TALKING ABOUT FOOD

My mother cooks curry in a sarong and shower cap. My mother has both my daughters. My mother is strong, caring, violent and beautiful. My mother makes the best ice cream. Last week I wore a different sarong every day, well except for Friday as that was shopping day so I put on ‘proper’ clothes to go into public. I love my sarongs, every time I go home to Sarawak (the Malaysian state I am from) I buy a new sarong, most of the time I use the excuse of buying one for a friend, but often I also get a new one for me. Sarongs mean home, in so many ways. They are what I wear in the evenings in Sarawak, after my shower, before dinner; I put on a sarong and have a beer with dad or a pre-dinner snack, sitting on the veranda. In London they are what I potter about the house in. And are for me, inexplicitly linked with cooking. During my PhD I worked with four women, all performers, PhD was particular practice-based and involved performances. One of the sessions we looke...

Hi Ellie! I am by no means a bartender, although I spent most of my 20s behind a bar, I had no quest to be the creative. My only talent was that I could work fast and if I didn’t know a cocktail recipe a colleague would yell the ingredients and what it was supposed to taste, like I would be able to figure out pretty quickly the balance of everything. I think the drinks world can feel a little intimidating. It can feel in accessible because of the technicality of making the product or mixing a drink – like cooking, there are recipes to these things, unlike food, most of the ingredients are not readily available at your supermarket and whip-up-able on a Saturday afternoon. The drinks world can feel like a private party with secret words and handshakes. But, most people I know in the drink’s worlds are hugely creative, pretty nerdy, and really just want you to enjoy, revel in, take pleasure in, what they make. Just like food, drinks are personal. Therefore, I like t...