Thewords,storiesandcollectedrecipesofherfood
hero’sleft-behindhomelandintheMiddleEast
werea sourceofinfiniteinspirationtotheyoung
SophieGrigson.Decadeslater,herpassionfor
Claudia’svoiceandrecipesundimmed, Sophie
atlasthas achance to saythank youAlthoughwehavemetfromtimetotimeoverthe
pastfewdecades,it hasalways beeninthe
contextofwork,a passingwarmgreeting, a hug,
ahow’s-the-family,butnevermuchmorethan
that.Thefault is allmine.Yousee,Ihavealways
beensoinaweofyouand, initially,justtoo
youngtoknowhowtoconnectwithyou.
You rfriend, mymother,gavemea paperback
copyofyourNewBookof MiddleEasternFoodwhen
Ifirstsetuphomeintwoatticroomsoverlooking
HampsteadHeath.I knewthatyoulivedonthe
othersideoftheheathbutthatseemedlikea
millionmilesaway.Instead, I gottoknowyou
throughthebookitself. Throughyourwords and
recipes,writtenwithhonestyandenthusiasmbut
withoutgloopysugarinessorglossy,distracting
sheen.Inmysloping,shadowykitchenunderthe
eaves,I glimpsedintothe worldyoucamefrom
andsobeganalifelong passionforthefoods of
theMiddleEast.
You rlaterbooks aremarvelloustoo,butthe
one Igoback toendlessly is thatearly collection.It’sincredible tothinkthatthe originalversion
wasfirstpublishedin 1968 (mycopyis a later,
bigger,revisededitionfrom1986),ata time
whenthe UKwasthrillingtonewbland,
noveltyconveniencefoodslike AngelDelight
andSmashinstantmashedpotatoes.Thedays
ofhoumousandpittabreadinevery supermarket
werestillalong,longwayoff.
Halfa centuryon,thebookstillrings as
freshandmodernandenticingasitdidinthe
beginning,whichis morethancanbesaidfor
theheconvenience foods. When I sold off most of cAl h h h f i i h80 deliciousmagazine.co.uk
Sophie Grigson writes
to Claudia Roden
LETTER TO MY FOOD HERO