All the Grows and Gives
Loving leftovers and embracing the seasons is all part of the Zaslavsky philosophy. Alice Zaslavsky implores people to recognise the beauty of the brassica oleracea family, of which brussel sprouts are grown or the ‘slimy’ eggplant that is often overlooked in its versatility. She is enthusiastic about the colours of the garden and the produce we pull from the earthy scented soil. This love of food and mother nature is carried from her childhood in Georgia.
Memories spring forth of eating and tasting and smelling. Fertile soil. Her grandfathers dacha home where he grew fruits and vegetables. He grew grapes to make wine. Sauerkraut was made from cabbages grown in the garden. Persimmon, pomegranate and figs were all grown, too. They picked and harvested, cooked and preserved. Alice’s family were busy “Planting. Growing. Hands in the soil. Nose in the flowers.”
An abundance of ingredients were available to Alice’s family because they were cultivating it.
“It was all very paddock to plate before it got trendy,” said Alice.
Most of Alice’s fondest memories are attached to food. The way that it gave her a sense of familiarity and grounding.
Alice and her family were living in Georgia during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Alice describes being there during the “last gasps”. When her family immigrated to Australia, Alice was five and a half years old. Her family were guided by opportunities, while still retaining a sense of their identity and their homeland.
“They imbued in us a sense of gratitude and wonder in the place that we had arrived.”
Of all places, they first landed in Bondi, Sydney. Alice remembers walking in the balmy evenings of late October, as the weather warmed, the perfume of gardenia and jasmine in the air.
She could not pack many toys to bring with her to Australia but was enthralled by the possibilities of hard rubbish.
“So many of these streets had these huge piles of hard rubbish where really nice toys were being thrown out because the kids had gotten sick of them or there was one piece missing in a puzzle and that would be my treasure trove.”
“The sense of play that you talk about, my parents would turn it into a game- what can you find in there and I would get so excited. There was a French language game, there were puzzles and toys and building blocks and there was just- I know that it sounds like, ‘Oh poor you’ but that’s not how it felt at the time. It felt like an adventure.”
Alice has the superpower of creating something from nothing. She attributes that to shift in mindset. Her attitude is attuned to all that is already existent and readily available. Her creativity is activated as she imagines what can be reshaped into something new and purposeful.
Since having her daughter, Hazel, Alice has delighted in sharing this playful approach to life. She said her six-year-old daughter holds up a mirror, giving Alice time to reflect on the earlier chapters that shaped her and how they intersect.
“I can see how much of who I am now was formed in those years and through the choices that my parents, and then grandparents also came over a little later, made, because we grew up as a multi-generational home.”
“When I look at the way our daughter Hazel plays, if there are ten toys in front of her, there is a paralysis of choice but if she has just got the one then she will continue to play with the one toy and create so much more from her imagination as a result of that.”
As a school teacher by trade, Alice’s mind has reinterpreted different ways to learn and communicate through the fields of food. Indeed, she was thinking about the ways that students could be nurtured through the art of food, the cooking process and the culture and fun that surrounds it. Alice spent an entire year completing an intensive TAFE course on weekends, “Chef-at-Home”, hoping to bring this into the curriculum at her school in some capacity.
Flash forward 10 years and Alice’s first book, Alice’s Food A-Z, containing 30 plus recipes for young budding foodies, was launched. So was her new career, teaching all ages about the pleasures of food.
Three books have followed, along with hosting roles on Melbourne ABC radio, numerous weekly columns, TV appearances and this year her own show on the ABC came to life featuring a slew of special guests on A Bite To Eat With Alice.
It seems that these avenues to communicate through food have never been off limits to Alice due to the gratefulness she grew up with. Food, fresh food, is a gift that Alice recognises as such. She relished the cycles of life that connect us.
Alice said that, “We are all craving connection” and in a world that is dominated by curated images and seconds-long videos, headline grabs that shorten our attention spans, Alice opens her arms to conversation and engagement. She also welcomes people along for the ride, whatever their age. Her daughter is actively involved in the kitchen with her family.
“I like to say that kids can do anything in the kitchen unless it is hot or sharp and in those cases they need grownup eyeballs but the sooner they get into the kitchen and start engaging with the ingredients and start engaging with the techniques, the sooner they become those grownups.”
Alice calls it the “Hard, easy method”, particularly when in the early years- yet it pays off to have the kids engage:
“Particularly when kids are in those toddler years when they say “I do I do” and they do but make a mess, just know that at the moment it is hard, yes, but over time it does get easier and you can put a six year old on the dressing or you can get them to top and tail your beans, whatever it is you need them to do because you have already done that, you have built that foundation.”
At all ages, Alice encourages a willingness to try: try the broccoli, try the eggplant, try the weird shaped fruit, try a new cuisine. The younger that children are exposed to fresh foods and flavours, whether that be in the supermarket, in the garden or in the kitchen, the barriers break down. Alice talks about how often foods are placed into “good” and “bad” baskets. She wants to eradicate this terminology, especially with children. She wants to lead my example- to eat and enjoy, not laying focus on the negatives and stereotypes encircling food.
“We know that exposure leads to willingness to try and we know the willingness to try is integrating into their diet and we also know that growing is a really great way for them to get a sense of that life cycle of the food and appreciating it even more. So plant those tomato seeds. You know that you can harvest them. I remember talking to Costa about this. You can just dry, keep half a tomato, cook with one, harvest the seeds, dry them out on kitchen towel, go through that process with the kids and then plant those tomato seeds and grow your own.”
“That is the magic of food and I think if we want to talk to them [children] about sustainability we need to do it in a way that is not didactic, that it is fun and engaging and curiosity building and there is actually nothing more curiosity inducing than that idea of creating something from nothing- and that is what something like the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program does so well is the grow, cook and eat.”
Alice encourages us all to work harder not smarter with food. Make a little bit more in one go and incorporate it into a new meal. Sauté extra onions or roast extra vegetables to make a new meal the following day at super-speed as you have cut the prep time in half to make something delicious. Alice said she looks at it as a “food budget of time” in addition to budgeting in a monetary sense. Time is precious- so why not make it fun!
Part of the beauty of this process is doing it together- you can make something as a family, or with a friend of a weekend, or indeed with your playgroup. It is a chance to have fun and be creative, rather than walking into the kitchen and looking at it as a grind.
Alice admires Douglas McMaster, the founder of Silo in Brighton, located in the UK. Douglas prescribes to the belief that “Waste is a failure of the imagination”. Alice agrees.
“The leftover makeover is a really great opportunity for some imaginative play for cooks and it starts in childhood.”
Enjoying the creative-side of food allows for play to be part of the process. Time flies when you are having fun- making cooking fun is also a time saver because you are more inclined to have a respect for what you already have or have grown, rather than going out to get more. Moreover, an enjoyable experience around meals creates a feeling of home, relaxation, fun, appreciation, family.
All those years ago, as a little girl, at the crossroads of so many different cultures and cuisines in Georgia, Alice was absorbing- influences from the spice trail of the Middle East and northern Indian, the herbs of Asia, the cheeses and breads of Europe and most crucially, the love and care she saw her family tend to food to share.
Just like the little seeds Alice watched sprout and flourish, so has she, with ever more passion and zest for all that grows and gives.
Hear the Full Interview with Alice Zaslavsky on
For the Love of Play Podcast
Article by Sinead Halliday
Photography Courtesy of Alice Zaslavsky