My name is Tatiana Smith and… wait for it… I had never liked cooking.

But, essentially, it’s all about culture.

To be born a woman in Russia is a life sentence: it’s mandatory to cook three meals a day, full stop. What a wastage of life to spend a couple of hours at the kitchen after an hour of shopping, preparing a meal for the family which will be gone in 15 minutes or so, and in one hour everyone would forget your self-sacrificing act and start asking: What’s for dinner (or lunch)? Is this even a life? With no traces of your achievement left behind, with no lasting memories. And in the past, there were no smart phones and Instagram.

In contrast, when I moved to Australia I realised that people take the easy path when it comes to making meals. Breakfast: help yourself (if you even can be bothered). Lunch: a simple sandwich will do. Everyone is big enough to look after themselves, right? Dinner: the staple Aussie meal Meat and three veges would be totally satisfactory most of the time. This take-it-easy approach is more like me. Also, from my observation, Australian men generally tend to share the cooking duty. Ideally, I would love to abolish dinners altogether, and then there would be no cooking left to do, but that’s probably too extreme. Plus, it’s a valuable family bonding time.

Recently, I moved to Paris and then everything changed. At first, I tried hard to pronounce correctly the phrase: “En France, on ne mange pas pour vivre, mais on vit pour manger et boire”. Literally: “In France, we don’t eat to live, but we live to eat and drink”. Gradually later I learnt the real meaning of this French saying and that it’s not just words but a way of life. I became more curious about this “phenomenon” but wouldn’t believe I can prepare something amazing which would deserve mention. Until one day, I came across a French cooking book by J.-F. Mallet  “SIMPLISSIME  Soups et bouillons repas Les + faciles du monde“. Up to 6 ingredients and dead simple to make and voila: we have a delicious amazing meal like in a restaurant. It completely changed my attitude towards cooking. It’s possible and it’s easy. And it’s me who did it! The culinary revelation happened!

Do you remember the movie Julie & Julia about Julie Child? While living in France, she discovered the magic about French cuisine and became a very popular chef with her own TV show in California. I didn’t believe in such transformation, but a similar story has happened to me now. I don’t know how far I’ll go with my new passion, but I want to invite all of you to became a member of this new Cooking Bay Club website. Here we can share our simple recipes and maybe help people out there to turn cooking routine into an enjoyable and creative experience.

Let’s the fun begin.