Rosemary Barron sits quietly by the wood burner, nibbling pitta bread, gazing at the glacial February weather through the window of The Greek Taverna in The Sun Inn.
She is a striking woman with a sweep of silver hair and elegant wardrobe, reminiscent of Christine Lagarde. Rosemary is forthright and articulate, confident in her subject, and delights in discussing the world of food. She smiles as I tell her how glamorous her life sounds, travelling around the world, writing about food and food cultures. When we hear from her, it’s often a fabulous postcard from Romania, or Crete, and when we meet up it’s usually sandwiched between food writing journeys and deadlines to be met, for her publisher.
“It’s very difficult to earn a living now as a food writer” she explains. “We don’t have the outlet for our work, that we used to have.”
By this she means the increasing challenges that magazines and newspapers face to keep publishing, and the perpetual struggle of the literary community to compete with the readily available flow of content online.
Over a traditional Greek lunch, book-ended with taramosalata and saganaki starters and finished with pungent Greek coffee, Rosemary takes us through her culinary journey, from a California branch of Williams-Sonoma to her current place as a top-ranked writer of cookery books and articles.
In addition to her impressive body of literary work, and writing Greek cookery books, Rosemary founded and ran the Kandra Kitchen cookery school for six years, in Crete and Santorini. She is a frequent contributor to FOOD AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE.
Her love of, and keen interest in, Greek cooking, allowed Rosemary an outlet for her teaching skills in her favourite part of the world, and Kandra Kitchen Cookery School was born. “Greek food is made for company, “ she explains, and extols a cuisine that is ‘classless’. You can go into any café, taverna, or estiatorio in Greece and find a cross-political demographic from all walks of life, eating the same food in the same establishment. But food is an ephemeral product: it has a shelf-life, and is designed to be consumed: the best way to preserve and promote cookery skills is to write about it. Thus Rosemary’s literary career began, as she wrote books and article about the foods she found in Crete, and the dishes she was producing in the cookery school.
For new home cooks, she recommends turning to the classics for inspiration, and advises beginners to “attend a cookery school, be prepared to make mistakes, and work out what you like.” Putting your stamp on your own cooking means deciding what works for you, and honing and clarifying your personal mark on the food you prepare. “Food is knowledge, but cookery is a skill and needs practice” she states, and very much encourages learning by doing, over and over again, until the skills you aim for are second nature.
I ask her how to find safe, accurate information about food, online. With the onset of the food blogging culture, research can be a bit of a minefield. “There is a lot of food snobbery and fear of food now”. It’s important to use common sense and decide what you like, rather than be led by trends and fads in food. When sourcing information online, look for credentials at the bottom of the article, and check if a blog is a sponsored post; this tells you that your author has been paid to promote a particular product, which would have an effect on the content. Ultimately, use your own common sense. If what you read feels logical, then it probably is sound advice. Trust your gut, and use your head.
I ask Rosemary where she thinks the food journalism industry will be in five years’ time and she looks at me, bemused. It’s a difficult question to answer. “Whatever we do, we’re hard-wired to look after ourselves, so cooking is good for us”. There will always be a need for education and understanding about food, but the methods by which we learn about food and nutrition are changing, perhaps forever. It’s a credit to Rosemary’s skilled authorship that her Greek cookery classic is still in print after nearly three decades, and still commands a place in the culinary world, which is filling up fast with television cookery shows, online blog and vlog-posts, and the onslaught of social media.
FLAVOURS OF GREECE, published by Grub Street (London) is available through AMAZON, retail price £18.99.
Rosemary has had seven Papers published by the Oxford Symposium of Food and Cookery, and has been published in DECANTER, BBC GOOD FOOD, BON APPETIT, and CUISINE (U.S.).
Rosemary’s next project is as a lecturer on a Gastronomy Tour, with Martin Randall Travel. GASTRONOMIC CRETE: Ambrosia and diaita (diet) from land to table. This 9-day tour celebrates Cretan gastronomy, from ancient to modern, country simplicity to epicurean sophistication. Find out more.
She is a striking woman with a sweep of silver hair and elegant wardrobe, reminiscent of Christine Lagarde. Rosemary is forthright and articulate, confident in her subject, and delights in discussing the world of food. She smiles as I tell her how glamorous her life sounds, travelling around the world, writing about food and food cultures. When we hear from her, it’s often a fabulous postcard from Romania, or Crete, and when we meet up it’s usually sandwiched between food writing journeys and deadlines to be met, for her publisher.
