The importance of experimenting and having a go

On Monday my mother would have turned 86, so she has been in my thoughts a bit more than usual this week.

Mum wasn’t highly educated, in the formal sense. She grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and left school when she was 15 years old. Like many of her generation, she was expected to get a job as soon as she could and contribute to the family finances.

However, what set her apart from many, was her insatiable curiosity and her burning desire to learn. Unsurprisingly, curiosity and learning were two of her core values.

While she was determined my brother and I would go to university, she also taught us that you can learn without being in the confines of a classroom (although she was very unimpressed when I reminded her of that shortly after telling her I was dropping out of my economics degree to travel the world).

One of my favourite ways to learn is through food.

Mum (and dad) taught my brother and I to love and appreciate food. They exposed us to a lot of different foods and cuisines as we grew up. Mum was ahead of her time, as growing up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, a typical meal was meat (lamb chops or sausages as they were cheapest) and three always-steamed-to-death veg. While we ate our share of those meals (I'll never get the smell of those lamb chops out of my nose), we also had a lot of foods that were not commonly eaten in our part of Australia at that time.

Mum often experimented with Indian, Chinese, Mexican and Italian recipes, frequently substituting what was available for traditional ingredients.

This taught me the importance of experimenting and having a go – even if it all went horribly wrong!

It’s easy to rely on the same old same old.

Whether you’re in the kitchen or in other parts of your life. Today, when I find myself in a bit of a rut, I’ll buy an ingredient I haven’t cooked with before, or try a new recipe for dinner. Many of my friends know that when they come over for a meal, they are likely to be experimented on!

How do you like to learn? I’d love to know.