Do you remember that chicken soup your grandpa used to make for you? Or the pancakes grandma flipped so well? Our taste buds can be used as a walk down memory lane, especially so when eating meals from a past time or our childhood. Both eating and cooking can create a piece of home and are a wonderful way to remember. The project Wir haben einfach gekocht („We simply cooked“) from Berlin has utilized this unique quality of food turned it into an amazing cookbook.
Read more about the project and see the joy on the participants’ faces after the jump.
The team behind “Wir haben einfach gekocht” travelled to senior residencies throughout Germany to cook with the residents and to collect culinary memories. Not only did the project rescue old recipes from disappearing, but it also gave the residents a sense of purpose and a new way to express their plentiful memories.
What seems to be a simple idea triggered heart-warming reactions and resulted in an unbelievable cookbook with recipes from decades of home cooking. The seniors shared their favorite dishes, prepared them together with the team while passing on their secrets recipes and later indulging in the memories the meals triggered on their tongue.
Seeing how many happy smiles and glowing faces the senior cooking sessions created is amazing and I cannot wait to try some of the recipes included in the book.
All images by Caro Hoene and Lotte Ostermann for Wir haben einfach gekocht
