Rose Elliot's Complete Vegetarian Cookbook [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONWhen I was sixteen and a half I took off my school uniform for the last time and became the cook at a retreat centre run by my parents. It wasn't that 1 had any great aspirations to be a cook, but that I'd met and fallen head-over-heels in love with Robert, a man twelve years older than me, and couldn't get away from school fast enough. By a stroke of luck (for me), just at that very time the vegetarian cook at the retreat centre left. In those days (1960s) vegetarian cooks were few and far between, and my parents were desperate for a replacement. So they reluctandy gave in to my pleas for the job, on condition that I continued to study for my A levels at home. And that is what 1 did, and how I took the first step to becoming a cookery writer.To everyone's surprise, including my own, 1 really enjoyed the cooking. Many of the guests at the retreat centre were experiencing vegetarian food for the first time and 1 enjoyed the challenge of presenting it to them in a way which would appeal. 1 started by using family recipes and an old recipe book, called Household Non-Flesh Cookery, but once 1 got into my stride 1 discovered that the ideas started to flow, and I began creating many new recipes. I found great satisfaction in the blending and balancing of colours and textures. Visitors to the retreat centre kept clamouring for recipes, but I was too busy with the cooking and my A levels to do anything other than scribble them down on odd scraps of paper.1 married Robert in the summer of my eighteenth birthday, and in due course had two daughters in quick succession. It was at this time, while 1 was tied to the home and cradle, that 1 decided to do what everyone kept asking me to do (for once!) and put my recipes together. So I wrote a book, and the religious charity which ran the retreat centre published it. The book was called Simply Delicious - the title was my father's brilliant idea - and the initial print run was either 4000 or 5000 (1 can't remember which). Very timidly, 1 sent out four copies for review: one to my favourite programme, 'Woman's Hour'; one to Katie Stewart, then cookery editor of The Times-, one to Ideal Home magazine; and one to the local newspaper. All gave the book wonderful reviews and orders flowed in from booksellers all over the country, especially as a result of the 'Woman's Hour' review. A reprint was immediately ordered; I was interviewed for the first time on television; and I accepted an invitation to give a cookery demonstration to an audience of 200 people. The die was cast!Requests for more cookery demonstrations followed. One of the most rewarding -and taxing - was a series 1 did at die store which was then called Marshall and Snelgrove in London. This consisted of seven half-hour demonstrations, each on a different topic, over diree consecutive days. When you're demonstrating, the hard part isn't the actual demonstration, it's all the preparation of ingredients and the collecting together of equipment which has to be done beforehand, and the washing up afterwards! However, my sister, Jenny, and anotiier dear friend, Alison, helped me, the audience was wonderful, and 1 look back on my 'Marshall and Snelgrove demonsttations' as a happy experience and an important stepping-stone in my career. Not that 1 or anyone