Flavours of Greece
Her culinary classic, FLAVOURS OF GREECE, is still in print after 27 years, and was written at a time when there were very few English language books on Greek cookery, and none on Cretan cuisine.“It’s very difficult to earn a living now as a food writer” she explains. “We don’t have the outlet for our work, that we used to have.”
By this she means the increasing challenges that magazines and newspapers face to keep publishing, and the perpetual struggle of the literary community to compete with the readily available flow of content online.
Over a traditional Greek lunch, book-ended with taramosalata and saganaki starters and finished with pungent Greek coffee, Rosemary takes us through her culinary journey, from a California branch of Williams-Sonoma to her current place as a top-ranked writer of cookery books and articles.
In addition to her impressive body of literary work, and writing Greek cookery books, Rosemary founded and ran the Kandra Kitchen cookery school for six years, in Crete and Santorini. She is a frequent contributor to FOOD AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE.
Rosemary’s culinary career began in an unexpected way.
Armed with a British teaching credential, she arrived in California and discovered that she was not permitted to teach without a local qualification. Happily, she met up with Chuck Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma, who quickly gave her a job demonstrating their top-of-the-line kitchen equipment to the food-curious, who poured into the legendary food emporium, keen to out-do each other with their culinary achievements. Rosemary, a qualified educator, and blessed with a natural articulacy, excelled at demonstrations, and soon found herself teaching culinary skills to the customers.Her love of, and keen interest in, Greek cooking, allowed Rosemary an outlet for her teaching skills in her favourite part of the world, and Kandra Kitchen Cookery School was born. “Greek food is made for company, “ she explains, and extols a cuisine that is ‘classless’. You can go into any café, taverna, or estiatorio in Greece and find a cross-political demographic from all walks of life, eating the same food in the same establishment. But food is an ephemeral product: it has a shelf-life, and is designed to be consumed: the best way to preserve and promote cookery skills is to write about it. Thus Rosemary’s literary career began, as she wrote books and article about the foods she found in Crete, and the dishes she was producing in the cookery school.
“Who are your heroes?” I ask her.
Not surprisingly, she gives me an eclectic list of the world’s top culinary chefs and writers: Patience Gray, Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Rowley Leigh, Jeremy Lee, Robert Carrier, and Sally Clarke, to name but a few.For new home cooks, she recommends turning to the classics for inspiration, and advises beginners to “attend a cookery school, be prepared to make mistakes, and work out what you like.” Putting your stamp on your own cooking means deciding what works for you, and honing and clarifying your personal mark on the food you prepare. “Food is knowledge, but cookery is a skill and needs practice” she states, and very much encourages learning by doing, over and over again, until the skills you aim for are second nature.
I ask her how to find safe, accurate information about food, online. With the onset of the food blogging culture, research can be a bit of a minefield. “There is a lot of food snobbery and fear of food now”. It’s important to use common sense and decide what you like, rather than be led by trends and fads in food. When sourcing information online, look for credentials at the bottom of the article, and check if a blog is a sponsored post; this tells you that your author has been paid to promote a particular product, which would have an effect on the content. Ultimately, use your own common sense. If what you read feels logical, then it probably is sound advice. Trust your gut, and use your head.
I ask Rosemary where she thinks the food journalism industry will be in five years’ time and she looks at me, bemused. It’s a difficult question to answer. “Whatever we do, we’re hard-wired to look after ourselves, so cooking is good for us”. There will always be a need for education and understanding about food, but the methods by which we learn about food and nutrition are changing, perhaps forever. It’s a credit to Rosemary’s skilled authorship that her Greek cookery classic is still in print after nearly three decades, and still commands a place in the culinary world, which is filling up fast with television cookery shows, online blog and vlog-posts, and the onslaught of social media.
Eat, enjoy, learn, be inspired: a journey into the world of food can be a fascinating adventure.
For Rosemary Barron, an unexpected change of job has led to a vibrant, colourful and far-reaching career which spans the globe and continues to grow daily. For information on Rosemary’s latest project, read below.FLAVOURS OF GREECE, published by Grub Street (London) is available through AMAZON, retail price £18.99.
Rosemary has had seven Papers published by the Oxford Symposium of Food and Cookery, and has been published in DECANTER, BBC GOOD FOOD, BON APPETIT, and CUISINE (U.S.).
Rosemary’s next project is as a lecturer on a Gastronomy Tour, with Martin Randall Travel. GASTRONOMIC CRETE: Ambrosia and diaita (diet) from land to table. This 9-day tour celebrates Cretan gastronomy, from ancient to modern, country simplicity to epicurean sophistication. Find out more.
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