Influences and Acknowledgements

I am a settler in Sydney (Warrang), Australia, on unceded Gadigal land. Australia has more than sixty thousand years of Indigenous history and is home to the oldest continuing culture in the world. First nations people have cared for this land and they have cooked on it for 60 thousand years and their soverignty was never ceded. I was born in Sydney Australia, to a British mother and a father with Irish Catholic heritage, and was raised on Dharawal land in the coastal town of Cronulla. Recipes on this blog use native Australian ingredients wherever possible and are influenced by my British roots, by the food of ethnic Chinese, Indian and Arab communities of Sydney and by places I’ve travelled to. Travelling frequently as well as growing up in a multicultural city, where European and Asian flavours collide, has widened my palette. My interests in literature, social justice and sustainability seep into the food I make. I do not claim to be the original creator of any of the recipes here, but I do hope to shed light on and acknowledge their origins where possible and marvel at their deliciousness.

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Lime and Punishment is a place for meaningful recipes, created to bring people together. The food I cook is filled with stories and explores the kaleidoscope of flavours I am fortunate enough to have tasted. My recipes are inspired by my region, travel, childhood memories, people I love, adventures and life journeys and are shown in raw, honest (bad) photography. They are meant to make cooking and eating well enjoyable – to feed one’s soul as well as the stomach. Cooking is unique to humans, and there’s something about cooking ancient recipes, such as breads, that makes one feel more intimately connected to humanity.

Food has a power like nothing else to connect people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. A shared love of food brings out one’s humanity and provides a bridge to form relationships with people very different from oneself. It is a starting point for connection and understanding, and, after all, human connection is why we are all here. Feeding people I love food they enjoy is one of my favourite things in the world and warms my heart. My blog was created for those who want to connect with other people and cultures through food, and use cooking as an expression of love.

The title of this blog is a nod to the novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and my love of literature. Along with food, I think literature and stories are a powerful medium to connect with people and understand other cultures and perspectives. Other names based on books I love but didn’t quite feel right were: Pride and Pomegranate Juice, The Little Quince, Batch-22, The Bun Also Rises, Tender is the Bite, A Tale of Two Chippies, My Brilliant Paneer, Twenty Thousand Leeks Under the Sea, One Thousand Splendid BBQ Pork Buns, Slaughterhouse Chives, Pho From the Madding Crowd… …I amuse myself.

Tags:
#Australian fusion food
#native Australian ingredients
#modern Australian food
#food sustainability
#sustainable cooking
#seasonal produce
#food writing
#food photography
#food literature