In every culture food is the way to nurture and nourish one’s family, celebrate and commiserate, welcome new friends and farewell others; it is through food we can express love and share sorrow. A universal language that requires no translation, people eat – it’s how we come together!
For the Our kitchen team, while we are all based in New Zealand, an increasingly important part of our job is communicating with our colleagues around the world. Being part of a global workplace sometimes entails phone conferences at early and late hours, emails back and forth (and back again), and frequent use of Google translate. It also means learning about new cultures from the locals (always the best way!), hosting visitors from our wider F&P family, and if we are very lucky, heading off around the globe to understand new markets, food cultures and cooking styles.
Between us, the Our Kitchen team have travelled 5 of the 7 continents, for work and for fun. We have brought back recipes and techniques from various cultures, reinterpreting them for local ingredients, palettes and utensils in a constant evolution of our individual culinary journeys that I believe is reflective of New Zealand food culture as a whole.
Our cuisine has moved on from meat and three veg, instant coffee and what I’m sure many Italians would struggle to recognise as Spaghetti Bolognaise. Through opening our taste buds to global influences we have seen our repertoires shaped by Mediterranean and Asian flavours, combined with our farming heritage, coastal existence and local produce.
It is in this spirit that this month we bring you recipes from around the world, our guest contributors are made up both of international colleagues working here in New Zealand, and recipes sent from our colleagues in Italy, Mexico and the United States. Enjoy!