What was behind Gipsy Hill Cooks, and where did the idea come from? The books's editor, Gill O'Neill, explains...
Lamenting the lack of variety in my cooking, I turned to my wonderful friends,
goddess-like in their domestic realms and asked ‘what do you actually eat?’ It
turned out that we all had five or six favourites, and all of us experienced that
repetitive feeling; spag bol again?
We planned to swap recipes... but soon this
notion was transformed into a much bigger and
more exciting venture, a community cookbook;
Gipsy Hill Cooks. We invited recipes from allcomers;
trained chefs who sell their fine efforts
for real money, kitchen enthusiasts who enjoy
putting on a spree, others carefully copying their
grandmother’s handwritten notebooks and
people like me, who simply like eating.
The making of this book has been a joy.
Everyone I have approached has been keen to
offer help and it has been a real collaborative
effort. It has also given me the best excuse to
visit my favourite cafes. What thrills me the most
however, is the fact that the recipes in this book
have such diverse origins, and transcend so many
boundaries. Food seems to have that quality; we
all need to celebrate and we all need to eat.
Gipsy Hill is really a village, I think, but you will
find the whole world here too.
