Words by Jane Grover
Photography by Luisa Brimble
The love of food is such a journey. Often
we find ourselves deviating from the main track to head down a curious side
road. Sometimes this leads to something new and undiscovered, other times it
leads to a dead end and we turn back to what is familiar.
In our enthusiasm to tap into what is new,
we can often sacrifice that which has stood the test of time. Constantly I am
reminded, that nothing will ever replace the simple genius of the seasons, when
it comes to growing and cooking food.
After writing, publishing, marketing and
selling my cookbook Naked Food over the past three years, I afforded myself a
lovely season of rest, a three month long, camping road trip across Australia. I learnt
again the art of living a simple life, of doing nothing, of having space in my
days to choose what I would like to do. I found myself connecting again with the
seasons and the beauty of the world around me. In a childlike way I saw
things as if for the first time, they had always been there for me to see, but
I had, had no time or patience to observe them.
On returning home, it was with some
trepidation that I walked out to my much loved vegetable patch for the first
time, after my long absence. Gardening is therapy for me and the joy of brightly
coloured flowers and harvesting your own food, is an unsurpassed reward. My
garden had, had no love over the summer season, I had done my best to leave it
in a manageable state, with two beds planted out with summer crops of basil and
tomatoes and the other two beds lying fallow, having a rest just like me. I had
resigned myself to the idea, that my patch would need some serious love and attention on my return. I was not
expecting there to be anything still left living, certainly nothing to harvest. To my surprise and joy
the basil was flourishing, the tomatoes were continuing to fruit, left to have their own
way in the height of ‘their season’, they seemed to be thriving on neglect!
I had heard of many people having Passata
days, where they harvest all their summer tomato crop and make batches of tomato Passata
(sauce) to store for the winter months, when tomatoes are no longer in season
and too expensive to source. It is an activity most common to the Italian culture.
Since my glut was basil, not tomatoes, I decided to gather some friends and with
my abundance of basil have a Pesto day. The first day was such a combination of
fun, learning, laughter and productivity, that since there was still more basil in the garden, I planned another day too.
We picked the basil, measured and chopped
ingredients, made jars and jars of pesto and finished with a delicious shared
table lunch together, which of course included pesto.
Pesto recipe from Naked Food Cookbook click here
Everybody left with a jar of pesto and some extra laugh lines on their faces, we had rediscovered the simple of joy of the seasons.
If you’d like to be a part of our next day at The Shared Table, rediscovering the seasons click here.
It was my great privilege to have my friend
Luisa Brimble and her daughter Poppy, join us on the second Pesto day. Luisa is a Sydney based food and lifestyle photographer, she has an amazing talent for capturing a moment and telling a story through her camera
lens, I hope her images in this post have bought the day alive for you too!
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