Mum’s love for cooking lives on
Sophia Cameron raked through diaries, letters and scraps of paper to fulfil her mother’s dying wish. Emma Clark-dow tells their story.
An Auckland woman has finally completed her mother’s dying wish – creating a cookbook to honour her legacy.
Sophia Cameron’s mother, Robyn Cameron, travelled the world in her 20s. She discovered a passion for cooking with fresh, organic ingredients and sharing her creations, Sophia Cameron said. ‘‘When she was travelling throughout Europe, Italy was one of her favourite places to go.’’
‘‘She loved wandering around and seeing these large Italian families sitting out in the sun, gathered around a tiny table sharing ameal they’d made together.’’
Rob’s Kitchen is full of recipes packed with Italian and Mediterranean flavours, created to share.
‘‘This isn’t your ordinary recipe book; it is a book filled with a lifetime of memories and a passion for divine cooking,’’ Sophia Cameron wrote in the book.
Robyn Cameron was plagued with breast cancer throughout her life. She was first diagnosed in 2002, when her daughter was just 6 years old.
‘‘She was in remission until about 2011, then remission again until 2016. Then we found out it had spread, and she passed in 2019,’’ her daughter said.
The idea for Rob’s Kitchen was born out of her mother’s wish to leave behind some kind of legacy, after becoming famous among her friends and family for creating beautiful platters of food.
Together with her daughter, Robyn Cameron started collating her travel diaries, letters she had written to her own mother while travelling, and recipes noted down over the years, to create a cookbook to give to loved ones. When she died at the age of 61, the cookbook had not been completed, but her dying wish was for her daughter to finish what she had started.
Sophia Cameron began the process of combing through her mother’s notes and cobbling together the cookbook now known as Rob’s Kitchen. ‘‘I had to do quite a bit of research, and piece notes and letters together tomake sure I had everything right for each recipe,’’ she said.
Although the 26-year-old has created the book, from taste-testing recipes through to design and layout, she wanted people to know Rob’s Kitchen was her mother’s book. ‘‘When I started the process, I never expected the book to be in stores – it was going to serve as a memoir to her,’’ she said.
Sharing platters were the ‘‘core foundation’’ of the cookbook.
In her later life, Robyn Cameron was interested in foods thatwould support her immune system, especiallywhen she was going through chemotherapy. ‘‘Mum was passionate about which foods could helpher nausea, or fight pain, so throughout the book you’ll find detox juices or recipes with turmeric.’’
All the proceeds made from the sale of Rob’s Kitchen will go to Sweet Louise, a charity that helps women and their families during their breast cancer journey.
‘‘Sweet Louise helped mum so much over the years, providing counselling or [taking her] to appointments,’’ Sophia Cameron said. ‘‘They don’t get a lot of funding and [they] rely on support from donations. It was really fitting to give back to them, because they did help mum.’’
Rob’s Kitchen is available at Whitcoulls, Farro Fresh and boutique bookstores.