Pictures from the book
Cookery books have always been popular but it’s not always easy to find a hook, that something that makes it special. For creatives Isabella Niehaus and Louis Janse van Vuuren it’s as much about the creativity as it is about the food. DIANE DE BEER spoke to this powerhouse duo a while back about There’s a Vegan on my Verandah (Also available as Daar’s ‘n Vegan op my Verandah):
Food is the common thread between these two friends Isabella Niehaus (Bella to friends) and Louis Janse van Vuuren and to make this one special, they decided to go the vegan route.
It has to happen with the way the world is going, those like myself who love everything plant based, will welcome their imaginative ideas. And with both of them innovative chefs who are used to cooking for multitudes, coming up with novel ideas and combining that with wonderful words, it came easily.
The fresh ingredients are from the forest/kitchen garden at Le Rembuché in the French countryside where Louis and his partner Hardy Olivier lived. And with Bella’s legendary long tables at her Duinhuis on the West Coast (she recently moved), and Louis’s fantasy vegan meals presented at Café Vincent and Chateau la Creuzette, it made sense for them to combine their cuisine adventures.
The book which has been rewarded with prizes and praise makes sense because of their passions which are so similar. Both of them are visual creatives and everything they do comes from that perspective. Which in this instance naturally means that the emphasis is as much on the pictures as on the words.
Not that the latter is neglected. Stories are the way they communicate amongst themselves but also on paper, and because this is a self-published book, they could do with it what they wanted with their own wishes, the ones to be obeyed. And you can see that.
With both having lived in what must be some of the most beautiful regions to be found (French countryside and Cape West Coast) how they present their cuisine and their conversations is impacted by the visual presentation – something that works particularly well in a cookbook. It is who they are and how they operate.
This visual emphasis also drives how and what they do with food. “We don’t like stylised cookbooks,” they agreed at one of the presentations they did on their country-wide tour last year.
Nostalgia and memories are also feelings that dominate the way they worked with what they were going to present. Bella only got cooking late in her life, she explains, and for her, the table is as important as the food she selects for the day.
She loves working with flour and enjoys the whole tactile thing about preparing food. Fortunately we are still a country that cooks and they are hoping that with their particular plant-based ethos, they will inspire a new approach and an easy way to embrace the future where vegetables and fruit will play a far bigger role than meat and fish.
For Louis it is all about the senses and as soon as he smells food, he also visualises how it will look on the plate. “It will finally look exactly like a painting,” says the artist. His food habits had to change to improve his health. “Once I let go of dairy, I simply felt so much better.”
But that also heightened the emphasis he gave to food, because he had to put more thought into it, especially in the early days. He also believes that as he grows older, the importance of each meal is heightened. “I want every meal to be a festive occasion,” he says.
To compile and write the book, make the recipes and take the pictures, Bella had to travel to France and with her small duct-taped suitcase, she took with her some spekboom leaves (there’s simply not an English equivalent) as well as some other South African delicacies she could squeeze in.
Fresh produce is another of their secret ingredients. If they have to eat bread, it should be freshly baked. And when you think of the French and the abundance of bakeries, it’s part of how they breathe.
But that is also much more common here than before, so there’s no excuse. And even for those of us who are gluten intolerant, it’s easy to make our own version of what represents bread.
Similarly with fresh products. It’s important to go into your garden if you have one, and pick fresh lemons for example.
Simplicity is also underlined in their choice of recipes. “If I’m eating pumpkin,” says Bella, “I want to taste the pumpkin.”
Louis has been a vegan for more than seven years, while Bella with the writing of the book, was dipping her toe into the water. But what they aimed to do with the book was to show the importance of produce and how to turn a vegan lifestyle into something spectacular in an everyday kind of way.
They emphasise that this cookbook is as much about the conversations as the cuisine. “We are two creative beings who like to chatter on about our food memories,” says Louis. They were guided by what they had in hand, how to combine smartly and imaginatively, and how to come up with affordable, wholesome and even luxurious meals.
I have to admit, my love for dairy still keeps me from adopting the vegan lifestyle. But I really cherish the information from those who are already doing it so that I can acquire as many of the wholesome habits as possible.
And because much of my food at home is plant-based, to find some clever combinations from those who know how, is something special. It is a beautiful book with many exquisite pictures and the recipes are unusual, evoking many memories from childhood and family meals.
It is also a fantastic book to add spice to your kitchen – and we all long for that. Hurry up, because there are rumours that the are starting with a second one.
De Beer Necessities 