A popular New Zealand cookbook author is urging people to go back to basics for the sake of their sanity, health and bank balance.
Photo: Linda Duncan supplied
With a cost-of-living crisis driving food prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to simplify our cooking and eating habits, Linda Duncan tells First Up.
The former accountant is now a full-time cookbook writer thanks to the success of her book The World's Easiest Recipes, which has sold 60,000 copies.
The book evolved out of Duncan's desire for practical recipes without the guff – no convoluted descriptions or inaccessible ingredients.
“While my children were at home, I used to flip through my cookbooks and try to get inspired, but found that I just ended up putting my cookbooks down again, and just going back to the same old meals.
“A lot of the recipes either didn't have the ingredients, or they were just too fiddly for everyday meals. So I thought, ‘right, think of the world's easiest recipes. And it's just taken off from there.”
One of the main themes of The World's Easiest Recipes is that all ingredients had to be really basic.
“So, if you've got sugar, flour, tomato sauce, soy sauce, you know, all those basic ingredients in your house, you're going to be able to pick my book up and start cooking out of it. There's no ingredients that you think ‘now what is that?"
From The World's Easiest Recipes: Four-Ingredient Shepherd's Pie
"I don’t think you will find another shepherd’s pie recipe easier than this one. The relish certainly gives the mince a kick of flavour and body all from the one ingredient. A delicious midweek winter meal your family will love" - Linda Duncan.
The World's Easiest Recipes: Four-Ingredient Shepherd's Pie Photo: Supplied
The World's Easiest Recipes simplifies the process of cooking, which can be overly complicated and unnecessarily time-consuming, Duncan says.
“I like to simplify things ... I was like that with accounting, as well. When I was running our practice, everything has just become so complicated. I know that business people will relate to this - even just to read a set of financial accounts now is really difficult and it doesn't have to be like that.
“I feel the same way with food. I think what's happened is we're just bombarded constantly with information that is irrelevant, so we will end up getting very confused and I think it's the same with cooking. You just have to read some recipes, where there's a paragraph for every step.
“Now, when you're in the midst of cooking, it gives the illusion that the recipe is a lot harder than what it is. I just wanted to take things right back to basics. Every recipe in my book just has very simple instructions, so you're not having to stand there reading a whole paragraph, or one step."
Duncan says we would all do well to change our expectations of eating, particularly young people.
In a changing world where food scarcity is becoming more of a possibility, we cannot afford to continue with our wasteful and unhealthy habits, she says.
“I've literally spoken to thousands of people over the last four years as I've gone around promoting my books. The thing that stands out the most for me is how we've become a nation of really picky eaters.
“And I think back to a couple of generations ago - even when I was growing up - we would have to sit at the dinner table until our plates were empty.
“It absolutely astounds me how many parents are cooking three different meals a night to cater for their fussy children. I just think we need to teach our children that not everything we put in our mouths has to be a taste sensation. We need to learn that what we eat is really more about what it's doing for our bodies and nourishing our body.”
This change of mindset would mean less waste and more appreciation of food, Duncan says.
“I think we need to take a leaf out of the history books, as well. Most of us haven't been through a world war or a depression, where food was scarce. Grocery shopping is expensive now, and so we don't have food shortages, but we have a problem with food costs.
“For the same reasons, this is why we need to go back to just the basic forms of cooking and learn from the past and learn how to make things from scratch. If you really want to save money on your food bill, make things from scratch.”
