Food is never really just food. The brilliance of cooking is that you can take a few ingredients, pour in some love and magic and step back and watch the results.
I inherited this view from my Baba. When we lived in Sydney, every Saturday without fail we would arrive at her house for a lunch unlike any other. The kitchen was tiny, a relic of the 60’s with its curved benchtops and patterned tiles, but the table – the table was the feature. Laden with towering platters of food – strawberries, grapes, mangoes, crispy chicken schnitzel, her signature lasagna that oozed cheese with every bite. There were mounds of fried potatoes, spaghetti and goulash, and that was just the first course. When everyone had finally declared they could not possibly eat another bite, the dessert came out. Sour cherry cake, apple and jelly cake, walnut cake, kiflice, hrstule. We ate until we could barely lift ourselves anymore, and it was glorious.
It was in these moments that I truly witnessed the power of the table. The shared experiences that brought us together, the generosity that was demonstrated again and again in the form of heaped plates.
We hosted another Enchanted Table gathering over the weekend. Inspired by the group’s decision to choose Italian, I buried myself in cookbooks, lost myself in Vivaldi, daydreamed about recipes and mused over our memories of being there. The Italian culture reminds me so much of Baba – with its unabashed love of food, the time taken in preparation and the gathering of the family at the table.
With some of our group only recently returned from Venice, we placed our focus there, with the wonderful tradition of cicchetti and accompanying cocktails (Aperol Spritz and Bellinis). We started with crostini – experimenting with different kinds of pesto (three cheese pesto and a walnut parmesan one), there were simple woodfired pizzettes (topped with carmelised fennel, Italian sausage and bocconcini) and delicious calzones. With a lavish antipasto selection and a delicious asparagus frittata, we hardly had space for the mains when it was time to sit down.
One of the best parts of these evenings is when we all sit down together at the long wooden table. Plates laden with lasagna, risotto, a vegetarian torte, osso buco, buttered carrots and a caprese salad, glasses filled and conversations darting back and forth. Kids run through the house shrieking and we shoo them outside.
When dessert rolls around, we tuck into the flourless chocolate cake, savour the Italian carrot cake and enjoy the tiramisu. The fresh hit of gelati is the perfect end, along with coffee and tea, and conversations continue long into the night.
I read something recently about Sites of Mutual Fulfilment (SMF). Basically, a place where adults and kids can enjoy themselves at the same time. With the ongoing pressures of parenting these days and the realities of raising kids without ‘the village’, it is so important to find places of joy that intersect. The Enchanted Table nights are absolutely this for me. Even the week leading up to the event is filled with moments of fulfilment, as the kids help cook and decorate and we all get more and more excited as the night approaches.
The power of food cannot be understated. There is a reason that houses overflow with casseroles when grief hits. Food conveys love, it is a practical and tangible way we can show that we care. It nourishes the body and soul, and we form better connections at the table.
As we contemplate a world without Baba today and remember her finest moments, the table is the perfect place to commemorate her wonderful hospitality. Tonight we will be savouring her famous chicken lasagna, and with every bite we will remember just how special she was.
Enchanted Table nights are open to anyone who loves to explore new cuisines, meet great people and share good times together. If you live locally and want to be a part of it, just let me know and I can add you to our group! Or if you want to host your own, (like my friend Christina Hubbard did all the way over in America), just let me know and I can send you through a menu guide (you can choose from Indonesian, Argentinian, Japanese, Turkish or Portuguese).
