On the Town: People who cook from scratch turned out in large numbers to celebrate the launch of The Blazing Salads Cookbook in Dublin this week.
Those who follow the macrobiotic way, eschewing processed and packaged foods, came to salute the three authors, sisters Lorraine and Pamela Fitzmaurice and their brother, Joe Fitzmaurice.
"In the early days we all experimented with new kinds of recipes and we exchanged ideas," said family friend Lilian Chambers, of Carysfort Press, launching the book. "We were pioneers, in a way, of a better quality of life for ourselves and our children. The number of people turning to the kind of food detailed in this recipe book is fast-growing."
Paul Holden, a technical writer, who was at the launch with his wife, Eleanor, explained that the macrobiotic diet is "a way of life that is based on a very simple and natural approach to food and to taking responsibility for your life . . . It tends to be about finding a centre of balance which works for you."
The parents of the authors, Joe and Pauline Fitzmaurice, who brought up their children on a macrobiotic diet, inspired the book, according to eldest daughter Lorraine. Lorraine went on to open the wholefood/ vegetarian restaurant, Blazing Salads, in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin in 1982.
"Our mother was very inventive," said Lorraine. "We laugh now about our father milling flour before he went to work."
Among those who came to the party in The Spy Bar in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre were publisher Niall Stokes; Karen Noble, of Diep Le Shaker restaurant; Alison Crinion, general manager of Denzille Private Cinema in Dublin 2; and astrologer Fergus Gibson.
The Blazing Salads Cookbook, by Lorraine, Joe and Pamela Fitzmaurice is published by Gill & Macmillan