BAY BERRIES: Julian’s Berry Farm owners Monica and Paul Julian show off a copy of Made With Love, the world cookbook that features their recipes. D4402-5
TWO years ago Julian’s Berry Farm & Cafe shared its berry jam, berry coulis and French toast recipes with the nation via The Great New Zealand Cookbook.
The book was the creation of Thom Productions and featured recipes from 80 of New Zealand’s finest cooks. The creators went on to publish Great Australian, British and South African cookbooks and during the production of the South African edition a new idea was born.
In line with Nelson Mandela’s belief that “freedom is meaningless if people cannot put food in their stomachs”, the Nelson Mandela Foundation came up with the idea of a world cook book and produced Made With Love featuring 100 of the world’s best chefs, cooks and food artisans.
The book, just released, features the Whakatane business alongside such well-known names as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Pippa Middleton, Peter Gordon and Stefano Manfredi.
A copy of the book turned up at the berry farm last week and the Julians had to laugh on opening it and reading through the long list of contributors.
Printed under each name was that person’s claim to fame, be it as a restauranteur, chef or television presenter. Beneath Julian’s Berry Farm on page 154 there was a blank space.
Monica said the makers of the book rang asking if they were happy to also feature in this cookbook, which was “no problem”. She’s not sure why they were chosen given the high profile of the others selected, but believes they may have been seen as a “good fit” for the Nelson
Mandela Foundation based on how they talked about their business in the first cookbook.
In it Paul referred to the shortness and intensity of the berry season and the need for lot of extra hands on deck, leading to the employment of a lot of university and high school students and backpackers.
“When they first turn up I like to show them another worker’s hands, covered in berry juice and scratches from the berry vines. The contrast with their clean hands makes me laugh,” he says in the introduction.
He also refers to his favourite part of the job being the pastoral element, expressing the hope that Julian’s Berry Farm and Cafe can make a positive contribution to these young peoples’ lives.
“Maybe that’s one of the reasons why [we were included] – or maybe they just like our berries and our jam and our picture,” Monica says.
The book will be on sale at the berry farm for $49.90, alongside their few remaining copies of The Great New Zealand Cookbook.
Royalties from sales will help the Nelson Mandela Foundation to develop and support community food and agricultural projects and its partnership with Food & Trees for Africa.