Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1414025
CH EF M INA STON E A N D A RTIST U RS FISCH ER TA LK A BOUT FOOD, FRIEN DSH IP A N D STON E' S N EW BOOK, LEMON, LOV E & OLI V E OIL. The Secret Ingredient Urs Fischer: Do you remember when your palate changed and your curiosity for food started? Mina Stone: I remember loving certain simple dishes when I was a kid. My mom says that I was a picky eater. When I see what my 14-year-old stepdaughter eats, I ask myself: "Wow, did I eat like this? Takeout, deli sandwiches, chips?" Yes, that's exactly what I ate in high school—a bunch of garbage. There was a moment when food changed for me. I, too, was 14, and my friend and I visited her aunt in Spain. I remember thinking, "I never knew food could be this good," which is weird because in Greece, I had a lot of great food. But there was this woman who would make gazpacho, tortillas and these big Spanish spreads, and every bar we went to would serve snacks. I remember they would have plain yogurt with a spoonful of plain white sugar in it for dessert. She would also make her own granola. It was all really simple but it was the first time I thought—"this is amazing." The gazpacho recipe in my cookbook is from that experience. UF: I've watched you cook for many years and you really want to get it right every time. The times you don't, it's easy to tell that you're not happy. That always made me think of a musician, how that one wrong note hurts. I guess that is because you understand what's possible, and so you look for ways to make it happen. One of the ingredients in food is the synergy between the people who eat and the people who prepare the food. MS: Absolutely. If cooking is not working as a collaboration, at least to some degree, something gets lost. It never really works for me when somebody asks, "Cook this please—we want it to be like this." I just don't think I'm good at it. UF: The kitchen is a kind of the altar, the heart of any house. You're the master of ceremonies, making it come alive. Do you ever think while you prepare a dish that it will reach the taste buds of many people, almost simultaneously, in a collective experience? PHOTOS BY FLORA HANITIJO (STONE), MATTHEW COWAN (FISCHER) One of the art world's favorite chefs, Mina Stone, has just released her second book, Lemon, Love & Olive Oil, full of recipes inspired by her Greek heritage. 140 BAL HARBOUR