Eat, celebrate, laugh!

Nostalgia reigns at the Going West Literary weekend Landfall in Unknown Seas. Embracing the classic narrative of food, family and company, Natalie Oldfield, author of Gran’s Family Table will be joined by Peter Calder, food buff and restaurant reviewer, to discuss food and family in a simpler age.

Gran’s Family Table is a tribute to Natalie’s grandmother Dulcie May Brooker. Natalie is also the owner of award-winning store Dulcie May Kitchen in Mt Eden, Auckland.

Natalie opened the doors of her now renowned store in February 2009 to coincide with the release of her first self-published book, Gran’s Kitchen. This book went on to win The Gourmand Book Award in Europe, for best local cuisine in New Zealand. Natalie’s love for food and people meant she spent her formative years in the hospitality industry. It was during this time that her entrepreneurial endeavours led her to establish several corporate cafés and function venues, and, eventually, inspired by her grandmother, she opened her own establishment.

Regular contributor to the Herald on Sunday and the NZ Herald, Peter Calder is a restaurant and film reviewer. He also fancies himself as something of a dab hand in the kitchen – certainly a lot better than his late Mum who believed that no green vegetable was worth eating until it had been boiled furiously for 40 minutes. He’s looking forward to picking up a few ideas from Natalie Oldfield’s Gran – and he thinks that some restaurateurs around town should take a leaf out of Dulcie May’s book.