Being a gypsy (Rom, Rroma, Romany) is an ethnicity, not a nationality. My ancestors are Hungarian and Romanian Gypsies, Armenian, Austrian, Italian and for the last thirty years, I am Canadian. There are gypsies in virtually every corner of the world, there is not one culture, language, but many. "Gypsy culture" is inevitably both influential as is being influenced by the local culture, customs, cuisine, and climate. Gypsies are masters of finding what is available, what is customary and turning it into something different, something exotic, something that you will not find or taste anywhere else again.
"Traveller, there are no paths. Paths are made by walking" Rroma proverb.
"My friend, there are no recipes. Recipes are made by cooking." -Yours Truly
One of the best things of living in a multicultural country like Canada, and especially in British Colombia, I have the luxury of experiencing food of almost culture, any time, any day.Within a few blocks, one might find luxury restaurants right next to a greasy spoon-whole-in-the-wall-take-out. At the markets I can find spices and ingredients to cook anything my heart and taste buds desire.I learned new recipes and skills from friends and foes, from co-workers at company pot locks. I used to work with a multicultural clientèle as a family counsellor, and whenever my visits would be around meal time (or any other time, if I think about it), there was always something cooking, baking, marinating, ready to taste, ready to share in their homes. Like with my food and dancing, I prefer variety in my choice of relationships, and all of men were great cooks. When I'd left Europe, I was already skilled in Mediterranean, Austrian and Hungarian cooking. By , living, eating, working, dancing, praying, meditating, travelling loving my way through life and four continents, I was introduced to and learned Latin and South American, Caribbean, African, Indian and Asian recipes to my growing recipe collection and culinary skills. I've learned them, then, I turned them into my own. With reckless abandon, no less. I encourage you too, to do the same.
Rules, recipes and norms and beaten paths are for the "regular folks", not for us, reckless, passionate, artistic, creative and exotic people. yeah, accidents happen, stuff does not always turn out how we intended it to be, but hardly any mistake in the kitchen is "unfixable", it is not a life and death situation, relax! If everything else fails scrape the bowl, and start over again.
One of the hardest thing to do for the purpose of this blog was to "translate" the recklessness, spontaneity, freedom and passion that goes into my (and gypsy) cooking into recipes that are followable and reproducible. My measurements are not exact, and most of the recipes that follow can be done real gypsy style: adding your own twist, your ingredients, and making it your way. Please, let me know your trials and tribulations, the variations and yes, the improvements you came up with to my recipes!
Some of the recipes -usually those with the exact measurements and strict instructions- are not mine: I've picked them up in my travels around the city and the world in restaurants, or found them on other sites or blogs. In these cases, whenever it is possible, I give full credit to the cooks, chiefs, mommas and sources.
Like the life and travels of my gypsy ancestors, my recipes are influenced by many cultures, climates, cooks, and yes, they are almost inevitably influenced by love, friendship and passion. I hope to share the same with you.
The food, recipes, stories, images you read on my pages are not intended to represent "Authentic Gypsy Cuisine" and the title My Gypsy Kitchen is more metaphorical than could be considered ethnically and politically correct.
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