Rachel Allen: My mum is fun and great to be around

RACHEL Allen - mother, writer, chef, TV presenter and teacher - says that herself and her mother, Hallfriour, who hails from Icelandic capital Reykjavik, are like two peas in a pod.

“I look very like my mother, I even sound like her,” says Rachel.

And that isn’t where the resemblance ends.

“We have the same sense of humour. My mother is fun and great to be around,” she says.

“I’ve always been very proud of my half-Icelandic, half-Irish heritage.”

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

“When my sister Simone and I would come in from school, there was always something delicious bubbling away on the hob for us. I count myself lucky that ours was a happy home with lots of good food.

“We lived in Foxrock, Dublin, where my mother ran a boutique, then two busy boutiques. She loves her style!

“Our local shop was only a mile away and we’d pop in there after school for the odd treat as well.”

What brought Hallfriour Reichenfeld 4,400km from home to Ireland?

“She fell in love with my dad, Brian!” says Rachel, who met her own husband Isaac at Ballymaloe Cookery School when she was s student there. The couple have three children, Joshua, 24, Lucca, 21 and Scarlett, 15.

“My dad, deceased five years now, was an art dealer and he and my mother met in Dublin. Mum was only 19.”

There is nothing quite like young love.

“They had a whirlwind romance!” says Rachel. “And lived happily ever after.”

Rachel wasn’t a ‘wild child’.

“I loved school, I loved my friends in school. I got on well with the teachers. I had a lovely childhood.”

Her mum encouraged her to do something she loved as a career.

“She left it up to ourselves to discover something that we love doing,” says Rachel.

We were never pressured to go into anything in particular. There was no ‘must’. Our parents didn’t drum in that we had to work hard.

“We were fortunate to indulge ourselves in what we liked doing. I loved to cook.

“Subconsciously, we got a good work ethic from both of them.”

Rachel good advice from her mother.

“I wanted to travel the world at one stage,” she says.

“My mother asked, ‘how are you going to pay for it?’

“I said ‘you will pay of course!’”

Hallfriour was having none of it.

“If you want to travel the world, you’ll have to learn a skill and pay for it yourself,” she told her daughter.

Rachel says: “She encouraged me to go to the cookery school at Ballymaloe.”

And the rest is history.

Growing up, Rachel learned about her mother’s homeland.

Having chats at home, she showed me people in photographs, skiing and sledding in the snow, wearing their elaborate knitted Icelandic jumpers. Mum told me how they lived and what they did.

What did they do?

“My mother’s family lived near the docks,” says Rachel. “They bought their fish from the local fishermen and their bread from the local bakery.”

Rachel, like her mother, always promotes and supports local food producers in east Cork.

A sea swimmer, she has inherited good genes from her mother.

“We have a lot in common,” says Rachel. “And we always enjoy a good laugh.”

Hallfriour believes life is for living.

“Mum doesn’t sweat the small stuff,” says Rachel.

“She takes everything in her stride, she never flies off the handle and she is great for sound advice when I need it.”

Did Rachel’s mother give her advice when she was getting married?

“She said you have to work at a marriage. I try and help my kids with good advice and let them know they can always come to me or their father to discuss things.”

Hallfriour has a full life.

“Mum likes socialising with her friends, she plays golf and tennis.

We love spending time together and she always looks forward to coming to Shanagarry to see her grandchildren.

“She enjoys good food and country walks. Whenever I’m in Dublin I always pop in for a cup of tea and a chat.”

Rachel and Hallfriour have a great bond.

“We are huggers!” says Rachel.

“Now that I’m a mum, I love that too with my kids.”

Rachel likes to take time out to spend time with her mother.

“Later in the year, we’ll be going away for a week together,” she says,

Rachel’s sons and daughter won’t be around on Sunday, Mother’s Day.

“No, they are all away for the weekend doing various things,” says Rachel.

It’ll be up to her husband Isaac to butter her up then?

Rachel laughs.

He’ll bring me a cup of tea and try and keep me out of the kitchen! I’m quite chatty in the mornings!

At least Rachel will be able to unwind on Mother’s Day.

“Staying in bed with a good book is a good idea,” she says.