Rosa Toppler and Winifred Chapman

My grandmothers

Comfort food springs to mind when I think about my grandmothers' cooking. Both experienced the uncertain times of two World Wars and endured significant hardship. Coming from working-class backgrounds, they learned how to be resourceful with food and understood the value of a special treat.

My Swiss grandmother, Rosa, cooked a wonderful rabbit stew and served it with mashed potatoes. I can still smell the stew cooking in the oven with onions, carrots, bay leaves, and pepper as if it were just yesterday. Visiting her on Sundays was a real treat. We would heap the mashed potatoes into little mountains and make a dent on the top to hold extra gravy.

My English grandmother, whom I called Nanny, cooked excellent fish with potatoes and fresh garden peas. She lived in the small village of Whitwell in Hertfordshire. Once a week, a fishmonger from the East Anglian coast would stop on the High Street, just opposite Nanny's cottage, to sell fish from his van. As far as I remember, he came on Thursdays, which was the day we had fish. It was usually plaice fillets, which Nanny would simply flour, egg wash, and fry.

The traditional Christmas pudding is another cherished recipe passed down from my English ancestors. My father said it dates back to my Nanny's grandmother.

What I learned most from them was the importance of patience in cooking. My grandmothers' food was slow-cooked and took time to prepare. They also taught me how to be resourceful with what you have. In those days, at least in my family, "food waste" was virtually nonexistent.

Inspired by my grandmother's cooking: «Hacktätschli» with potato mash and rich gravy; fried fish with potatoes and parsley sauce; rice pudding with prunes compote and dusted with cinnamon-sugar, scones with whipped cream and raspberry jam; and the traditional family Christmas pudding, past down over generations.