The Evolution of a foodie

Getting children to eat well at a young age is a tough challenge for some parents. However this simply wasn’t the case for mine. When waiters asked my parents if I wanted to eat off the children’s menu, it was always a simple NO. Which was great for the progression of my pallet, but maybe not so much for my parents pockets.

With the family business being passed down to my father, my parents owned bakeries in our local area for many years as I was growing up. Not old enough to get involved in the baking side of my visits, I did make crucial taste testing trips to try out the gingerbread men in all the properties.

My dad is also a massive foodie, who got me involved at a very young age trying all sorts of new dishes…. hence the muscles! I was lucky enough to go to the south of France each summer with my family, so here I developed a love for french cuisine. J’adore manger. As a foodie, my dad is also an amazing cook, who as I grew up taught me more and more recipes and ways of cooking. Not gonna lie, at the time as a teenager it was very much like WHYYYYYY NOW, but looking back its made me who I am today.

Flying the nest

So with these skills learnt, and the Buckingham foodie mentality rubbing off on me, It was then time to move to university. Being the one who loved to cook, and the one missing a good home cooked dinner, I was quickly nominated house chef. Which then turned into dinner party queen, putting on themed dinner evenings for all the gang.

A friend from uni on several occasions told me to make a cooking youtube channel to help students learn how to cook… in hindsight this would of been great thing to do. #listentofrankie. However during my time at Bournemouth I did apply for come dine with me. Getting to the final stages unfortunately I wasn’t selected for the show, maybe in the future ay?

The next chapter: Travelling

Starting out in Australia, we bought an 80’s pop top campervan, and s l o w l y travelled the country. Camping in some of the most remote areas, in extreem weather conditions, cooking became more of a challenge. Looking at other campers heating up tins of beans and cooking plain pasta, there was simply NO way I would succumb to basic cooking. On two hobs set inside the camper I was making proper home cooked hearty meals to eat by the campfire at night.

Next onto New Zealand where we had a car and all the camping equipment you could need. Reaching NZ during the end of their autumn made cooking outside…. a little cold. All the more reason for even HEARTIER warm meals, often eaten out of the cooking pots themselves.

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ASIA… a whole different ball game. Here I was no longer cooking for myself, but now tasting and learning about a completely different cultures way of cooking. Travelling around it was so important to me to eat as the asians would, trying local dishes such as chicken intestine soup and fried crickets. It was so interesting to be faced with some of these spices and flavours we don’t use so much at home.

Putting it into practice

Since travelling Ive spent most of my time living in the Alps completing winter ski seasons. Running a hotel and skiing most days its still so important for me to get into the kitchen and rustle up something delicious. For me theres nothing more therapeutic than cooking, and its a great way to let off some steam.

So here I am, now writing about the thing I love and getting the chance to share it with YOU. Emily’s gone from trying muscles in the South of France @ 2 years old, to eating them in different resorts across the French Alps, to now making her version of a classic French dish.

Keep reading my blog to see these recipes I have picked up along the way.

Emily

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