Fabienne Viner-Luzzato
Fabienne Viner Luzzato’s Tunisian mother Fortunée raised her children with a love of food, her food filled with herbs and spices and combining French, Arabic, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours. Five of her seven children were born in Tunisia, but by the time her youngest, Fabienne, was born, the family had moved to Paris.
“My most distinct memory growing up was waking up on a Friday morning to the smell of challah, and couscous,” says Fabienne. “Because I was the youngest we were always in the kitchen. I learnt to cook with my mother and also my sisters.”
Friday nights were a big event, with at least 15 around the dinner table. The menu included kemia — a Tunisian tapas — of ten different starters to share. They included salads, such as cucumber with lemon and oil; carrot salad with coriander; potato salad with cumin or harissa; and cooked dishes, like matboucha (cooked red pepper, tomato, garlic and onion), and roasted salted almonds.
All these dishes were eaten with exotic fried minced meat balls known as boullettes. These were minced meat with baguette, onion, harissa, dried rose, individually wrapped in thin layers of vegetables, dipped in flour, egg and then flour, before being shallow fried in garlic and onion. The kemia would be topped off with boukha, a fig-based aperitif. This would be followed by a main course of the traditional couscous and roasted chicken with turmeric and roasted potatoes.
This love of food prompted both Fabienne and sister Isabelle to go professional. But when her mother passed away, in November 2015, cooking suddenly became too painful for her. “It was difficult for me to cook as it was too raw, and everything I did reminded me of her. I was scared my sorrow could be felt in my food.”
Eventually Fabienne, who is a chef and teacher, got back into her love of cooking and to this day continues to be inspired by what her mother taught her.
“Demonstrating to others is my way of continuing the legacy. She taught us to appreciate what nature gives and what you can do with it. We love transforming ingredients into a feast.”
Judi Rose
Judi Rose, daughter of doyenne of Jewish cookery, the late Evelyn Rose MBE, was three years-old when she started cooking with her mother. “I had a tiny step stool and my job was to add sugar gradually to her pavlova, one of her show-stoppers.”
Judi, who co-authored several cookery books with her mother, says Evelyn was a natural teacher and always sharing titbits, not just about how to follow a recipe but about understanding technique. “She always said that you have to watch some dishes being made to learn how to make them,” recalls Judi. “Like challah or kuchen dough — you have to feel it, see it and touch it.”
Evelyn, who died in 2003 aged 76, travelled widely, picking up ideas wherever she went. “She was ahead of the curve with aubergine and avocados from Israel in the 70s.” But it was her recipe for gefilte fish Provençale that became synonymous with her name, inspired by a trip to Provence. “That was a good example of how she reinvented Jewish cooking,” notes Judi. “It was Jewish but fresh, vibrant and healthier.”
