My favorite foodies, part IV: Ilana-Davita

This is the fourth in a series of interviews with some of my favorite home cooks.  (Read my previous interviews with Mimi, Leora, and Batya.)  Ilana-Davita has been one of my favorite bloggers for some time.  She and I share a profession as well as a love of gardening (though her garden is far lovelier than mine), of good home cooking, and blogging, of course.  I also admire her photography and enjoy following her travels around Europe, to her beloved Sweden, and to the Far East.

Please introduce yourself in a few sentences.

I am a French English teacher and have been so for over twenty years; after teaching in a middle school for seven years, I now teach in a high school. I live in a middle-sized town in the North of France. Religiously I consider myself a traditional Jew and attend a Conservative shul when I am in Paris and a small Orthodox one in my town.

From whom did you learn to cook?  (If not from a person, how?)
I learnt to cook from my mother. She is a wonderful and creative cook who always comes up with new recipes and ideas. I learnt by observing her and when I left for college I really started to cook my own food and attempted to find my own style.

In what style do you cook predominantly (e.g. Mediterranean, Jewish, Asian)?
My style tends to vary according to whims and seasons. In the summer, it is more Mediterranean while in the winter it is more traditional. My recipes are also influenced by the places where I have lived (England and Scotland) and by my trips, mostly those to Hong Kong and Sweden. My love for curries certainly dates back to eating lamb curry in an Indian restaurant in England more than twenty years ago (in my pre-kosher years).

Finally I  try to cook healthily – with emphasis on vegetables – and try to avoid buying processed food. Besides I don’t like my food to be bland and always welcome tasty recipes.

What dietary guidelines do you observe (kashrut, vegetarian, vegan, Paleolithic diet)?
I keep kosher and don’t cook meat more than a couple of times a week. I now tend to eat more fish and my meals are often vegetarian in the evenings.  I had never heard about the Paleolithic diet before this interview.

What are your favorite foods?  What food aversions do you have?
I like to eat fish and curries. I do have one food aversion: fat! Food swimming in fat makes my stomach churn.

What is your relationship to your kitchen, to food, to cooking?
I enjoy cooking especially when I have the time to do it, and also to shop beforehand. I love cookbooks and reading recipes. When at the hairdresser’s I browse magazines for new recipes.  I also love to read and adapt the recipes I find on the Internet. Your previous interviewees (Mimi and Leora) are probably those whose recipes inspire me the most.

What do you think cooking and food say about identity?
I’d say that my cooking reflects what is important for me at different stages of my life. Thus at present it probably reflects my concern with health even though I can easily be tempted by less healthy stuff; pizza comes to mind.  I am also fascinated by the influence of history on Jewish cooking and how much it has contributed to forging specific and diverse Jewish identities.

Please share one of your favorite recipes, either from a blog post or from your own repertoire.
Can I suggest a few rather than one?  Since winter is round the corner here is an easy and wonderful soup from Sweden, a carrot soup which is always a success and a recipe for salmon which echoes my taste for Asian food.

Thank you for this series of interviews.

You’re welcome!

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