From Tea and Cakes to Afternoon Teals
Text by Lorna Reeves • Photograph by Antonis Achilleos Photography
Drinking tea was an integral part of Kerry Vincent’s life long before she learned to bake. “In Australia, all little ones end up having tea in some form or another,” says the longtime judge of Food Network Challenge. (Her accent assures her provenance despite decades of living in Oklahoma with her oilman husband, Doug.) “My mother, along with all the other Australian mums since and prior, made sure we understood that we were supposed to drink tea.” For Kerry and her family, however, tea drinking was not just a ritual—it was a way of life. Weddings and similar happy occasions were celebrated with it, as were funerals and other, more somber times, though the latter would be prefaced with “Oh, it will be all right. Let’s have a nice cup of tea.”
