I consider myself extremely lucky to have grown up in a family where food and it's goodness has always been high up there on the importance scale. My mom surely cooks the most flavourful food I've ever tasted - and NO, I'm not just saying that because she's my mother... The blending of German frankness (cheese, potatoes, bread, yogurt, butter) with South African farm freshness and unpretentious cooking methods (braai, potjie, spitbraai), infused with mom's propensity for all things wholesome and healthy = a recipe for divine.
Now this cultural melting pot is being spiced up even more, as I welcome the opportunity to sample and learn the recipes and flavours of Chile. But it doesn't end there. As my luck would have it, my in-laws spent the first 10 years of their marriage living in Lima, resulting in Luz Clemencia's kitchen being very heavily and heavenly infused with Peruvian dishes. A few weeks ago my parents-in-law planned our civil wedding at their beautiful home in the Chilean countryside. Taking advantage of the fact that all 6 Graf siblings would be there, we decided to keep the occasion as small and intimate as possible. After a short ceremony, the culinary treats started arriving and didn't stop until late that night...The unchallenged consensus around the lunch table at the well-travelled Grafs, was that Peruvian cuisine is by far the best all had tasted. As my husband's aunt put it : "You're wasting your time at chef school, you should be learning from your mother-in-law"... And I wholly agreed as we sampled salmon ceviche, chupe de camarones (prawn stew), olive and caramelised onions empanadas, juicy turkey, and delicious salads of produce fresh out the garden. I find it strangely comforting that cooking is an art that one can never fully master, that you could cook
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| Newly aquired family |
