Photos: KSCVK Hosts Monday Morning Cooking Club

A few dozen women gathered at the home of Laya Biggs on New York Ave. for a show by the Australian group ‘Monday Morning Cooking Club.’ Proceeds from the event went to KSCVK, a fund that helps young Crown Heights couples cover their wedding expenses.

Who is the Monday Morning Cooking Club?

The six of us have been cooking together every Monday morning since 2006.

We think of ourselves as our own little melting pot, which is reflected in the heart-warming and gorgeous book we have created. We all live in Sydney, Australia, but come from different backgrounds.

Merelyn comes from Perth, with Hungarian heritage. Jacqui started her life on the Sydney north shore with an English background. Lisa is from Melbourne, of Polish stock. Laurenimmigrated as a child from Pretoria, South Africa. Natanya is a Sydney girl with Shanghai/Russian roots, and Paula is from Durban, South Africa, starting her life here as a newlywed.

Our directive at the start was to put together a cookbook to raise money for charity. We then made it our mission to take it one step further, and to actually try to find the best recipes from the best cooks in Sydney’s Jewish Community.

We wanted to share with the world our community’s unusually strong, somewhat obsessive, connection with food.

If someone is ill, chicken soup is promptly made and delivered.
If someone dies, eggs are boiled and bagels are bought.
No flowers are sent; a cake is baked.
If a baby is born, entire meals are prepared for entire families. It is always about the food.

And so we met every Monday morning – to chop and stir, mince and roll, roast and bake, fry and boil. We tasted and ate, laughed and debated, argued and agreed. We culled and vetted, tested and re-tested, and argued and laughed some more. The end result – a collection of brilliant heirloom recipes to share with the world and pass on to the next generation.

Over a chopping board and hot stove, with many cups of tea and the odd piece of cake, a unique bond began to form. We started out as a group of individuals and we are now a sisterhood.