MEET ELNETE

Name:

Elnete Da Silva

Birth country: Sao Tome E Principe

Favourite dessert: Portuguese Pudding

Firebar :

WHEN DID YOU START COOKING?

16/17

WHO WAS COOKING FOR YOU?

My mum, or my sisters but we mostly had someone to cook, clean, wash and so I never had to cook. I just ate.

COMPARING THAT TO MY CHILDHOOD. YOU SOUND PRIVILEGED.

Life was easier back then. I had to teach you and your siblings differently because life is harder here. You need to know how to survive. You only have each other.

WHAT WAS FOOD LIKE IN SAO TOME?

My mum always cooked a nice dinner. Wasn’t always the same. Different food almost everyday.

SO YOUR MUM COOKED EVERYNIGHT?

No, she had someone to cook everynight [laughs]. She supervised the kitchen evernight.

WAS IT MOSTLY ISLAND FOOD ?

That but also a bit of European food. My dad worked for the Portuguese government and he used to go to Lisbon a lot. Sometimes for 6 months. From 1953 to 78 I think. He would sometimes bring back some ideas.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORY GROWING UP ON AN ISLAND?

Ah so many. There’s one [laughs]. My uncle used to send boxes to Lisbon.We didn’t have airplanes so they came in boats. It sometimes took 2 months. Usually by October, my mum had these boxes in time for Christmas. In the boxes were sweets and she would save them for Christmas day. My brother would creep up, steal the goods and share it with us. He told us not to say a word. We said ‘Yeah yeah yeah’. But as soon as my mum asked me who stole the goods, I was the first to say ‘It wasn’t me, it was Zeca, my brother’ [laughs]. He got whooped.

SNAKE! WHAT ABOUT THE MANGO TREES?

Ah yeah. That’s something you can’t get in this country. Well, Europe. When I was younger, the place we used to live. Back home, it rained a lot. And when it did, no one would be out. So on these days, we would wake up 5am, go to the farm and pick all the mangos on the floor. We came home happy. My dad would ask where we went and we would say, we just went toilet. Of course, one day my nieghbour came and complained to my dad. My dad called all of us out. I assessed the situation and said ‘Hi’ to my dadand my nieghbour with a sweet smile. someone to bring you food. You don’t know what’s in it.

My sister came out scared, saying ‘Hi’ to my dad but not to the nieghbour. He reacted and said ‘It was her. The rude one!’. My mum came out and said ‘No way’, that has to be Nete’s job. But the man said no, it was ‘That one. So my dad blamed by sister and she’s held it against me ever since. Afterwarrds, my dad told to take the mangos and put them in the bin. My sister did what she was told. I hid my mangos in the empty water tank. I sold it to her afterwards.

WHY WERE YOU SO MISCHEVIOUS?

Listen.

Only God can judge me. DID YOU FOOD GET YOU INTO A LOT OF TROUBLE?

Not really. I used to go out and eat a lot of rubbish. When I came was too full to eat. That was the only trouble I really got in because of food.

BY RUBBISH YOU MEAN FRUIT?

Yeah, seomtimes I couldn’t eat for 2 days because I ate so much outside.

AND THESE FRUITS WERE FREE?

Of course. Why pay for something grows next to you.

THAT IS A VERY DIFFERENT REALITY FROM TODAY INIT.

Yeah. You lot don’t know what’s good.

HOW DID THINGS CHANGE WHEN YOU WENT TO PORTUGAL?

When I went to Lisbon, I started cooking more. But mostly for my sister. She wrote down instructions on paper and I followed them.

WHEN DID YOU START COOKING CONFIDENTLY BY YOURSELF?

I think I started cooking properly at 24. When I was with your dad.

YOU WERE COOKING FOR HIM?

No, we would help each other.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO IN THE FUTURE?

IN PORTUGAL WHAT WERE YOU DOING?

I had a small job and was studying. Most of the time, going to disco. Enjoying my life.

GWAN. I ASKED ANOTHER WOMAN ABOUT HER MEMORIES OF FOOD AND SHE MENTIONED EATING AFTER RAVES. SAME FOR YOU?

Yeah. I had 6 friends. We were good friends. 2 of them I’m good friends with today, the other 4 I have no idea where they are. We used to on Satur days, to the burger shop in town and see who can eat more than the other. 4 or 5 burgers each.

5 BURGERS!

Yeah, one day I ate 8 ham and cheese burgers. I got home and vomited straight away. My sister said ‘What’s wrong with you!’ [laughs].

WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU CAME TO LONDON?

When I came to London, I learned a lot more about food. Certain things I had never seen before. I didn’t even know how to eat them. No one showed me. I really had to start cooking for myself. Sometimes I called my sister to ask what was next when I was cooking.

WERE YOU COOKING THE SAME FOOD FROM LONDON?

Yeah. Back home I didn’t realize what European food really was.We never just cooked potato and called it jack potato. We had to put something else. Something. Not just potato and butter. Also, back home we didn’t use all this sugar and honey.

SOME SAY LONDON IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES FOR CULTURAL FOODS. I’m not too sure because I never really eat Indian food or whatever people get in takeaways. I cook what I eat at home. I’ve eaten some Chinese, Fish n Chips but I don’t really eat anything else. If I want to eat, I get up and cook.

If someone wanted to kill you, they’d do it with food.

I THINK A LOT OF BLACK FAMILIES DONT TRUST FOOD OUTSIDE THEIR HOME. Yeah, my mum would never eat food from a tin. Not even tomatoes. We grown up distrusting anything that we can’t grow.

WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE TO GO SUCH LENGTHS. WHAT'S THE PURPOSE?

For me, food provides well-being for the family. If you have a big family, when there’s food, we have conversations and we’re together. Food is so important. You can have everything, cars, money but if you don’t have good food, you don’t have anything. That’s the way I see it.

YOU'RE STUDYING COOKERY NOW. WHY?

I enjoy cooking but I’ve come to enjoy learning and experimenting with different foods as well. It’s a good experience.

DESSERT?

Hmm. My favourite is a good Portuguese pudding. I like Bolo de Bolacha as well. And Banana Cake but not the Banana Cake you guys are used to. My mum used to make it with a sauce made with banana and caramlised sugar. Your dad tried it with wine.

IF YOU HAD TO SERVE A NEW NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, WHAT WOULD YOU COOK?

Mmmm. I don’t know, people have such strict diets these days.

YOU CAN COOK ANYTHING.

Okay, well grilled fish. A good grilled fish.

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SAY?

Make sure you eat well. Because if you eat well, you’re eating healthy and if you’re eating well you’re happy.