TABLE TALK #159
There’s a certain point in winter when cooking starts to feel less like romance and more like admin.
The big feasts are behind us. The weather has committed to being damp for the foreseeable. And the kitchen, which only weeks ago felt like a stage, goes quiet again.
It’s usually around then that we need reminding of something very basic:
That food is magic.
That cooking is a gift.
That feeding people is one of life’s greatest joys.
That cooking is a gift.
That feeding people is one of life’s greatest joys.
Today’s Table Talk is for anyone that’s lost their zest in the kitchen - delivered through the wise words of these folk.
🍝 MAIN COURSE 🍝
Food, can be transformational.
Julia Child was wonderfully blunt about it: “A party without cake is just a meeting.”
She wasn’t really talking about sponge. She was talking about the moment when something ordinary becomes a celebration, simply because food has entered the room.
A table changes the second plates arrive. Conversations loosen. Shoulders drop. Even the quietest gatherings pick up a pulse.
Why? Because food is such a reliable common currency - it's "our common ground, a universal experience” as James Beard so aptly observes.
It’s the thing you can talk about when you don’t know what to talk about. A safe opening. A shared language.
And not just once, but thrice a day, seven days a week... more.
Because when all is said and done, Pavarotti was right: “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”
It's a joy, and a huge privilege, to have plentiful food in our midst. So enjoy it, we should.
Reine de Sabe Cake Recipe - A Julia Child Favourite
Photo Credit: Mon Petit Four
Photo Credit: Mon Petit Four
Cooking itself has a kind of magic.
Michael Pollan writes about “the rhythms of cooking” - the way chopping and slicing create space to think. Hands busy, mind wandering. There’s something oddly calming in that repetition, like your thoughts finally get permission to slow down.
And it isn’t just the rhythm that works on you - it’s the sound of it all. Kerri Maniscalco calls cooking “magic and music combined”: the hiss of pancetta, the clang of a whisk, the thud of a knife on wood. Once you start listening, the kitchen reveals itself as a small, noisy orchestra, playing while you work.
Of course, for all that romance, what stops most of us cooking isn’t a lack of ideas - it’s the underlying fear of getting it wrong. That sense that other people are “naturals” and we’re just following instructions, hoping for the best.
Fergus Henderson has a better take: “Don’t be afraid of cooking, as your ingredients will know and misbehave. Enjoy your cooking and the food will behave; moreover it will pass your pleasure on to those who eat it.”
In other words, confidence is seasoning. Even borrowed confidence. Especially borrowed confidence. You don’t have to be brilliant - you just have to cook like you’re enjoying yourself.
The Inimitable Fergus Henderson
Photo Credit: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
🍮 SWEET ENDINGS 🍮
A lot of the time, cooking isn’t just about you anyway. Jamie Oliver calls it “the ultimate giving,” which feels right. You stand at a hob, stirring and tasting and guessing, not for yourself, but for someone else’s face when they take that first bite.
Food is how we say things we don’t always have language for.
🍷 WHAT'S NEW
FROM
WEDNESDAY'S DOMAINE? 🍷
The last couple of months have felt… a bit nuts, if I’m honest.
Week after week, more of you have been finding us, ordering, reordering, telling friends, and coming back for more.
Dry January has definitely played a part, of course. But it’s not just that. It feels like more people are genuinely curious about drinking differently, drinking a bit less, or just having better options for the moments when they don’t want so much alcohol in the picture.
It’s exciting, a bit surreal, and something we’re very grateful for.
Thanks for being part of it - whether you’ve been with us from the start, or only just found us last week.
Luke x
