Hello! I started this blog in November 2013 with the task—or mission—to share one recipe (my own) every day for one year. I had no idea how much this would change me, my life, and my relationship with food. What had been just a lifelong passion suddenly and serendipitously became my profession.

My culinary education, if you can call it that, is rooted in hearty German comfort food, with strong influences from French and Italian cooking. My mother has always been my greatest inspiration and teacher in the kitchen. She taught me about ingredients and techniques—and to be focused, attentive, and precise with my senses. Above all, the most important lesson as a cook that I learned from her was to always trust myself. That you should listen to others for inspiration, be curious, and explore different cuisines, but as soon as the spatula is in your own hand, you have to trust yourself. This lesson counts not only in the kitchen but in life in general.

Although I grew up in western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia, most of the traditional German recipes I cook originate in my home country’s south. I learned to love Swabian classics, like Spätzle and Maultaschen, through my stepfather who was from Stuttgart.

From there, curiosity, love, and unexpected twists in life have kept shaping my cooking and kept it constantly evolving. I spent many years in Malta, a tiny island country with a cuisine similar to Sicily, that combines its Mediterranean and Arabic roots. The country left a deep mark in my life and on my palate, which explains my love for citrus zest, fennel seeds, and the simplicity of vegetables and olive oil. I still only use sea salt from Gozo (Malta’s sister island), harvested by the Cini family at the Xwejni Salt Pans (you can order the salt here). This is the salt that taught me how easy it is to wring all the flavor from good produce with little more than itself, a splash of olive oil, and a sprinkle of crunchy salt flakes. This lesson was as important to learn as my mother’s lesson about trust.

So what did all of this lead to, apart from an always full table at my home in Berlin? It led to almost 750 recipes on this blog, to my Meet in Your Kitchen Travel Series and the Meet in My Kitchen Podcast recorded in my kitchen, and to three cookbooks (thanks to my trusted editor and friend, Holly La Due, who ‘found’ me in 2015). I also take all the photographs myself, for the blog, the travel and podcast features, and for my cookbooks.

If you had asked me in November 2013 if I had a vision for this blog, I would have naively answered that I would just love to share my passion for food, and ideally, inspire my readers to go to their own kitchens and start cooking and experimenting. I never dreamed of all the things that actually happened, neither books, podcast, or travels. That it did happen the way it did, makes me very thankful. This is my biggest motivation: To come up with a really exciting recipe is great, to be able to share it with others, is a gift.

Meike

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