One of Eliza Wadson’s earliest memories is wandering around her father Tom Wadson’s farm with a head of broccoli in one hand and an ice cream in the other.It seemed inevitable that she would catch the family passion for cooking her father produced food, her mother, Tara Wadson, was a caterer and her aunt, Judith Wadson, a chef.The 22-year-old hopes to soon study cooking at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.This summer, she is helping her father open a new store at Wadson’s Farm that will sell sausages, chicken, vegetables basically everything the farm produces.“I have always been around food, and I have developed a love for cooking,” said Miss Wadson, a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. “My dream is to eventually set up an awesome catering company. Hopefully, my background in marketing and public relations will really help me get the name of my future business out there.”Growing up, she split her time between Bermuda and North Carolina, where her mother lives. She got a real boost in her cooking education from her aunt, who used to run Aggie’s Cafe in Hamilton. As a youngster, she would often help wash dishes in the restaurant in the summer or fill in for absent staff.“I have always been in the kitchen with my mom or my Aunt Judith,” said Miss Wadson. “Food is a really big part of our family gatherings. So I started in the kitchen helping them. I would stand on a stool and chop things with a kiddie knife. I learned a lot of cooking from my Aunt Judith. My style of cooking is probably a lot like hers, with all fresh produce from my dad’s farm, seasonal cooking and a lot of roasting vegetables to bring out different flavours.”Her current “obsession” is paella, a traditional Spanish dish. She is also a self-confessed soup lover, and will eat soup any time of the year.“It is probably my favourite food,” said Miss Wadson. “I do a lot of roasted vegetables and put them into a food processor. Right now I am really into gazpacho because it is nice to eat cold and it is really refreshing in the summer. I like a lot of veggies in my soup.”Gazpacho is a Spanish tomato-based raw vegetable soup, served cold. Miss Wadson said the secret to a good gazpacho is really fresh ingredients.“You could go to the grocery store and get a tomato that has been shipped in from who knows where and it won’t be as good as going and picking the tomato yourself,” she said. “I think the key to good food is good ingredients. Gazpacho is so easy to make. You blanche the tomatoes. You put it all in the blender, and let her go. Then you make it all up and put it in the fridge. Two hours in the fridge is the minimum. If you let it sit in the fridge overnight, the flavours mesh together and it is really good.”Miss Wadson said she liked to use heirloom tomatoes to make her gazpacho, because they have a lovely flavour.She said what she does not find easy to cook is meat. The challenge for her is knowing when the meat is cooking at the right temperature, and when to stop cooking it.“Some people like dead meat, but I don’t,” she said. “I am definitely impatient. That is another challenge. I want my food right away and sometimes you have to just let it cook, but if you wait, it is usually worth it.”While most families go to the fridge or the grocery store when they get hungry, the Wadsons just go outside.“Every night for dinner I walk out to the barn and whatever is in there is what we are having,” she said. “Right now, we are eating a lot of fingerling potatoes. Corn is in season. Tomatoes are also in season. We are seeing the tail end of onions. Those are really good if you chop them in half and grill them. We always have lettuce at the farm because we grow it hydroponically. That is really nice. Even in the dead of summer, when no one else has lettuce, we have it.”Miss Wadson said she has met few foods she didn’t really like, with the exception of grits, which has a porridge consistency. Her motto is try everything twice, before you decide if you like it.“Now, people can come to the store year around and get fresh produce,” she said. “You are not always going to be able to get everything because it is seasonal, but it will be a lot fresher than what is in the grocery store. Everything is organically-grown, so that is a bonus. The meats are pasture-raised with no antibiotics or anything like that. My father loves farming. He is so passionate about it. I wish I had his passion for everything. I know the farm comes first for him. He is going to be 60, but he is not slowing down anytime soon.”This Saturday the new store on Luke’s Pond Road in Southampton will have a special celebration at 4pm. All sorts of food made with ingredients from the farm will be on hand to sample.Useful website: www.wadsonsfarm.com.