'''Annelinde Rossman 32, is a fashion public relations executive. She immigrated to Australia from Holland when she was five.
'''I have a Eurasian background: I was born in Holland, and my mum is half Dutch, and half Chinese, while my dad is half Dutch and half Indonesian. It's quite an exotic cultural mix but not uncommon in Holland as the country took in immigrants from Asia after WWII.

We immigrated to Australia in 1982 when I was five. My dad is a building engineer and applied for a job here because he felt Australia would afford us a better lifestyle. I didn't speak much English but my Dutch teachers prepped me before I left Amsterdam, arming me with English phrases such as "I need the bathroom" and "please" and "thank you" as well as - bizarrely - the words to Christmas carols. We didn't have any other family in Australia but I came with my parents and older sister and younger brother.

When I arrived at my public school in Sydney's south the children were perplexed that I wasn't the little blonde Dutch girl they were expecting. I can clearly remember being one of only three pupils in the school who looked Asian, yet I learnt English quickly and soon assimilated. Food was one of the few areas in which I felt different from my peers. I remember when we first started being invited to Australian friends' homes and realising that traditional Western-style food was quite different to what Mum prepared for us at home. We usually ate the traditional Asian foods, like chicken and sweetcorn soup, a variation of which can be found in nearly every country throughout Asia. Mum's creamy version with its thin slivers of chicken and ribbons of egg white was usually bubbling away on the stove in winter and I loved coming home from school to find its distinctive, wholesome aroma filling the house. It was a familiar comfort to me when it felt strange to be in a new country.

Today, my background means I feel very much at home in both Europe and Asia. I'm lucky; I can fit in anywhere. As I've grown up, I've realised how culturally diverse Australia is. Many of the Asian foods I grew up eating and which seemed incredibly exotic are now commonplace here. Now it's no big deal for anyone in Australia to seek out an Asian supermarket and stock up on kecap manis or to find Bok Choy on the shelves in Coles. Mum's soup recipe is one I often make for my friends and they love it, whatever their background may be.

RECIPE

Annelinde's Asian Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

vegetable oil for frying
3 green shallots, ends trimmed and very finely chopped
1 knob ginger, peeled and finely grated
520ml chicken stock
2 cans creamed corn
1 chicken breast, very finely sliced
2-3 egg whites, lightly whisked
1-2 teaspoons Kikkoman soy sauce

Heat oil in a frypan over medium-high heat, add shallot and ginger, and fry until softened. Add stock and creamed corn, and simmer over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until soup thickens slightly. Next, add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes, or until cooked. Slowly pour eggwhites into soup and cook, stirring constantly with a fork, for 2 minutes. Once thickened, season with soy sauce.



To hear more about how chicken soup can express a cultural background - and for delicious recipes - read this month's marie claire.