However, the one place that consistently made me feel like I belonged was the kitchen. Every day, as soon as I got home from school,
I would head straight in there and start cobbling together snacks. Food had a really positive impact on me – not only did I get to participate in preparing it, I got to eat it in the end!
Back then, my parents hardly ever had packaged foods in the house, so my good friend Susannah and I would cheerfully create our own after-school nibbles instead. This usually meant being resourceful with items on hand, to come up with some unusual edible combinations.
I fondly recall interesting concoctions using multigrain bread, tomato paste, parmesan cheese and a vegetable of some sort (whatever I could find in the fridge!) to become our version of pizza. Or we’d pop a potato in the oven, and once baked, dress it with yoghurt, avocado and herbs.
Unlike school, making meals was a subject that felt natural for me to be involved in, and something I could easily do.
I feel lucky to have been introduced to a wholefoods-based diet early on in life, and constantly encouraged to try my hand at creating what I wanted to eat, rather than scoffing up something processed from a packet.
Through experimenting in the kitchen, I began to find my strengths and develop a passion for flavours and having fun with food. It is with all this in mind now that I conceived the idea for my Falling In Love With Food online program, where I share the importance of building one’s own strong “food foundation” no matter what age you are.
This chapter contains some of the recipes – simple, filling and yummy – that I delighted in rustling up (and kept myself out of mischief!) as a teenager.