WHICH BOOKS HELPED TO DEFINE YOUR LIFE?

As I grow older, with more time to reflect on my journey, I can now clearly identify the books I read, which helped to define my life. Way back in my youth, and quietly and unbeknown to me, these books had the power to influence me to my very core. Not only did these books have the ability to define the future me, they profoundly shaped my life in countless ways, introduced me to new ideas, cultures and philosophies that totally expanded my understanding of who I was in the world. And to think it all began with Jane Grigson, a renowned cook/writer who first gifted me these little treasures.

Acting as pivotal blueprints in the background of my life, these books were like breadcrumb trails along the way, helping me to identify and choose how I would cook and shop, and even where I would choose to live, how I would create my living spaces, and how I would reflect my values and aesthetics.

It’s kind of spooky in a way . . . especially as a past career was as a regression hypnotherapist . . . these books seemed to seamlessly tele-transport me from one life path, to another in an entirely different part of the world. If we do live many lives, we must therefore gain knowledge and information about other times, other places, other skills and expertise gathered over eternity. I’ve always felt comfortable and at ease in Paris, ever since I first went there as a teenager, even before I read these little books . . . so is Paris a part of my past life history?

Not long after reading these little books, the next visit in my early twenties, wondering through the streets of Paris, I wondered into a shop called E. Dehillerin where I thought I had died and gone to heaven! If you are into cooking, then this place is like an Aladdins cave, a veritable magical mystery tour, where you wonder through the packed isles and see the most beautiful kitchen equipment that you have ever seen before, some of which you have never even heard of before.

Much later I would read about all the famous world-class chefs from Escoffier to Julia Childs, that had walked those very same isles as I did, over the ages since 1820. E. Dehillerin is famous for its copper kitchen equipment, and it is where I started off my collection of copper kitchen utensils, beginning with a copper bowl for beating egg whites. Yeah!!! I know . . . how many egg whites for meringues was I going to be beating??? But it was soooooo beautiful. Take a look E.Dehillerin Copper Egg White Bowl.

I did not grow up cooking with my mother or grandmother as so many did . . . so any cooking abilities were few and far between, though my grandmother was an amazing cook. To begin with as a young wife and mother and newly responsible for family meals, I shopped and cooked what was familiar to me, and what I normally ate with my family. And yet, without even realizing it at the time, these books motivated me bit by bit.

How these books helped to define my life:

I slowly began to re-evaluate what foods I shopped for, and how I cooked them.
I began to shop with a meal plan and with a recipe in my head, whilst before I would shop and decide on the spur of the moment what I would buy and cook.
I began to learn about the seasonality of foods, and why if buying them in their right seasons, the taste would be superior.
I learnt that my tastebuds preferred foods with packed full of flavour as opposed to bland ones.
I learnt I had zero kitchen techniques to fall back on so every move in the kitchen was new and experimental.
I tended to repeat recipes that I had mastered, one being onion soup and after many years bumping into a friend, she reminded me how much onion soup I used to feed her!
I learnt the French term ‘batterie de cuisine’ and began to accumulate French kitchen items as used in those little books . . . in those days Terence Conran, was also a big Francophile so his Habitat shops were full of these little French bits. My E. Dehillerin copper egg white bowl was also evidence!
These books reshaped my mindset and influenced not only my decisions and habits of how I shopped for food, but how I prepared and cooked my food, and what plates and utensils I used and how I presented them on a plate.
I learnt the art of setting a beautiful table.
I was introduced to a life that inspired creativity in so many areas, a life that felt so much more authentic and purposeful . . . and at the same time deeply aesthetic.

Books can nudge us to pursue deeply held passions we’d long suppressed, helping us to align our lives more closely with our true natures. They can help us to strengthen our love for nature and help us to learn to acknowledge the provenance of the food we buy.

Books can also spark dormant creativity, and provide us with the motivation to finally pursue long-held dreams long neglected. They can influence the decisions we make about where we live and how we design our surroundings. Books can even help us define our decisions to move to a totally different part of the world, one that more aligns with our thoughts and dreams . . . giving us the courage to step way outside of our comfort zones.

These books not only shook up my own ideas about living and food, but they also changed the entire landscape of food in the UK in their time. I am that old to remember that to buy olive oil in the UK we had to go to the pharmacy!!!

“These little volumes really are indispensable, imperishable classics of the kitchen“. Robin Davidson on Elizabeth David’s Classics.

These are the opening lines from Jane Grigson’s preface to the original edition of Elizabeth David Classics published in 1980 and her words remain as true today as they were nearly 20 years ago. “Everyone who loves good food will welcome this reprint in one volume, hardback and durable, of the three classics of the kitchen which first made us familiar with the name Elizabeth David. They have been necessary to my generation, they will be necessary to our children and grand children.”

I am probably preaching to the already converted when I urge you to read these little books. However if you haven’t already read them then you are in for a treat, as they are indispensable true classics. The writing was so much ahead of its time and re-reading them today, I still love and use them regularly, though at times it makes me long for the old days! David’s description of Cavaillon is delightful, however when you visit you will see that things are not as they were then . . . so much has changed.

Or Buy all 3 in one book

Mediterranean Food 1950
French Country Cooking 1954
Summer Cooking 1955

buy on amazon

Elizabeth David Classics: Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, Summer Cooking

You can buy them all in one volume . . . however . . . I do love the look of the older individual ones so much more. The originals had beautiful black and white drawings which I adored. Though those old ones fell to pieces quickly with heavy kitchen usage!

You should also most definitely add this one, French Provincial Cookin g: 1960 because if you are a Provence fan, you cannot NOT be a fan of Paris, and the rest of France and how and what they eat.

How many lives were defined by peter Mayle’s book ‘a year in provence’?

And then of course there is this one book which was surely the next step onwards from just reading about these exciting experiences. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle . . . the man responsible for making those golden triangle hill top villages so very popular. Here was someone who made the jump from the page to the real thing . . . actually spending a year in Provence, beginning in Gordes. I imagine this book is a prime reason why me, and so many others from all over the world, now have second homes here in Provence.

Looking back now, I can clearly see how these specific books have been the secret forces behind the choices I’ve made, shaping the path I’m on and the person I’ve become, who I am today and the life I’ve built . . . and even where I’ve ended up living. Their transformative power have been lasting and undeniable.