Vital Sisterhood Vitality
The Marram spikes through our clothes as we run through the dunes, intermittently resulting in an ‘ouch’ as the tip pierces skin. We follow the little paths weaving up and down the edge of the beach, chasing each other and the cold northern wind coming off the sea pushes the grass into fluttery little greenish gold arches. The spring afternoons are reliable in their unpredictability; warm sunny days smelling of freshly cut grass then these wilder ones where the blustery breeze threatens icy conditions and the waves roll in on an almost inconceivable dark turquoise coloured sea. This is much like my mood of the transitional season, one day I’m inspired and productive the next I’m lethargic and disheartened.
The events over the past week have ignited the dampened air with the blazing fire of sisterhood. Celebrating women all week; A collaborative dinner with the amazing Melissa McCabe, a Conference of International Women in Food, International Women’s Day and for those who mark it, Mothers day. All of these things squished into a short period of time bolsters the importance of the female voice in the world and these days I feel the sister bond deeper with more gratitude for the women in my life, I’m hyper aware of it.
I made myself brunch and took a nice picture of it on my picnic table outside in the drizzle. Before tucking in I paused to consider the women involved in bringing this plate of food to my table.
Black Beans- This brand of beans is female owned by entrepreneur Amelia Christie Millar, trying to bring delicious pulses into the mainstream. We have a mix of different ones for quick meals and I especially love the queen chickpeas. Beans are an essential part of my diet; an excellent source of protein, fibre and vitamins and minerals.
Cheese- Every week I get this exciting message, ‘Need any cheese?’ We get our cheese from Mikes Fancy Cheese in Belfast; Emily and Clare sort me out every week with a beautiful selection of Irish cheese. Both women run their own amazing businesses; Clare aka Feasting on Weeds is a foraging queen and runs beautiful events around the North promoting our edible landscape. Emily owns Egg Marmalade a curated bespoke selection of stationary; it’s impossible to have too much!
Sourdough-Our bread is made using flour from the wonderful Oak Forest Mills, Emma is a huge inspiration to many of us especially in the baking world; she works relentlessly to try and bring more nutritious flours to the market whilst encouraging and supporting others around her. Bread this nutritious wouldn’t exist without pioneers like Emma.
Sauerkraut-After a class with the incredible Dearbhla Reynolds a few years ago, I have been making jars of delicious, fermented vegetables. Her book The Cultured Club is an excellent insight into the simplicity of these ferments and their importance in your diet. Its on my kitchen shelf and I use it as a handbook for lots of inspiration.
Fava bean & Chicory-I bought this jar at Rome airport this week so it reminded me of my wonderful few days with women in Italy, more below.
Gherkins are the leftfield reflection of me; I just love them, they have no connection to fantastic women that I can think of! But no doubt a lot of us love them.
I like the simplicity of a moment contemplating my food; questioning it, where it’s from, why it’s good for me, what is in it and who is behind it. It makes me feel more connected to my body fuel and helps me make more informed choices when eating. At our most recent dinner collaboration the menu Melissa and I created was carefully considered; Melissa is a highly skilled and talented chef, (this is her business, Feast), she showed me some great techniques and tips to really pack the flavour in. It’s so interesting and valuable for me to get this insight into the chef world, especially from a woman who is the absolute boss! I can’t wait to cook with her again!
ROME- Parabere
It took me quite a few days to process what this conference meant to me, a whirlwind trip to Rome staying with friends and being one of around 300 delegates at an event with speakers from a wide range of roles within the industry. It wouldn’t be out of place to say that it was empowering to the point of life affirming!
Knowledge is Power and Empowers
The women who spoke over these two days were basing their presentations on The Politics of Food, a hugely contentious topic in today’s world and timely when we are seeing food being used as a weapon. Whilst I scribbled down (illegible) facts, figures and quotes and took photos of slides on screen I knew what was really happening was empowerment. The knowledge that was being shared had an urgency to it, this consolidated my feeling of responsibility; I need to work harder on my understanding of food and I should share my passion for real food with my community and beyond, later my notebook was filled with new ideas. Even though we’re a little bakery in a small town on a tiny island there is still important work to do to try and make a difference. This video really resonated with many of us there, goosebumps and tears all round!
Food & drink Experiences
It was a no brainer to sign up for the Pasta with Nonna workshop; despite having made pasta a couple of times I couldn’t give up the opportunity to learn with an actual Italian granny and it was a joyous hilarious and practice couple of hours; I would love to go back and visit the village were the workshops usually take place, a perfect afternoon. There wasn’t a lot of time for us to explore the city and so I can’t say I have lots of tips for you; especially since we had our friend arranging the dinner reservations for us which was great! My top experiences were a plate of red chicory with olive oil, potatoes, parmesan and salt, a cream, pistachio and salted pistachio gelato (2 types of pistachio yessss!) and a late night negroni before even later night chats.
Sisters vitality
My relationships and friendships with women are vital; life giving, manifesting life. Surrounded by smiling women, open hearted and supportive, palpable vitality. I am incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity to spend quality time with friends in food, meet new amazing women and feel relevant and loved through their listening ear, their advice, their kindness and honesty. Embrace your sisters!
Look forward to cooking with you again boss lady!!! Dream team ☘️💚
🖤🤍💚❤️ 😋