Langbein cookbook collaboration
Because I grew up eating Mum’s food, we have the same palate. One thing she’s taught me is how to use umami to layer flavour, instead of just adding a litre of cream at the end of a risotto. Annabel is like a mad scientist; she loves figuring out the nittygritty of recipes. I love the creative art direction, making the food look beautiful. We both have these spiderwebby brains, but I can also be incredibly practical, which I probably get from my father.
Our new book, Summer at Home, began with Mum planning the garden and then us talking about what was going to be in season. We wanted it to be close to nature and add value at a time when the world is so noisy, not just make something for the sake of taking up space.
I spent a lot of time thinking about a sort of postwar mindset, doing research on food trends around the Great Depression and world wars. I know a lot of people are under financial pressure, so I wanted to have a minimal pantry of ingredients and create simple food with great flavours, mainly focused on vegetables and seasonality. It’s better for the environment and it’s more affordable. It’s definitely the way I eat.
I think it’s quite a pure expression of humanity to eat together and converse. It bookends your day and gives you a chance to connect with people you love. In a way, Covid has provided so many of us with a bit of a reset, being forced to pump the brakes on everything and take stock of what really matters. I hope that we, as a globe, hold on to that and don’t just fall back into old habits of mindlessly ploughing ahead into the future. This has been a very precious time for me, being able to come home, and I'm supergrateful for that.
— As told to Joanna Wane NZME