#228 Anna Mcleod | The Kitchen Of Somewhere Conversation with a chef

The Kitchen of Somewhere is a deeply personal story of how food shapes our connection to place, the environment and most importantly our understanding of who we are. It weaves a narrative inspired by a plum-velvet, covered notebook found by Anna shortly after her mother's passing by suicide.The notebook was bursting with stories of her mother's travels, and the recipes she collected along the way. Using this notebook as a guide, Anna travelled over 64,000km to retrace her mother's steps and craft a one-of-a-kind cookbook that captures the food and the places her mother once visited in her younger years. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to talk to Anna ahead of her In Conversation event at Readings in The State Library and ahead of Mothers Day. Storytelling is at the heart of what I do, or at least, sharing other peoples stories and Anna is an exquisite storyteller, tapping into memory, food and place as a way of honouring her mothers life and making connections with others. $5 from the sale of each book goes towards Beyond Blue to support their work with mental health. I loved connecting with Anna over a shared love of nostalgic Aotearoa New Zealand food and hearing about the journey she took to bring The Kitchen of Somewhere to fruition. This conversation does mention suicide. If you need to talk to someone please ring Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au