Liz Cameron has a saying: ‘So many recipes, so little time’.
Her husband jokes that she never makes the same meal twice – a sign of her lifelong love of tasting and experimenting, now being served up in the form of her first cookbook.
Hailing from the Coromandel, Liz is a former home economist and food consultant, and cooking has always been on the front burner ever since she was a child.
She grew up on a South Otago sheep farm in the 1950s and 60s, where one of her earliest memories is of her mum making ice cream, coloured green at Liz’s request.
In 1963, when she turned 15, she was given her first cookbook, and a few years after that, she left home to study for a Diploma in Home Science at Otago University, graduating in 1968.
“[I] then went to teachers college in Epsom. I taught sewing and cooking in Auckland, then in Vanuatu and Fiji, coming to Coromandel in 1975, where I taught Home Economics at the area school.”
Liz said the two years she spent in the islands taught her a lot about other cuisines during a time when New Zealand’s own tastebuds were “still very simple”.
“So it was eye-opening for me to see different dishes and different ingredients being used,” she said.
In 1990, Liz opened her own restaurant – Success Café – ticking off a long-held dream.
Now, after churning away for the past five years, she has released her first cookbook, Liz’s Kitchen, which was launched last month.
“This has been about a five-year project. I have given up several times,” she admitted. “Sometimes, it just seemed pointless to cook lots of food just to photograph the result, but early this year I decided to make a concerted effort and get it done, so I spent three-four months working hard on it.
“I set myself a timeframe and kept at it, then sent it to Debbie Morgan, a graphic designer who did a wonderful job.”
Liz said the most challenging aspect of collating her book was writing the recipes and making sure they were consistent and easy to follow.
She couldn’t pin down a favourite among them, and instead said she simply loved trying new recipes.
“In fact, my husband often complains that I never make the same recipe twice,” she said. “So many recipes, so little time, I say!”
DETAILS: Liz can be contacted via lizannever3@gmail.com or found on Facebook under ‘Liz’s Kitchen’. Her books will soon be for sale at Carson’s Bookshop in Thames.
BY KELLEY TANTAU
