Who's AHSC?
I grew up in a house where cooking and baking were at the center of life. My mother made lavish meals to please my father. She baked a daily array of confections for afternoon "Kaffee and Kuchen" to host her German inlaws that were always visiting. She had a relentless passion to create the perfect home and cook the perfect meals to impress the family she had acquired. She would win the warmth of their hearts through the appreciation of their stomachs. These visions of food, and the important role it can play in life, are the enduring images of my childhood.
At the age of fifteen I started working as an assistant pastry chef at "Charmers Market" restaurant in Venice, California. I fell into the Venice/Hollywood restraunt world of the 80's with different jobs at many well known places including 72 Marketstreet, West Beach, Rabeccs's, Merix Tex Mex. The time to make a decision of where to go to college soon arrived but I was unsure of what direction to follow. I decided not to decide, but travel instead.
First, I went to Australia and from there on to Indonesia. This was my first experience of Asia and I found it exhilerating. I became fascinated with the people and cultures.
When I returned to the United States it seemed natural to follow these interests and off I went to Boston to study Anthropology and Asian Art. This was the time when I started wondering about the origins and role of food.
By the early 1990's I had returned to California and started a family. Children change everything, and new priorities came along. Although we lived in the center of a city, I wanted a natural playground for a child to explore, learn, and feel a sense of freedom. To create this urban oasis, I started by ripping out our conventional front yard. Replacing it with an assortment of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and even a few rabbits. Eventually our house became encircled with everything from bananas to mustard greens, concord grapes to brocolli. I gained a deeper knowledge of some things to teach my children - how nature works, what was healthy, how to find a balance.
Over the years there have been many other things that have filled my life, but at my core I always find the same two themes - food and children. As a family we have travelled and lived in many places and I've seen some curious ideas. In Australia, I learnt about the evils of red cordial and it's terrible effect on children (apparently, other colors don't promote the same negative side-effects). In China, I saw a grandmother make a broth daily from bone marrow for her six-month old grandson. This is a drink most American mother's would avoid giving their babies but I was told it was quite common and has a tremendous effect on healthy development. We don't think about these differences very often, but children are the same everywhere so why not learn a little something about each other. This is how the idea for this blog started. I would like to reach across some cultural boundaries and compile information from around the world on our children and their food.
My original interest in this started from a Waitrose magazine about fifteen years ago, about international children's lunches in which Jamie Oliver participated. The interest has continued right up to today with Alice Waters and the work she is doing here in America. Both of these culinary icons are working currently to improve the school lunch programs in their home countries. But what about all the other parts of the world? What can we learn from each other? I would like to compile photographs of the lunches children eat from all across the world. May it be homemade lunche, cafeteria special, or a special holiday lunch. Why do parents choose these things? What is traditional? Local facts and myths.
My Goal is to collect images internationally of children's lunches, as well as accounts of what goes into making them. The stories, ideas, issues, histories, traditions facts and recipes of the maker. What is important to them when making the meal. A personal account. A place to learn from one another, bridge cultural perceptions. View socio/economic/environmental and nutritional issues that affect peoples daily lives, at a core level.
What is more important and loved by people than their children and food.
Please add to this collection or just browse through it. For more details see post December 17 2007,"Thoughts to Ponder"
I grew up in a house where cooking and baking were at the center of life. My mother made lavish meals to please my father. She baked a daily array of confections for afternoon "Kaffee and Kuchen" to host her German inlaws that were always visiting. She had a relentless passion to create the perfect home and cook the perfect meals to impress the family she had acquired. She would win the warmth of their hearts through the appreciation of their stomachs. These visions of food, and the important role it can play in life, are the enduring images of my childhood.
At the age of fifteen I started working as an assistant pastry chef at "Charmers Market" restaurant in Venice, California. I fell into the Venice/Hollywood restraunt world of the 80's with different jobs at many well known places including 72 Marketstreet, West Beach, Rabeccs's, Merix Tex Mex. The time to make a decision of where to go to college soon arrived but I was unsure of what direction to follow. I decided not to decide, but travel instead.
First, I went to Australia and from there on to Indonesia. This was my first experience of Asia and I found it exhilerating. I became fascinated with the people and cultures.
When I returned to the United States it seemed natural to follow these interests and off I went to Boston to study Anthropology and Asian Art. This was the time when I started wondering about the origins and role of food.
By the early 1990's I had returned to California and started a family. Children change everything, and new priorities came along. Although we lived in the center of a city, I wanted a natural playground for a child to explore, learn, and feel a sense of freedom. To create this urban oasis, I started by ripping out our conventional front yard. Replacing it with an assortment of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and even a few rabbits. Eventually our house became encircled with everything from bananas to mustard greens, concord grapes to brocolli. I gained a deeper knowledge of some things to teach my children - how nature works, what was healthy, how to find a balance.
Over the years there have been many other things that have filled my life, but at my core I always find the same two themes - food and children. As a family we have travelled and lived in many places and I've seen some curious ideas. In Australia, I learnt about the evils of red cordial and it's terrible effect on children (apparently, other colors don't promote the same negative side-effects). In China, I saw a grandmother make a broth daily from bone marrow for her six-month old grandson. This is a drink most American mother's would avoid giving their babies but I was told it was quite common and has a tremendous effect on healthy development. We don't think about these differences very often, but children are the same everywhere so why not learn a little something about each other. This is how the idea for this blog started. I would like to reach across some cultural boundaries and compile information from around the world on our children and their food.
My original interest in this started from a Waitrose magazine about fifteen years ago, about international children's lunches in which Jamie Oliver participated. The interest has continued right up to today with Alice Waters and the work she is doing here in America. Both of these culinary icons are working currently to improve the school lunch programs in their home countries. But what about all the other parts of the world? What can we learn from each other? I would like to compile photographs of the lunches children eat from all across the world. May it be homemade lunche, cafeteria special, or a special holiday lunch. Why do parents choose these things? What is traditional? Local facts and myths.
My Goal is to collect images internationally of children's lunches, as well as accounts of what goes into making them. The stories, ideas, issues, histories, traditions facts and recipes of the maker. What is important to them when making the meal. A personal account. A place to learn from one another, bridge cultural perceptions. View socio/economic/environmental and nutritional issues that affect peoples daily lives, at a core level.
What is more important and loved by people than their children and food.
Please add to this collection or just browse through it. For more details see post December 17 2007,"Thoughts to Ponder"
No posts match your query. Show all posts
No posts match your query. Show all posts
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)