First bite of the Apple

Apple. My first ever word. Not Mum, not Dad, but Apple.

My parents, first generation Chinese from Malaysia and Hong Kong, must have been so proud that their daughter had food on her mind from the beginning.

A Londoner through and through, there was a clash of cultures as I railed against bad opera and Chinese school (wrong day for school, Saturday). Except when it came to food. Enjoying Asian feasting was unavoidable; much easier to embrace. Whilst I pored over Delia Smith recipes, the rentals were also cooking me pigs’ trotters, and tea-stained eggs.

Now I’m increasingly doing more of the embracing.

So, ‘Tales’ has two purposes. The first is an attempt to reclaim my heritage; to explore the dishes that have helped shape me and evolve them from the traditional. The second is to update a collection of food and restaurant experiences and their stories; keeping them in notebooks is highly anti-social, and it’s only polite to share.

So onto exciting things..
Am going to ‘Game for everything’ chef Mark Gilchrist’s pop up restaurant on Thursday. It’s all very cloak and dagger, press the buzzer type thing, so watch this space to find out what happens…