Food and Me.

My lifelong, loving relationship with food and cooking began growing up in a very food focused family. A classically trained hotel-chef-catering father and a mother who attended cookery college with Lady Diana Spencer led myself and siblings to appreciate and nurture high quality home-cooking and entertaining. Simplicity at its best - root vegetable soups, steaming bean chilli, the richest (anglicised) spaghetti Bolognese. We were taught, encouraged and learnt as we went. The familiar kitchen-buzz before my parents dinner parties, or during the build up to the infamous North Petherton Carnival, accompanied by The Beautiful South and cauldron of simmering soup, are distinct memories from my younger childhood.

I just loved food and didn’t really care if it was snacks, components of the main meal, pudding - I was just very content with maintaining the podgy little figure I had. I often asserted (and was supported in this assertion by my Uncle Harvey) that I could eat everything, eeeaassily, and I tended to prove this correct.

The one constant theme that remained in our house despite lots of change was the fervent energies that arose at the thought of any entertaining; whether that was for visiting family or friends , in celebration, in mourning or simply breaking the daily fast. Menu plans and designs, shopping lists, job delegation - the weighty victorian wooden spoon on the head was occasionally required to contain either my brothers or my own excitement, particularly at Christmas. But we all always got involved and it was a family effort. This remains today.

With family dotted all over the world, and family holidays tending to be food (and wine) focused, our very rich, British Aga-orientated cooking was infused by distinct regional food cultures - from The Cornish Riviera of West Penwith, Brittany, Ethiopia, East and Southern Africa, Singapore - my gateway to South-east Asia, Lebanon, Pakistan, The West Indies and the Antipodes. 

My cooking identity is hugely world-food orientated, but is married to my proud West-Country origin. Having studied undergraduate Geography as well as being involved with wildlife, conservation, shooting and agriculture; I am acutely aware of the impact that food production and consumption has on our local and global ecology and am conscious of reflecting this in my cooking. 

From the age of 11-12, I have worked in catering and hospitality environments. My first regular Saturday job was making the best sandwiches in Somerset, and this also gave a little exposure to working with espresso coffee for the first time. Another passion. I worked in a variety of cafes, restaurants, catering company’s and pubs.  I continued working in these various environments until a 6 year cessation when I took my first official full-time job in health and social care. On my resumption to professional cookery, I was privileged to become Head Chef at Brazier Coffee Roaster’s flagship cafe. Since returning to Social Care as a manager for a community-based charity close to my heart, Food and Drink is again a lifestyle and passion pursuit.

I am very much Field to Fork, Sky to Pie, Sea to me, and Plot/Gate to Plate orientated. I enjoy foraging, fire cooking, growing herbs, vegetables and fruit as well as shooting, spear fishing and utilising pest species or game meat - a combination that reduces my impact on the environment as well as being naturally cleaner and leaner. I have also quickly become focused on learning more about the huge world of fermentation and natural preservation. All of this leads to the ideal of sustainable or better still, regenerative, wholesome and enjoyable foods, of which I am very much an advocate. 

The importance and promotion of enjoying food, and using it to maximise opportunities for culinary pleasure and social interaction, has been instilled by all who have impacted how I have developed as a person. Although only self-trained, the range of experience has equipped me with a strong technical knowledge about food production, menu design, and informed experimentation. I also tend to find that culinary science comes easily to me, I accept and understand processes and am quickly able to use them competently - this, without formal training, is a huge asset when it comes to completing technical kitchen challenges, and probably the one thing that helped me most professionally.

My passion for food (and drink) is motivated by all aspects - production, supply and relationships, socialisation and interaction, inspiration,  imagination, experimentation, travel, cultural exploration and creativity.

I love knowing how and where raw staples are made and by who. I love thinking about the journey to market, and the many different markets that exist in the modern economy, locally and around the world. I have been lucky enough to witness, discuss and be part of many of these interactions; subsistence farming and market commerce in Rural Northern Kenya, street food chefs and market vendors across South East Asia, Peru and Western Europe, British farming, game shoots, urban horticulture, - my relationship and experience with food is myriad.

Exploring the hybridised food of the world is exciting and stimulating; and playing with diasporic, cultural culinary fusions on the backdrop of my west country heritage just about sums up my food identity.