The Story so Far...
My whole life has been in pursuit for good food, my very few but insightful days of being a Chef were the beginning of it all. Whilst growing up, cooking dinner for my family was not something I considered a domestic duty, but a sanctuary for discovering endless possibilities with ingredients. I would find such contentment with planning dinner parties and countless Christmas dinners, always accompanied with its own time-plan sellotaped to the kitchen wall. My guests would often roll their eyes at my forceful encouragement for them to mingle with homemade canapés, all whilst I insisted it was dinner party etiquette.
I later went on to study a degree in Food Science, which opened my eyes to even more possibilities and complexities with food. Although, looking back I don’t think I fitted the typical student stereotype you might think of, apparently its abnormal to spend a student loan on preserved lemons and copious amounts of black garlic ketchup.
A lot of those around me tend to ask me why have I devoted my life to something that some people consider just necessity to survive off. It was only until reading a line from one of Michael Pollan’s books, In Defence of Food, that I really could answer their question. It read “The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fuelling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture”. These words resonate with me in so many ways, food in my life has always had a way of healing, and not just in a nutritional sense, the act of cooking for someone offers a sense of achievement that cannot be acquired else where. It has bridged gaps in my life, and built and strengthened relationships. It has been my inspiration to travel, to see other culture’s ways with food and eating, in fact in my eyes the only reason to travel. But most of all, my family and I share a passion for great food, finding its way into most of our conversations and focalised when we get together.
In essence, I love food, but even more so when writing about it and sharing it with those around me. This website simply reflects this, through offering the recipes that have been in my repertoire since I first started cooking to the ones I still develop today.
I would like to attribute a massive thank you to my wonderful partner, the photographer behind the photos seen on my channels. To see more of his fantastic work, and I encourage that you do, you can visit his Instagram page @hawkmoonphotography.