At the age of 94, Corrie Lee is on a mission to bring back childhood memories and tantalise taste buds with her recipe from yesteryear, while also raise money for Alzheimer’s Australia.
Launched this week, Nana No Hats is a collection of simple and delicious recipes. She has never been awarded a hat for her cooking but has been served countless accolades from her loving family and friends for many years.
Publication of the cookbook is a tribute to Corrie from her devoted granddaughter, Tanya Lee, who is the Founder of The Corrilee Foundation, a registered organisation that stages major events and charitable fundraisers to bring existing charities together.
Corrie raised her family while her husband was away fighting during WW2. She ran her ownupholstery business during an era when women typically did not do such things. Corrie lost her legwhen she was 70 after being run over by a car while she was on her push-bike travelling to thebeach for her daily morning swim. She has two children, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Research Foundation will benefit from proceeds of the sale of this cookbook, which is edited by its National President and Australian of the Year, Ita Buttrose.
Tanya’s other grandmother, named Edna, had Alzheimer’s and died at the age of 72.
Nana No Hats’ no-nonsense recipes are not for the health-conscious, low-fat, high-fibre, low-sodium, no-added sugar, gluten-free disciplinarian. They come from a time when refined flour, animal fat, sugar and salt were staples of typical daily diets.
“Nana cooked out of necessity, not for her love of cooking. What Nana enjoyed was to make tasty, simple meals that her family loved and she did that for more than 60 years,” said Tanya Lee.
“This is an opportunity to indulge your inner child and get cooking. To eat in moderation, but mostly enjoy Nana’s delicious recipes from yesteryear when taste was the only consideration and many miraculously still enjoyed good health!” added Tanya.
Nana No Hats fashionably revives recipes of yesteryear like Jam Drops. Sausage Rolls, Bread and Butter Pudding, Golden Syrup Dumplings, Steak and Kidney Pie and the tastiest Rissoles ever.
This book came about because of one woman’s love for her grandmother,” said Ita Buttrose.
“It’s a reminder of the special role grandmothers have in our lives and of just how much they know,especially when it comes to cooking.”
“If you yearn for some of the wonderful old-fashioned dishes that your grandmother used to make,this is the book for you.”
Nana No Hats is being sold on www.fightdementia.org.au for $39.95 or at any good book store