About Maeve…

There are four boys, three chickens, one husband, a cousin and me, and we all live together in a funny old house in rural Oxfordshire. (OK, not the chickens. They actually live in the garden.) For me, as a working mum, loving food means hating waste. It means finding ways to put food on the table rather than in the bin. Feeding my tribe takes a certain amount of ingenuity, not to mention time – both things I find are often in short supply at the end of the day… that’s why I’m proud to be supporting the Love Food Hate Waste campaign – it just makes total sense. Cooking does not need to be a great performance, rather a simple bringing together of food and folk.

I have grown up in a family where eating is not just a necessity but a way of dealing with the trials and tribulations of life.  We cope with heartbreak and happiness by gathering together to eat. We mark every occasion, every celebration, every important moment, with a meal. Christmas, Easter, birthdays, anniversaries, exam results, driving tests, new baby, new school, new hairdo – whatever the occasion, we all sit together around the table and share our food. Food is the glue that binds us all together, more tangibly than blood. Those meals are rowdy affairs, filled with love and laughter. As my grandmother was fond of saying, “the family that eats together, stays together.”

I remember the thinnest slices of rich dark fruit bread spread with salty butter; the sweet citrus tang of marmalade simmering on the hob; marmite and jam spread thickly, oozing into the holes of a crumpet, leaving beads of butter perspiration behind on the plate. I remember roast chicken on a Sunday, tomato salad on a hot day, fish and chips on holiday. I remember big breakfasts, lazy lunches, slow suppers…

I assimilated more than just the rhythms of cooking in the warmth of my mother’s kitchen. She learnt her housekeeping skills in the post-war years when food rationing was still a part of daily life. She watched her own mother feed her family of six children when many things were still in short supply. Necessity demanded that every last morsel was respected – food was a precious commodity. Mum learned to stow away that bread end, that last spoonful of casserole, that soft banana, rather than throw away. It’s a common sense approach, but sometimes it is difficult to think up new ways of using up all those bits and bobs left in the fridge.

That’s where Love Food Hate Waste comes in. The website is a constant source of inspiration – loads of brilliant ideas for transforming bits and bobs into family feasts, as well as essential time and money saving advice and recipes. Exactly what I need and I’ll be blogging about how we get on here.

So, feel free to drop in and sit at the kitchen table awhile…