WENDYL NISSEN
Author and journalist
What kind of food did you eat growing up?
Wendyl: My mother hated cooking and resented every meal she had to cook for us. There was a lot of burnt chops, sausages, and frozen mince bashed into submission then cooked with a can of baked beans, which she called chilli con carne. When convenience food arrived in the 70s, she was a huge devotee of the convenience meal.
Can you share a favourite childhood food memory?
Wendyl: My dad loved fishing and diving, and so I have amazing memories of fresh scallops cooked on the barbecue and fresh snapper pan-fried in butter. As kids we would catch pipers off the jetty, which look like tiny swordfish. We would wrap them in foil with butter and lemon and cook them. I never see pipers anymore so I hope we didn’t catch all of them!
Are there
