Auntie Orlandina

My mother’s sister Orlandina was a wonderful cook, who lived near our home in San Quirico d’Orcia, Tuscany. Every summer, I would spend two precious weeks with her.

Just outside the town walls, she had a small piece of land where she grew grain, vegetables, grapes, walnuts and almonds. The area was known for vipers, so they had to tread carefully as they walked around the fields. They took empty baskets and always returned home with them full of produce to cook together.

My nonna taught me how to value food, how to use it all – every bit of it and how to preserve it for winter. In the photo, she’s stirring a large copper pot of polenta — it must have been cold outside and we would have eaten it with a rich ragù or a hearty stew.

Though she never had children, she poured her love into cooking and passed on her love of porcini mushrooms. She taught me how to recognise wild porcini, keep quiet about any good spots I found, how to clean and cook them and how to preserve them under oil. She also taught me to crochet and how to laugh at life. Her humour and generosity shaped the way I still cook today — with care, respect, and joy.