Reddish Raddish is an homage to the recipes of my mom, Rénee Robin. My mom was, and is, a rad woman. Mom, or Mãe as I know her (in Brazilian Portuguese) made the environment that made me. She didn’t just make food, people! She made people! Mãe was at her core a “People Maker.” I can’t think of anything more rad than that job title for a résumé. And I couldn’t be more grateful that my mom Renée, in her role as people-maker, was also a feeder of people, and a maker of food. Great food!
Just as my mom’s food nourished my body, her influence on me nourished my soul. This website is as much about the food that she fed me, as the person she made me. My life has taught me to respect the power of food, among other hard-earned lessons. Food has the power to nourish, and it has the power to destroy, health. Food also has the power to soothe, bring people together, tear people apart, save the planet, and destroy the planet.
Now that I have children of my own, I realize how crucial a skill cooking is. It is not avoidable, and can only be outsourced at great cost. Sure, you can eat takeout every night, but this will break your budget, not to mention your body. Some might say that takeout saves time, which should be factored into the cost of making one’s own food. OK, if we are going to get abstract about accounting, we need to look at the hidden costs of takeout, which we pay years down the line, in countless poor health outcomes.
I created Reddish Raddish to share the tools, tricks, and know-how that I have learned, watching my mom cook, and now cooking myself. In the Recipes section, you’ll find a curated list of my go-to recipes. In the Blog I will dish out tips and opine on cooking-related news. My philosophy is that food isn’t just food. A home isn’t just a place to live, etcetera. So we can’t really talk about cooking without talking about everything else too.