Food may be an absolute necessity of life but it is also one of our most enduring pleasures.This philosophy shapes my cooking. I love quality food and the pleasure that lies in its sharing. I think this is evident in my monthly column for the ODT that I have written for 25 years.
I love to eat and I love to cook but there are many other things that I enjoy doing too. I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen. My cooking methods are easy and the equipment I use is fairly basic. I cut the odd corner here and there. I cheat in the kitchen. I want fast, fresh food with strong natural flavours for little effort. I'm all for simplifying but not at the cost of taste and quality. My recipes represent a straightforward, no-fuss approach to food. Some dishes, particularly the slow cooker recipes have longer cooking times but the preparation time- the time that involves you- is short.
We southerners enjoy our four seasons. Cooking with fresh fruit and vegetables that are ‘in season' makes good sense. Fresh produce is full of flavour as well as being better value for money.
Your own small vegetable and herb plot is a boon to the home cook as is the Otago Farmers Market.
My long association with food and extensive overseas travel also helped shape my knowledge and love of food. I was born in Dunedin, attended Otago Girls High school and Dunedin Teachers College. I taught for three years before joining NZ National Airways Corporation as an air hostess. After several years I was promoted to the Hostess Training School in Wellington and trained air hostesses. I married and returned to Dunedin and for several years was a full time wife and mother to my two sons. These years gave me time to follow my interests in food. I attended night classes and experimented with cooking at home.
In 1980 I became a demonstrator for Sunbeam Appliances and later Southern Territory manager. Food processors, slow cookers and electric frypans were making their debut at this time. Talking to the women who flocked to appliance demonstrations I realized that I had the knowledge to write a book about food processors. I did and it was published by Whitcoulls in 1984. The electric frypan book followed and then in 1985 the Crockpot Cookbook. It was the first New Zealand slow cooker cookbook.
I have continued updating and rewriting this book and have sold in excess of 125,000 copies. In the latest edition, Joan Bishop's New Zealand Crockpot and Slow Cooker Cookbook, I have given cooking times for crockpots, slow cookers and what I call 'Speedy Slow Cookers" because unfortunately the majority of slow cookers are becoming hotter and their cooking times shorter. This means that the convenience of gentle all-day cooking is no longer guaranteed. With one of the "Speedy Slow Cookers" you cannot turn the slow cooker on as you leave for work in the morning and return eight or nine hours later to find delicious food waiting. It will probably be extremely overcooked.
When Random House suggested that I gather together the best of my recipes written over the past 25 years for my food column in the Otago Daily Times I was delighted. I leapt at the chance to combine all my favourite dishes and include a whole new section of my most recent slow cooker recipes. And so in mid June my latest cook book, "A Southern Woman's Kitchen" will be published.
I am married to Tony Reay, a retired Otago University Geology lecturer. We love the lifestyle in Dunedin and live here by choice. We have 4 children and 9 grandchildren between us.
Joan's book is out now! Click here for a taster of you can expect from "A Southern Woman's Kitchen".
View all of Joan's recipes in our Food and Wine Guide
