Posted by EMMI on
“One mans food is another mans poison”. Lucretius, 50 BC.
I guess my love of food and cooking started as a really young girl. I have fond memories of helping my Mum in the kitchen from a young age, starting with basic food prep. My Mum used to always make sure that we had a home-cooked, delicious and nutritionally balanced meals most days, made with love and time from her.
I remember loving being allowed to help my Mum prepare the Sunday Roasts! Or being allowed to make the salads to go with the dinner, making them look pretty on the plates. From this, I guess I think it is important from a young age to introduce children to homemade food, how it is made, to appreciate it (plus the time someone has spent making it), where it comes from and nutritionally how a balanced meal is good for you!
My Mum and my Grandparents always took a keen interest in involving me and my brother in the kitchen whether it be helping with basic preparations, like buttering the bread for Bread and Butter Pudding or making a soup, we did it as a family. I have such fond memories of these times.
I have always worked within the food industry on some level, from one of my first jobs working as a Saturday Girl in a small family run Bakery, to a large company working on the delicatessen counter, to moving to work more on the butchers and fishmongers. I then worked in several positions in independent businesses on thr delicatessen counters, to then being recognised for my passion and drive and being head hunted to help set up and be the supervisor of a new counter in a successful local business, in which I had a major input into recipes and ideas to be produced and sold on the counter. But my favourite job would be my current one!
I currently work in an independent high end Cafe which is located in a successful, high end, independent store. This is my first professional cooking job in a professional kitchen. This is a massive achievement for me, as due to not having any cooking qualifications, being self taught, learning from my Mum and having struggled massively in my early and mid 20’s from severe health issues. I never imagined I would be able to get into the profession I currently am, and would like to take the opportunity to thank my family, friends and the then MD of this company for believing in me and seeing my potential.
Here I am given free rein (within reason), to produce items and recipes for the menu and daily specials with the team for the customers. We make pretty much everything on the menu from the jams and chutneys, to freshly baked cakes, to breakfast and lunch items! The amount of freedom for someone like me who a massive foodie and likes experimenting, is an absolute pleasure and I thoroughly enjoy it.
When I am not at work, I love reading cook books (I have hundreds), going out to restaurants and having friends and family over for meals! I just love to see them enjoy the food I have prepared! When I go on holiday, I secretly plan places to go to see local produce and restaurants to try the local cuisine…. it has been known when I am in Sorrento (as we go often), for me to half fill my suitcase with the Amalfi lemons…. they are unbelievable!
Anyway, enough about me for now… please enjoy the site and recipes, reviews on restaurants I have visited or foodie pics!
Emmi's Kitchen 