Mike parks The Food Truck and moves on

JAMES CROOT - Stuff.co.nz 17/09/2013

Lawrence Smith

FAMILY FIRST: Chef Michael Van De Elzen is focusing on family recipes for a new TV One series.

Having temporarily parked The Food Truck, chef Michael Van De Elzen's new series Family Recipes has him joining Kiwi families for dinner. He talks about the joys of sharing family meals.

Where did the idea for the show come from? 
Every family has a favourite mealtime recipe lurking in their pantry and it can sometimes be something extraordinary. It can also be something that brings the family together, so it can be more about the occasion than the recipe itself.

What's ''the recipe'' in your family then? 
Gosh, I haven't even thought of my own family - I've been too busy with others'. My heritage is Dutch and my mother has some fabulous recipes - croquette, bitterballen, krentenbrood [raisin bread]. Then there's Balkenbrij - which is pig's head boiled and then fried - it's delicious but not necessarily good for you.


Was there any of your Mum's traditional cooking that you disliked? 
Brussels sprouts. Oh, and liver and bacon. I used to pick out that bacon and try and discard that liver. Unfortunately, my mum had a rule that what you didn't eat for dinner you had for breakfast. I eventually figured out that I'd better get it over and done with while it was still warm because cold liver for breakfast was even worse.
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