The Beauty of Colourful Cooking

In this fresh episode, I share the kitchen table with Andrea Horgan, and explore the delights of colourful cooking and the art of savouring every bite.

Andrea openly confesses her obsession with all things food, and her aversion to eggs and beige food. She shares her thoughts on the importance of fully experiencing and enjoying meals, including sitting down at a table and making time to appreciate a meal. She talks about her early food memories growing up in Ireland, and the transformative impact of a fateful trip to France on her mother's culinary repertoire. We also explore food photography as a source of inspiration and the role of all senses in the cooking and eating experience as well as the visual side of cooking.

Join us for this juicy exploration of the joy of cooking and colour!   

tasty morsels

[00:02:27] Love food, hate eggs.
[00:05:40] Colourful food tastes vibrant, beige food tastes bland.  
[00:07:10] The importance of aesthetics and colour.
[00:11:06] How her mum lost her mind over a croissant.
[00:16:20] How French shopping habits honour the seasons.
[00:17:55] The comfort of familiar food, and the joy of exploring new flavours.  
[00:23:48] Experience makes everything easier.
[00:26:47] Art and photography can inspire us to try something new.  
[00:27:48] The life enhancing power of colour.
[00:29:10] Cooking caramelised onions from a photo.
[00:31:57] Use all your senses, without the filter of technology.
[00:34:31] Cooking to nourish your body and soul.

the best bit

 "And that's the key thing, tasting. The longer you've been cooking, the better you get at judging for yourself how you like things seasoned. But when you're learning, you have to taste, taste, taste, taste, because you don't know how much sugar is in that particular nectarine on this particular day. So you have to taste, taste, taste."

get cooking

Three ideas for taking action in your own kitchen, inspired by the conversation.

🍅 Give mindful eating a try: Make the time to sit down at the table and fully appreciate and enjoy your meals. Avoid distractions like phones and screens while eating, slow down, and focus on the experience of tasting and savouring your meal.

🍅 Embrace culinary exploration: Challenge yourself to try new foods and cuisines. Take inspiration from photos, recipes or notes you have of new and intriguing meal ideas, and experiment with different flavours and ingredients in your own cooking.

🍅 Engage all senses in cooking and eating: Remember that cooking is not just about taste, but also about the visual appeal, the aromas, and even the sounds of your food as it cooks. Pay attention to the visual presentation of your dishes and your table setting to enhance your experience, and engage all your senses while cooking and eating to fully appreciate and understand the qualities of the food. 

connect with Andrea

connect with Katerina

additional links

Some of the things we talked about
recipe: Nadiya Hussain's Salmon with Caramelised Onions
from her book Nadiya's Fast Flavours

Original music by Colin Bass.

About your host

Katerina Pavlakis

Intuitive cook & irreverent kitchen coach
Growing up in Greece in the 70s, cooking, and eating, at home was simply normal. Shopping at farmers' markets, drooling over recipes, grinding spices, and animated conversation over dinner are some of my fondest memories. This is where I honed my cooking intuition. I'm here to help you find your way back to a simpler, more joyful way of cooking.

To bring intuition into your kitchen too, start here!

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