ABOUT — Meike Peters | eat in my kitchen

Meike Peters I Eat In My Kitchen

Meike Peters is a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, food and travel writer. She started her food blog, Eat In My Kitchen, in 2013, wrote her first cookbook of the same name (published by Prestel) in 2016 and won James Beard General Cookbook of the Year in 2017. In October 2019, she returned with her second book, 365 – A Year of Everyday Cooking & Baking, to treat yourself to a year of home cooking, with a recipe for every day of the year. Both books were included in the New York Times Best Cookbooks lists. For her Meet in Your Kitchen feature series, she visits chefs and home cooks all around the world in their kitchens and shares their stories here on the blog. Since 2021 she invites guests to her Berlin kitchen for her Meet in My Kitchen podcast (English and German episodes).

Meike’s 3rd book is called NOON. It will come out in the fall of 2023, published by Chronicle Books (English) and Prestel (German).

__________________

My food is in my hands. Whatever I buy, whatever I cook and eat—it’s all up to me. My mother and grandmothers introduced me to the marvelous everyday pleasures of the kitchen. I was a young child, but watching them create fantastic treats with such ease and satisfaction impressed me and sparked my lifelong love of food. Through them I understood that it is a sensory process that leads to an unforgettable meal. The idea for a recipe is only the start. Before the cutting, searing, and stirring even begins, smelling and choosing fresh fruits and vegetables at the market, or picking a nice piece of meat at the butcher or a warm loaf of bread at the bakery is what turns a simple dish into something greater. When I sit down at the table, on my own or with family and friends, I enjoy every single bite to the fullest. It is pure bliss created by my own two hands. If there isn’t much time, I keep it simple, with only a few ingredients tossed together, but I won’t skip it. To cook, to bake, to eat, and to treat is my daily feast.

My culinary education is rooted in hearty German comfort food, with strong influences from French and Italian cuisine. It all started with my mother who is my biggest inspiration in the kitchen. She’s a fabulous cook, a wonderful host, and she introduced my young taste buds to the pleasures of fine olive oil and the generous use of Mediterranean herbs and garlic, along with France’s elaborate classical dishes and Italy’s simple but scrumptious pastas. Although I grew up in western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia, most of the traditional German recipes I cook originated in the South of the country. I learned to love them through my Swabian stepfather who brought wonderful treats like Spätzle and Maultaschen to our table. Our lavish family gatherings aroused an unstoppable appetite for traditional homemade cakes, and led to my huge passion for baking, which I continue to indulge in, especially on cozy weekends.

My kitchen journey took another turn as I discovered the Islands of Malta many years ago. Spending the summers in Malta and Gozo, sixty miles from Sicily, changed the mind, humor, and cooking of a German girl. Many new recipes and habits were brought into my kitchen by the Maltese who celebrate Mediterranean food but especially the act of sharing it. Similar to Sicily, the cuisine of Malta has strong Arabic influences. It features warming spices like cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds, as well as the concentrated zest and juice of lemons, tangerines, and oranges, to add depth and excitement to dishes that always circle around comfort.

This is my culinary map and I’m thankful for every single influence and experience. I combine and make use of everything I’ve learned—cooking, baking, and eating based on what I’ve seen, smelled, and tasted in the world. New ideas, trusted family classics, and culinary traditions melt into each other and turn into delicious treats to be savored at the long old wooden table in my Berlin home.

The seed for my deep fascination with food was sown early—maybe it’s been there from the start. An old photograph from when I was a baby—I couldn’t even walk yet—shows me toothlessly licking the last pieces off a chicken bone with such persistence that it seems obvious where my passion would take me. Years later, in November 2013, I decided to write about my kitchen adventures, and share my experiences here on my blog, on Eat in My Kitchen. Not knowing what it would lead to, I simply enjoyed exchanging tips and recipes with readers all over the world. We are all connected through the universal language of food, and inspire each other with our different cultures and creations.

I love to end my day in the kitchen; it relaxes me. Listening to music, enjoying a glass of wine with some nibbles—a bit of cheese, some olives or grapes—turns the cooking experience into a greater pleasure. The meals that follow are some of my most treasured memories, and are a big part of who I am. The food we choose to create and eat, the way we set up the room where it all happens, and the importance we give it in our lives says a lot about who we are. This is what I was curious about when I started the Meet in Your Kitchen interview series on the blog. Each guest shares a personal recipe and their views and stories about food; it offers a very honest insight into someone’s life through their kitchen.

In addition to this series I started a podcast: Meet in My Kitchen. The podcast episodes are recorded in my Berlin kitchen, and together with my guests I discuss the question: How did we get to where we are in life and what does food have to do with it? There are English and German episodes, which you can find on all common podcast platforms (just search for: Meet in My Kitchen podcast).

I feel thankful for all the great feedback I receive and I love to hear your questions and suggestions if you tried out some of my recipes. If you have any questions about Eat in My Kitchen please send me an email. If you don’t want to miss any of my posts feel free to subscribe here. If you want to share one of my pictures or recipes, whether online or in print, please get in touch for permission first. Thank you.

Meike

__________________

MY COOKBOOKS

NOON

FALL 2023

Chronicle Books (English) | Prestel (German)

__________________

365 – A Year of Everyday Cooking & Baking

One of The New York Times
‘The 13 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2019’