Vegan Mediterranean cooking class in an idyllic Hong Kong village feels like therapy – think roast aubergine, date cookies, a Jewish brioche
- Ayelet Idan runs Olive Leaf culinary school from her home on Lamma Island, where she teaches how to cook vegan Mediterranean food in a picturesque setting
- Whether she’s making a Jewish brioche, date-filled cookies or roast aubergine with zhug, a herby dip, Idan is a believer in the therapeutic benefits of cooking
On a huge steel kitchen table, Ayelet Idan skilfully chops fresh parsley, lettuce and mint, and scoops it into a silver bowl. She adds cucumber, garlic, green chillies and generous amounts of lemon juice and olive oil, finishing it off with a blanket of crimson pomegranate seeds.
“Pomegranate is a miracle food, a super food,” she says of one of the world’s most ancient fruits which, in China, is known as the Chinese apple and is considered a symbol of fertility. “I don’t know why more people don’t eat it.”
Her secluded two-storey village house is nestled in lush gardens bursting with hibiscus trees and gently swaying banana leaves. “It doesn’t feel like you’re in Hong Kong,” coos one of the crowd.
Centre stage is a towering Norfolk Island pine tree, its expanding roots at war with the concrete path.
