6 Questions - Zsuzsanna Toth

What’s your earliest food memory? 

Probably one of my grandma’s suppers in Hungary. They always contained a bowl of hearty chicken soup, a very sweet and acidic cucumber pickle salad, and quite often baked pancakes, filled with homemade apricot jam or a Hungarian type of ricotta and sour cream. I always left her very happy and very fulfilled, all tastebuds awake. 

Your dream dinner?  

My dream dinner is an assembly of my favourite things in life: summer, the great outdoors, friends or curious people just becoming friends, a roast chicken, a massive salad of wild greens, some pasta. Never finished without strange ideas and a slice of cake. 

Your favourite piece of food writing/poem? 

Can’t pick a certain passage but I really enjoy reading Ruth Reichel, Alice Waters and Charles Eisenstein. 

Your favourite music to listen to whilst cooking? 

Depending on who I am cooking for and where but I would say in general something nostalgic and upbeat. Also use a lot of cooking time to catch up on (audio)books. 

An underrated ingredient? 

Lovage, the right oil, proper salt. 

A dish that’s left a really good impression over the last 6 months? 

A homemade game goulash made by my friend in the countryside in Germany followed by sunflower polenta cake I baked with the first rhubarb. 

A pile of greens and herbs and goats curd followed by a perfectly juicy roast chicken at Gloriosa in Glasgow. 

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Zsuzsanna will be teaching the Food in the Elements - cooking with clay - workshop at the Women In Food retreat in May 2024.