‘I attended a cheese making afternoon today at The Rosebank Store which was so yummy and I met this lovely human who taught us how to make Paneer and Haloumi.’
Kadé – I’m originally from Assam which is in the North East of India and it’s a pretty rural area. I lived with my family and the people are strange there, stranger than in Western civilisation.
My grandmother lived for a very long time, one hundred and eleven years old actually. She only died last year and she smoked copious amounts of pot which grows everywhere there just like any other herb and she made really good Ginger Fish. She was pretty healthy, an awesome person and very well respected. I used to cook with her. Most Indian cooking is learning by observing and getting your hands in there. Like slowly and slowly, nothing is a recipe, everything is a feel, there’s no quantities. To quantify Indian cooking is not Indian cooking. We all cook in my family and it’s a thing, our family probably cooks better than the rest. Haha! It’s a competitive thing and I have that in my genes I think.
I came to Australia to study… I finished my studies in Anthropology at Melbourne Uni. After that I had planned to go back home because Western civilisation was not my thing but I thought while I was in Australia I would travel first then return home. So I travelled the East Coast and was going to go to the West but I found this little gem of an area and I’ve been stuck here for 5 years now. I have tried to leave Rosebank but it’s like a vortex, it pulls me back twice as fast. I love it because it reminds me of home. People have relaxed attitudes like home and I will go home at some point but I do love it here.
I like cooking a lot but not on a daily commercial regime, it takes the soul out of my food. I like sharing my info but I have no desire to open a cafe. I like cooking for festivals or big group gatherings so I can put the love in. If you cook every day monotonously because you have to, you can’t put that much love in anymore. This area is by far the best part of Australia! There are cities and there is this. This is what liveable means. This area captures the essence of life instead of reach the …goal..goal..goal. It’s like Life, it happens here!”