Simple Food for Simple Folk

Gypsy Kyra Smith was a very close family friend during my childhood, she and her man had no chavvies (Children) and travelled with us around Yorkshire and Lancashire for many years. As a girl kyra had unfortunately met with an accident, a horse kicked her braking her leg in several places, the result was she had great difficulty in walking especially any great distance. This meant that during the Summer months on the fairgrounds she would stay with the wagons and horses whilst her man Ethan would work the fair with my Father, what they worked depended on several factors, the weather, the place we were at or how 'Skint' we were that week! and in the Winter months again Kyra stayed with the wagons while my Mother and Gran. would go out into the surrounding villages selling lace, wooden flowers my Dad made and of course reading palms to earn a little something to help out with whatever we had managed to put by during the summer. The men would do any sort of work the local farmers would offer.

The one thing that really sticks in my mind after more than 60 years is the evening meal we all sat down to around the fire. Now my Mother and Gran. were very good cooks, however, Kyra was in another class altogether when it came to food. When we returned from whatever we had been doing that day there was always a most delicious meal waiting and don't forget, everything we as Gypsies cooked had to be prepared on the open fire, no fancy equipment not even an oven. I remember one summer it was quite hot and dry and the shops and farmers fields were overflowing with Cauliflowers, in fact there was such a glut some farmers we knew were giving them away. I never knew one could so many different things with a Cauliflower, Kyra produced some wonderful meals with these humble vegetables, so tasty yet so simple to prepare. In fact Kyra used to say to me I love to cook with the simplest of ingredients and the least effort!

Kyra outlived Ethan by about 10 years and she stayed with us until she passed on at the age of 87. Many years later my Mother handed me tatty looking book and said I know you like cooking would you like to have this, what is it?, I asked. It's a book we found in Old Kyra's wagon after she died, it has about a hundred of her recipes in it. I though that strange as she couldn't read or write but I later found out my Grandfather, who could read and write had been writing them down for her in this book for years.

Well, I have been the proud owner of this treasure for a long, long time and have often thought about publishing it, the problem with that, I'm afraid there are quite a few of the recipes not really suitable for non-gypsy folk. Some don't lend themselves to being cooked on a stove or oven, they are really designed for the open fire, there are some with ingredients like 'Freshwater Pike', Hedgehog (Hotchi Witchi in Romanus), Hare, Badger and Squirrel. So what I have done is choose a few simple recipes you can try at home and put them together in a little booklet which can be downloaded from my Members Page at this link: http://wp.me/P4EyXf-zU , don't worry if you are not a member of my page you can join FREE when you arrive there. I hope you enjoy some of them and do let me have any comments you may have, it's always nice to hear from you.

From your friend Paul

Until next time ................

Copyright 2016 Paul Petulengro