Back to your roots

This week, I visited my mum for a couple of days, as she's about to go on hols. Regular readers will know I lost my darling dad in January, so I'm trying to see more of my mum now, partly to keep her company but partly as I only now have one parent, so want to look after the one I've got. My mum is a mad quilter/patchworker, inspired by GluttonBoy's late mother who made the most beautiful log cabin quilts. Before we got married, my MiL to be spoke to my mum to ask her to contribute to a wedding quilt for us. Sadly, she died soon after, and nothing came of it, except my mum was bitten by the quilting bug, which she has also passed on to me.
I went with her to her quilting group this week - and a lovely lady called Jenny talked to us about whole piece quilts and her collection of antique quilts, which were exquisite. Whole piece is where it is one piece of fabric (rather than patchwork) and incredibly intricate patterns are sewn into it, to make it quilted. She talked about the traditions of different regions and countries, and how, if you had a daughter, you made 12 quilts, with the 13th being a wedding quilt and the most beautiful. What has this to do with cooking? Ask almost anyone what their favourite meal is, and invariably the answer will be something their mother makes - 'my mum's roast lamb', 'my mum's chicken pie' etc etc.
Food has a way of tying us to our roots like almost nothing else. Why else do people with heritage come back endlessly to the dishes of another country? Why else is it so important to keep food heritage alive? And food, particularly dishes or recipes that remind you indelibly of a place or a person, have a life of their own that has more longevity than we do. Handwritten recipe books passed down the generations are a more potent reminder of a person or a time than any amount of diaries are.
And this is what I love about food. I love that the sponge biscuits and the honey cake I make are the ones my nana made. The welsh cake recipe I use was given to me by my mother in law and is the recipe Glutton Boy's auntie gladys and auntie bhopah used. And in each case, every bite reminds us of people we've lost but that we still carry with us. After my mother in law died, we found a batch of welshcakes in the freezer - thinking about her making them and putting them away to be enjoyed at a later date made us feel she hadn't quite gone.
And not to be too overly sentimental, a handmade quilt is the same - tying us to a place and a person who might be long gone and enveloping us in feelings that they wanted to pass on. I have some quilts my mum has made, and hope to inherit a quilt from my mother in law, and if I have children in the future, I will make sure they know where those quilts came from and who made them. Just like I'll make sponge biscuits and talk about my nana and her baking, like my dad's love of a baked cheesecake and auntie bhopah's legendary welshcakes.
Lots of love
GG