Not too long ago, I received an email from my Fully Booked Women subscription for "Hetty McKinnon in Conversation" & I almost threw my salad in the air. Having a manic fan girl moment, all I could think of was the chance to meet one of my real life heroes.
Fully Booked Women is a social community founded & run by Sharlee Gibb. It is a platform which brings together women in the food and drinks industry, and helping like-minded people connect in online & in person. Since the cafe closed, joining the Fully Booked online community has helped me stay connected & inspired on my ever continuing journey, helping me navigate through these career changes and carving a new one!
Earlier this year, I became rather sick & had to reconsider my diet. Long story short, my digestive system became super stressed out as a result of it & needed some love. Down in the dumps, I sulked to a friend who offered me a life changing suggestion. He told me to track down the cookbook Community by Hetty McKinnon - it helped him when he was going through some dietary changes & redefined vegetables to him. I popped out on a mission to bring this vegetable bible home.
And it's utterly AMAZING! Hetty's recipes were completely exciting to read, and even more delicious to eat! They're easy peasy to make & often I just make do with what I have at home - using Hetty's book as a guide. It's definitely also made vegetables more approachable to my husband too!
So when I found out that Hetty was doing a talk to launch her new book, Family; I quickly logged on & bought a ticket. Family is her third book, which I couldn't wait to add to my collection. In between her books, I've been reading Peddler Journal - a journal of recipes & the stories about them; be it the ingredients, the dish itself, the memories it evokes or the traditions behind it. I love Peddler because it features a lot of anecdotes from Hetty's childhood which are similar to mine - as we both grew up in very traditional Cantonese families, where many dishes are accompanied w a tale from centuries ago as to why we eat it.
So on a Wednesday evening, I nervously & excitedly popped into Readings in Hawthorn to hear what Hetty had to say about her new book. I listened intently in a full house of fans, as Hetty told us how she creates each cookbook - her creative processes, inspirations & methods of writing. Each book's title explains what inspired that collection of recipes. Her newest book, Family - is inspired by exactly that - family! Recipes she'd like her children to have, mixed with what she likes to eat & some recipes inspired by her own history. This resonated with me as I have been slowly writing down my recipes from the last fifteen years. I had always dreamt of writing a book, so during the life of my cafe I started to write my recipes up in a way that others could hopefully understand it. Slowly, I hope to add more to this online archive too!
More recently, I've been trying to write down the Cantonese recipes passed down from my father. He comes from the generation where everything is stored in the memories, and portions are down to "feel" and "touch". It has been a challenge quantifying feel & touch, but with trial and error I've been slowly scribing these beautiful recipes in hopes that others may enjoy them in the future too.
Much of what Hetty talked about centred around family, traditions & what I felt, was making traditions and culture relevant for now. That really spoke to me, because it's something I think about often. I express alot of my culture & the traditions I was brought up with, in my cooking at home. I really enjoy learning about, and revisiting other cultures through food; some how I find it can tell a story so much more than simply words.
I left the evening feeling utterly inspired, full of ideas, and in a sense, filled with hope. Hope that there is more in store for me in the food industry. Hope that I will one day, finish writing my book ... and maybe publishing my ultimate dream!
Thank you Hetty McKinnon, for the conversations. It's been real. Hitting all the notes in the song in my heart to go to infinity & beyond xo
