Food, family and fun...

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One of the things I love most about Easter is the tradition and symbolism surrounding the food we share - hot cross buns and fish on Good Friday, lamb on Sunday and, of course, all those chocolate eggs. There is something so comforting about preparing and eating the same food at the same time of year, year in, year out. It gives the year a certain rhythm, allows us to look back and compare with other Easters and gives us the chance to pass family traditions on to the next generation. This week I discovered three beautiful new Australian cookbooks, that in their own individual ways, gave me a privileged insight into the way in which food traditions have shaped other people's family lives.

When I first saw Keepsakes, Recipes, Momentos, Miscellany by Frances Hansen it was love at first sight. This exquisite book is so much more than a cookbook. Nestled among beautiful drawings, painting, photographs and collages are handwritten and typed recipes collected by Hansen and her family. The original book was made by Hansen for her sister's wedding and although it is an intensely personal book in one way, its evocation of food and family in 1970s Australia and New Zealand really struck a chord with me.

Similarly, while Teresa Oates and Angela Villella wrote Mangia! Mangia!: Authentic Italian Food Rituals and Family Recipes to honour and preserve the food traditions of their Italian parents and grandparents, there is so much in this book for the rest of us to enjoy. The book is teeming with stories, personal photographs and family recipes and lovingly descibes important annual rituals such as preparing and bottling the passata, preserving the olives and making your own proscuitto and salami.

And then there is the delightful, My Grandma's Kitchen by Louise Fulton Keats. This gorgeous children's book features bright illustrations, a sweet story about cooking with Grandma and a selection of never-fail recipes to inspire the little ones. As if that wasn't enough, the Grandma in question is none other than Australia's original domestic goddess, Margaret Fulton (the author is her grand-daughter) so you can be sure that the recipes are tried and true!

May you and your family enjoy many happy hours around the table this Easter...