“Laughter is brightest in the place where food is.” – Irish Proverb
Over the years we have gathered together Lamb family recipes.
These are the recipes we have used time and time again and shared with friends and family.
I have wonderful memories of dinner times, birthdays and other special occasions where food was the focal point. A time to gather in and around.
Sophie and I have embraced all we were lucky enough to experience and brought them into our family and work life to share with others.
Food from my mother
Thirty years ago my mother was often to be found at the AGA in our kitchen with flushed cheeks as she was stirring something on the stove; a bean stew, dahl or polenta perhaps.
We would come home from school to the aroma of freshly baked bread, cooling on a wire rack. There was nothing more heart-warming than warm bread with butter and honey.
Mum
One memory that brings a smile to my face is of her making horseradish sauce, wearing swimming goggles to stop the fiery volatile fumes from burning her eyes. She had just come in from the garden in her wellies after digging up the root, wearing an old coat and still looking beautiful.
Meal times were always spent together around our big table constructed from an old ship in Orkney. It was solid and strong and drew you in.
Family, friends, missionaries, herbalists, scientists, farmers and all in between would come around that table. When the humans had gone, the cat would stretch out on the top, the sun warming her as it poured through the kitchen window.
There is something special about gathering around a table; a time to connect, talk about the day and be together. Science shows that eating together leads to greater happiness.
I remember that only on a Saturday night were we were allowed to eat in the living room in front the TV, with a cone of homemade chips, fashioned from an old newspaper.
Dad
Food from my father
My father through his study of plants and human biology has always viewed food as medicine.
More than 20 years ago he was enjoying coconut oil, eating flax seeds, fasting occasionally, drinking green tea and using dandelion leaves in salads. He was so forward in his thinking and didn’t waver in his belief that all of this was food medicine.
He still has this raw breakfast every morning, often already working at 6am, and always accompanied by a pot of Oolong tea.
Dad and I would look forward to his Garlic, Chilli and Ginger Special, always with Scottish oatcakes and cheese. Warming, and highly addictive I have even known friends to have this with their roast dinner. Not the best marriage but such is the desire for this simple but amazing paste.
My love for good food comes from both my parents. I believe you can show love to people through food.
When I visited my grandparents we would always be greeted with the most lovely chocolate cake in a silver tin after our 14 hour drive from the very north of Scotland to Kent. My other grandmother would make good old-fashioned meals; roast dinners, treacle tart with custard and warm us Ovaltine before bed.
Food should be about nourishment. Emotional and physical.
Our family believes that meat from an animal that has lead a happy life will invariably be better for you. Fruits and vegetables grown with as little intervention as possible will surely be more nutritious. I don’t need science to tell me that. Conscious eating.
Food prepared with thoughtfulness and love will always be gratefully received.
Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine.”
