Fall Flavors: Emma Waverman Shares Her Favorite Family Recipes

Emma Waverman writes about life with her mom, Lucy, and growing up in a family with three generations of famous foodies.

“For me, the scent of a bubbling pot of chicken stock is the smell of home. I grew up in a house where food was the language of love, and where the preparation and presentation of meals was the lifeblood of family connection. So, naturally, my most enduring memories of childhood are in the kitchen. The taste of a slice of roast beef straight from the oven with crackling bathed in mustard and rosemary is as associated with family celebration as candles on a cake.

My mother, Lucy Waverman, is the third generation in a family that has made food the center of their professional lives, which, in turn, made it the heart of their personal ones, too. Her grandmother, Sophie Geneen, ran the only kosher hotel and restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland, and her mother, Pearl Geneen, owned the (much-missed) eclectic kitchen store The Compleat Kitchen in Yorkville, Toronto. My mom’s by-the-numbers bio is that she’s the author of 10 bestselling cookbooks, has had a food column in The Globe and Mail for 25 years and, for 20 years, ran a cooking school. But the larger influence she’s had over generations of home cooks is harder to quantify. I, too, am involved in food media as a writer, cookbook co-author and a columnist on CBC Radio.

Some families have precious heirlooms or cottage properties that tie them together. Our family has a love of flavor. At our table, we talk about the flavor profiles of a hot sauce, or the complexity of a grass-fed steak. All food has a flavor profile at its core, such as sweet, earthy, salty or spicy. It sounds simple, but defining a dish by its central flavor can help focus the dish and help find the right balance of accompaniments.

Our menu hits on all our favorite autumn tastes, using recipes from the bestselling cookbook The Flavour Principle by Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol. Fall is our favorite season for cooking and eating because we can enjoy the bounty of our local harvests and the sweet, salty, earthy and umami flavors of the cooler season.”