Scribble asked Felicita what inspired her to write this beautiful book?

‘This book is a homage to all the people who have shared their food with me and who have instilled in me a love of food: My mother, my neighbours, my friends, people I’ve met on my travels. 

The inspiration for the individual recipes and characters came from a variety of sources, but mainly this: the memory of migrating to Australia as a seven year old kid, and those first experiences with different foods and people of different backgrounds. I grew up in Italy in the 80s, which was a very homologous culture of Italian people eating Italian food. From Italy are my earliest memories of big tables full of people eating together.

And then I came Australia.

I remember the first time our Vietnamese neighbours came over with spring rolls, and the first time I tasted an Indian curry at a friend’s house. It was a revelation. The same aspect of sharing applies to every corner of the world.

Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street is a book about the act of feeding others, of being fed, of sharing what made us from the places that made us. 

The recipes are mostly old classics, not my own, that I adapted slightly. These are the things I cook for my family, or that are simple and comforting to make and eat with children.’