The Memory Kitchen celebrates the people and stories behind 155 treasured local recipes
A recipe for fluffy pancakes might not look like much written on a page.
But when Roseview resident Melva Gale is in the kitchen making them with her family, suddenly there’s a bit more mixed into the batter.
And it’s those stories behind the recipes that Crystal Brook Kindergarten has spent the past two years gathering.
More than 155 treasured recipes from 95 contributors have made their way into The Memory Kitchen, alongside personal stories, hundreds of photographs and drawings from the kindy kids.
The result is a beautiful 278-page Crystal Brook cookbook, but its story started long before anyone thought about making one.
Crystal Brook Kindergarten and Roseview Aged Care have been bringing their youngest and oldest generations together since 2016, forming a partnership Greater SA first shared a couple of years ago.
Roseview residents have become the kindy’s “Grandfriends”, regularly spending time with the children for stories, games, birthdays, picnics, community events and, importantly, plenty of morning teas.
It was around those shared tables that conversations about food, family and old recipes started brewing.
Slowly, a cookbook began to take shape.
More Than A Recipe Book
What started as a collection of favourite recipes grew over more than two years into something much bigger.
Every recipe in The Memory Kitchen comes with the story or memory behind it, with contributions from Roseview residents, kindy families and people from across the Crystal Brook community.
And some of the best stories are found in the people making them.
Long-time Crystal Brook local Melva never married or had children of her own, but has wonderful relationships with her extended family and the children from the kindy.
For the cookbook, she joined her niece, great-nephew and his three children to make one of their family pancake recipes, bringing several generations together in the kitchen.
Then there’s Lloyd Collins, who pulled out his treasured pastry rolling machine to make sausage rolls with his grandson and four great-grandchildren.
Adorning the pages are also original drawings from 55 kindy children, with Roseview resident Joe Sasche getting in on the action and contributing one of his own.
Bringing The Recipes To Life
Photography became a big part of the project too, with stunning images by photographer Mark Zed bringing each treasured recipe, and the story behind it, to life.
During one huge photography day at Roseview, families arrived with freshly cooked dishes, family heirlooms, keepsakes, flowers and other pieces of their history to include in the pages.
Mark also captured generations cooking together at home, at the kindy and at Roseview, with more than 200 people appearing throughout the finished book alongside the recipes, stories and artwork.
And featuring on the cover is Margaret Collins, who volunteered at the kindy for almost five years, playing the piano and treating the children and staff to her delicious homemade sponges for morning tea.
Margaret is now a resident at Roseview, where that connection with the kindy has continued, with her own great-grandchildren among those to have attended in recent years.
Margaret and her great-granddaughter Ivy are pictured on the cover making scones together. In many ways, that simple image sums up the whole project, generations connected through the recipes, stories and traditions they share.
Gather. Cook. Connect.
Order The Memory Kitchen
Copies of The Memory Kitchen are $55, with books expected to arrive around the end of November, nicely timed for Christmas.
Money raised will go back into Crystal Brook Kindergarten to support its ongoing intergenerational work with Roseview.
Order your copy of The Memory Kitchen
🎙️ Hear more stories from across country South Australia with Melissa and Abbie on the Greater SA Podcast.
