Interview for Myself Magazine
Photo: Gaby Schütze
Q
You are a fashion designer – where did the idea for this cookbook come from? And how does fashion relate to food?
A
Well, in the first lockdown my daughter said she wanted to make her own sourdough starter. I thought, great, let’s use the extra time as a once in a lifetime chance to experiment in the kitchen. So, it was two months of working from home, bike rides and baking.
During the Christmas period of the second lockdown, I got a message from a close friend who I had sent a photography book to as a Christmas gift. He wrote to thank me and said he would have loved to have looked through this book with his grandfather (the book showed portraits of miners which was his grandfather’s profession). As the recipes my daughter Gwenifer and I had developed were mainly inspired by my grandmother’s recipes, I thought this would be a lovely idea for a book. After the holidays, I spoke to Gordon, the owner and manager of Closed about the possibility of offering this book in Closed stores as a Christmas gift idea and he said, yes let’s do it! Then I started to write.
What we wear and what we eat are both signs of the times. Fabrics and ingredients change according to them.
Q
You adapted your grandmother’s recipes to be vegan. How did this process work?
A
I started by reading up on how to exchange the basic ingredients for vegan alternatives. I also called my mother and aunt regularly for the recipe variations. Doris didn’t write anything down in a recipe book, it was all in her head and if there wasn’t enough of this then she added a little bit of that! It was always very tasty, so she obviously knew what she was doing.
Q
Did that lead to many a trial and error in your kitchen?
A
Ha ha… Yes! And vegan cakes are tricky to bake because they are not as light and fluffy so the cooking time can vary greatly depending on the baking tin. Luckily my neighbours were always happy to try every recipe. I created a WhatsApp group chat with them called ‘cake testers’ and asked for their honest opinions. There are still some friends that aren’t keen on vegan cakes but 90% love them.
Q
What was your goal in adapting your grandmother‘s recipes?
A
I have many friends who prefer to cook the exact same dishes their mothers and grandmothers have cooked and are afraid to try new ways of doing things in the kitchen. The idea behind Dear Doris was always to make the recipes look and taste almost the same as the original ones but healthier and with a smaller carbon footprint.
Q
What was your daughter Gwenifer’s role in this process?
A
She has been the baking queen since she could walk. She would ask to bake something all the time. She is technically a much better baker than me, but I am the one who loves to experiment and try things out…. So, we make a pretty perfect team! She was also the styling assistant for the photo shoots for the book and she was able to learn a lot from Lukas, our food stylist.
Q
Which recipe feels especially personal to you?
A
Oh, so many but the one that comes to mind now is Bonfire cake, an apple cake. I loved it as a child, and it was my job to pick the apples from the tree opposite our back door. We always had this cake on Nov 5th ‘Guy Fawkes’ the British fireworks festival.
Q
Do you have a favourite recipe in the book?
A
Bananarama bread, I laughed and cried whilst writing the recipe, remembering how I would dance around and dress up to watch ‘Top of the Pops’ on a Thursday night. Doris was often a little bewildered by my crazy outfits and hairstyles!
Q
What foods make you think of Wales? What do you miss most?
A
Welsh cakes, they are very easy to make, and they are the Welsh scone I suppose. Wales is very traditional. The style of the houses, the food and the people are very friendly. I guess that is the way of life in villages either in the UK or Germany. In the cities everyone is busy… I miss the relaxed chat with someone you meet on the way to the village shop.