Any chefs out there?

[country_boy]

Some of you astound me with your knowledge of food, just wondered are any of you chefs or have you been? Or are you just dedicated foodies?

[sweetdor]

i am

[country_boy]

Also, if you are, how long have you been and in what sort of establishment?

[ermintrude35]

...worked in various kitchens from the age of 14 - 34 ... now retired from the catering game , though I still dabble...

[beryllium]

Hi country_boy, i had a 24 cover in an antiques market in Kingston for a year.(had to give up due to unforseen circumstances)

I just served home made food... soups and real bread.... lasagnes for Italian day... Curries for curry day.... Falafel for Israel etc day..... or just whatever i fancied making lol.... it was very hard work but i had 3 fabulous staff....

[shaneystar2]

Not as such but worked for twelve years in a big pub where I used to do the cooking all from scratch .We used to cook for the Rotary club once a week and do weddings and such like and Christmas functions.Nothing was bought in.. all homemade stuff .Those days in pubs are mostly sadly gone now....its all chips and stuff in little dishes shoved in the microwave.

[nickmo]

Hi CB - I love food - its all I eat, so I want to make sure I know about where it comes from.

I publish a magazine for the farmers' markets in the UK called FreeRange - see it at www.freerangemag.co.uk ...and a subscription makes a lovely present....

Wrote 'The Scottish Farmers' Market Cookbook' - info at www.nwp.co.uk under the 'Angels Share' imprint - buy online of course - 2nd edition just been published.

Getting to do a bit more work now with Slow Food movement and suchlike and various online faclilities like www.harvest-fayre.co.uk for online shopping and www.bigbarn.co.uk, and have various contacts with cheffy types at all levels, TV food programmes, Masterchefs of Great Britain and cookery schools, advising food event organisers etc. and local producers to basically take any opportunity to promote farm gate retail, artisan producers and the local food network.

I'll talk to anyone for hours about what is going on in terms of food production processes, how eco- and ethical some farming practices are (or not), the benefits of local shopping and provenance of food etc etc, and again just want to push people into looking at the way we shop and consider what it is we are being sold in terms of quality and taste by the uniform face of supermarkets. Which aren't super at all...

[Blyss]

Im chef though I havent worked in the field for 8 years , I enjoy food and mostly at home I eat simply .

[bellasasha]

hiya i am a chef

i trained at Leith's in London.

i came back to glasgow and worked in a restaraunt for 3 yrs, broke my wrist and havent been able to go back.

i do catering for parties and buffets etc.

i hated the fact i had to give up working in restaraunts but i dont have the strength in my wrist anymore.

i want to open a children's cookery school in Edinburgh where i live now.

[Silversky]

I'm a trainee chef, and I've been working since January (Since I'm only 15.) I work generally in a restaurant near to where I live

[sweetdor]

we owned our own pub for 41/2 yrs thats what ive been doing

[iluvcatz]

I just love cooking. I try really hard to put a nice balanced tasty meal on the plate. I do get annoyed if guests come to dinner and one or two of them say, ooooo... that looks nice, but I am on a diet! or won't give unusual vegetables a try. I was interested in the answer from nickmo. Farmers' Markets have really changed my food shopping habits in a very positive way. There is one in my local town fortnightly, I always shop there and really enjoy talking to the stall holders about the produce they sell.

[Artemis]

Had my own restaurant in Knightsbridge (went bust). Also was a senior sous chef with The Savoy Group for 5 years. Going back a further few years I was a Master Butcher, suppose I still am as one doesn't lose the skills.

[country_boy]

Interesting reading thanks folks, nickmo that is fascinating stuff. I now tend to buy meat at my local farm shop, well worth the extra cost - I'm definitely going to pay a visit to a farmers market soon. Totally fed up with supermarket comparitively tasteless crap! I think I might even buy your book after pay-day!

[nickmo]

Hi CB - Appreciate the comments, and hope you do get to try the book!! - have a look at bigbarn site as well as that offers locations for farm shops and suppliers by postcode on their mapping service. And don't forget box schemes if you can't get to the market.

Any local supplier - and don't forget the greengrocer, fishmongers and butchers - will be able to give you a better service, I would argue than the s/markets.

The lack of seasonality in s/markets has really ruined the enjoyment in experiencing fresh food - maybe its just a cultural thing in the UK but go almost anyere else in Europe and there is a real emphasis on quality, pride in offering the freshest goods and a real interest in food on the plate.

Here we have shops selling us Smart ready meals - what the heck is so smart about swiping a bar code on a box past a reader on a microwave? And now packaging that is sold as intelligent - labels that change colour if the food is off - because we can't read sell by dates? Pathetic. Why not just buy fresh ingredients in the first place...

As for cost, FreeRange this month has a comparison between f/market and s/market shop prices, and the f/market is 20% cheaper on a like for like shop, so don't think they are only expensive treats !!

Go for it iluvcatz - the f/markets will always be a nicer shopping trip! Good on you..

[sunflower68]

hi country_boy, I was a chef for 8 or so years, was just the contract catering variety, and being a chalet girl for 3 seasons on an unlimited budget was pretty good for a food fan.

[Kim A]

Have only just found this question, so forgive me if I'm a bit late! I'm a chef, trained at Leith's, had my own business for about three years, taught cookery at Leith's and other evening schools for six years, just love eating, cooking , talking about food, developing recipes and reading Nickmo's postings. Nickmo, I was interested in your websites and your take on modern food production and supply - it stinks, basically! (the system, not your reply!). I realise people are time poor these days, but it doesn't really take more time to source and cook proper food from scratch than it does to email Tescainsboryrose and get crap delivered!