Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1547435
34 particularly cherished memory is her grandfather's imqarrun il-forn, finished with thin slices of potato that crisped in the oven. Zara recalls the thick vegetable dishes known as prívarky, alongside soups, porridges, stews, langoš and potato or courgette placky. She also remembers the annual zabíjačka, a family gathering centred on the traditional butchering of a pig before winter. Everyone had a role, and the day began early and continued until late into the night. ese memories helped shape Elle's book, Nourish & Heal from the Farm Kitchen. Bringing together recipes from her Maltese family and traditional dishes from Zara's Slovak family, the book preserves food traditions that might otherwise be lost as older generations pass on. But Elle also wanted to explore why these recipes have remained relevant beyond their sentimental value, looking at the nutritional qualities of traditional ingredients and the ways in which earlier generations approached food. Many of the recipes were never formally recorded. Instead, they survived through observation, repetition and the instinctive measurements of experienced home cooks. "Our grandmothers measured with their hands and their eyes," Elle says. "A handful of this, enough flour until the dough feels right, or cooking something until it smells done." To make the recipes accessible to modern readers, Elle recreated the dishes in her own kitchen, cooking repeatedly, weighing ingredients and checking the results with relatives who remembered the original flavours. e aim was to provide reliable measurements without losing the character of the food. e book also explores the potential health benefits of traditional cooking. Drawing on two years of research into ancestral nutrition, Elle has included notes alongside each recipe explaining the nutritional properties of its ingredients and their potential benefits to the body. Bone broths, fermented vegetables, seasonal produce and offal feature prominently, reflecting the resourcefulness of previous generations, who made nourishing meals from what was available and wasted very little. By pairing family recipes with nutritional research, Elle hopes to show that traditional food is not simply a reminder of the past, but a source of knowledge that remains relevant today. Some recipes carried particular emotional weight. Her family's spaghetti with rabbit offal sauce, inherited from her great-grandfather Francesco, represents four generations of cooking. Recreating her mother's qara twila brought back memories of home, while preparing Zara's grandmother's dishes after her death offered a way to keep her presence in the kitchen. Mária, affectionately known as Mama, is the person to whom the book is dedicated. Although she was not Elle's grandmother by birth, she welcomed her into the family from their first meeting. She cooked generously, sang to Elle despite the language barrier and insisted on a shot of pálinka whenever the couple visited. If Elle accepted one, Mária would remind her that she had two legs