Family. It's complicated...

Who influenced your approach to food and shaped the type of cook that you are? 

As we created this special family-themed edition for you, I put this question to the team at Cuisine. Their answers are in each recipe feature, giving you a generous glimpse of their own families, important food memories and valuable knowledge and skills passed on through the generations.

We would probably all agree that the influence of family on our lives is wildly varied and nothing short of profound. We would probably also be in agreement that family is, in fact, complicated in reality.

We are privy to an abundance of idealised images of family pouring into our social feeds – Mum, Dad, children, grandparents, extended family – cherished moments of love and benevolence are captured and shared.

Yet we understand, too, that these images imbue the nuances and complications of personality, aging family members, rivalry, generation gaps, disabilities, depression, anxiety, cross-cultural differences and a raft of unique challenges for every family.

Family is complicated and with this in mind, we chose to acknowledge and celebrate this reality on our winter cover.

I remembered an old family platter, a treasured piece I had once borrowed from my mum. It took me over a year to summon up the courage to return it and confess that I had broken it. That platter remained a constant at family gatherings, still treasured, cracks and all. 

And so to the old family plate on our cover, cracked and broken but glued back together time and again, passed down through generations; a small piece of the past that we carry into the future, like our genes. Art director Fiona Lascelles painstakingly destroyed an old platter and pieced it back together again.

The plate also serves to frame another constant, one important thing that brings us together: good food. Ginny Grant’s stunning caramelised citrus fruits are a nod to the season and a simple dish that, combined with polenta cake and yoghurt, can be shared and devoured. 

The embroidery is again a reference to family linen and heritage, but given a twist through the blood-red coloured thread. Threads that bind us together, however loose or fractured they may be.

In this glorious new issue you are privy to a little bit about the people behind our food at Cuisine. We all have a very different journey, but we are united by the immense pleasure that comes from cooking and sharing with you.

Help to support us in telling the New Zealand food story by grabbing a copy or subscribing here. (On-sale June 12)

Cover Credits

Recipe and food styling, Ginny Grant; photography, Aaron McLean; concept and art direction, Fiona Lascelles; image retouching, Jason Creaghan; embroidery, EmbroidMe.