This is part of my Summer Reads series where I’ll be sharing book recommendations – a series of “not just cookbooks”.
I don’t know about you but when we were working from home in 2020 and 2021 while doing my job was extremely challenging (teaching 7-12 year-olds a second language is hard enough in person, let alone online), there were certain aspects of being at home that I loved (and once I had figured out strategies and activities that were more successful for online teaching, that part got easier too). The main one was that I got to do things like eat on my own schedule and that I had a little bit of extra time to do that which I used to prepare something a little nicer than a rushed sandwich or a soup. I made sure to always eat outside my office – outside f I possibly could – to have a change of scenery. Lunch was a pleasant time as opposed to a rushed affair often involving playground duty at the same time I was trying to eat.
I am (now) really interested in learning about how others managed during the pandemic’s peak lockdown times; though it was a shared experience, we all lived it very differently. This is why when a friend dropped off a bunch of books when I got home from the hospital back in May, my eye was immediately drawn to LUNCHEON: Special Edition Lockdown Luncheons.
What is LUNCHEON, you ask?
From the website:
LUNCHEON is an independent cultural magazine mixing art, fashion and food. Free spirited in its content this biannual magazine offers readers a generous feast for the eyes and the mind. The essence of conversations over lunch is at its core and each issue is constructed as if a menu. Over the lunch table, the magazine brings together different generations who share opinions, stories and memories, offering us an insight into their unique cultural contributions.
Regarding this particular edition:
On the cover: ‘Cheesy Leeks’, painted by Sophie von Hellermann, 2020
In March 2020, as we in the UK realised we were to be locked up in our first lockdown, many people turned to cooking to soothe their anxieties, sharing their creations online rather than around a table. We started to write to friends and contributors to LUNCHEON, asking them to offer a suggestion for a lunch that could be comforting and easily made while in isolation, to be shared daily on our Instagram account. They are gathered here as a memento of 2020, with new ones created specially during the second lockdown of 2021. The recipes, photographs, paintings and illustrations have been created by designers, poets, cooks, writers, photographers and artists, with beautiful and personal stories of where the recipes originated, what they mean to each person, or who they would love to cook for when everyone can meet and eat together again.
This edition of LUNCHEON is a fascinating look at what was on people’s tables during lockdown – sometimes just a collection of foods, sometimes full recipes, sometimes just beautiful, artful images of food. Highlights for me were:
- “Waste Not, Want Not Bread” (made with leftover bread dough studded with leftover food)
- Jasper Conran’s elaborate three-course meal (he acknowledges that he is “painfully aware of the disparity between [his] experience and most others” during the pandemic)
- A wild garlic pesto made with (very) locally foraged ingredients (remember in some countries people were only allowed to travel a certain distance away from their homes)
- A six-course fully foraged meal featuring nettles and dandelions
- Lunch for pigs (a macaroni-based dish for, that’s right, pigs!)
- A “simple and humble” traditional Indian meal to address Supriya Lele’s homesickness
- A “leftovers” Lockdown Luncheon (weren’t we all familiar with repurposing leftovers during lockdown?)
- A Finnish sandwich cake and other dishes from back home to “soothe the homesickness” experienced when people were not able to travel
- Vegetable Broth made through “invention and experimentation with what you have to hand” (in this case, all manner of vegetables including cabbage, kale, chard, pak and bok choy, celery, spring onions, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrots, and beetroot) – truly a “clean out the fridge” recipe!
- A traditional Irish meal of Colcannon, Red Cabbage and Guinness Soda Bread, enjoyed at 4pm because when you’re in lockdown, well, why not?
But it’s more than just a collection of Lockdown Lunches…
Each contributor has selected a food or community organisation for which they would like to raise awareness, and running through the issue are advertisements created by artists for the London-based community Poot It In Yer Bag, founded by Elaine Chambers.
I loved that there was a “giving back” element, raising awareness for all sorts of organisations which, as we know, were hit hard by the pandemic, as were the people who relied on them.
This was a delightful read and I’ve marked a few recipes to make as well. A visually stunning publication with interesting stories – a fabulous way to pass those lazy summer days (now I need to get my hands on other copies of LUNCHEON!).
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Buy my books! In the French kitchen with kids and French Food for Everyone: le goûter (after school snacks), le dîner (dinner) and le petit déjeuner (breakfast) are out now! Click here for details and how to order!
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