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Through my eyes

Through my eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2016-10-07
My first memory of cooking is when I was very small, not more than six years old, and I was with my grand mother sitting on the edge of a stream. She built a little fire for me and allowed me to cook a five-course meal for her. We improvised discarded cans for pots, sticks for spoons and leaves for plates.

That day I cooked up a storm, foraging wild flowers and mushrooms and a healthy dollop of freshly cut wild mint, even though it was a pretend meal it still smelled and looked amazing. I often think of my grandmother when I cook and thank her for allowing me the freedom to explore that side of my talent.

So this week is the start of my cooking column, where I will share my recipes and my passion for healthy wholesome food.

It has been on the cards for many years but there have been so many sceptics who said that people would not respond well to a cooking column that was 100% vegetarian and I listened and continued cooking up a storm in my kitchen and everyone else's kitchen who would let me in, and sharing my passion with everyone around me.

For almost thirty years I have been a vegetarian, it was not a choice I made one morning while brushing my teeth, it has been a path I was born on and there was very little I could or wanted to do about it.

My dietary eccentricity has been the bane of my family's existence for at least ten years and believe me when I tell you, I was close to being disowned many times, especially after the birth of my sons, when I refused to give them any meat, fish, chicken or eggs.

It was tough in the beginning but it was not as if I had another option. I was born that way and that's that.

People often ask me, "Don't you ever cheat " "Don't you miss bacon " "Come on just have a steak, it won't kill you" anyway it really does not bother me, it is a way of life and one that has very little relevance in every day, and being invited to people's homes that suddenly my diet becomes an issue. Not for all but certainly for most people.

So I am going to include a column in The Bugle that introduces you to a vegetarian menu. I will show you how easy it is to eat a purely plant and milk based food and make it exciting enough to feed it to your family and friends.

Look, I am not asking anyone to become a vegetarian, it is not my cause and frankly I do not mind what you eat, but this is to all my readers out there who want to eat something different and maybe introduce a meat free day to their week.

This is also for all my friends out there who do not invite me to their homes for braais and dinners because they do not know what to feed me.

Follow me on Facebook, "Check what I cooked today". Come on try my gnocchi and mushroom recipes truly yum.