The United Nations under a kitchen roof.
For the past seven years I have employed foreign staff in my kitchen, it was a conscious decision because I wanted to bring other influences into the workplace and for the existing English staff to broaden their horizons and learn about new cultures and languages.
In the begining it was an […]
The German Kitchen Brigade…..
It’s fifteen years ago and I am a demi chef de partie in an eighty bedroom hotel in the heart of Baden Wurtemberg in Southern Germany. I have just finished a four year apprentiship in a fifty two bedroom hotel in Grimsby on the east coast of England. Chef Barker’s kitchen was massive […]
Seasonal fayre and cheer in November
Despite the cold weather spelling an end to my enjoyment of cold Riesling and even colder Peroni lager my spirits are no less dampened thanks to my teetotal evenings courtesy of Dr.Stuarts herbal teas. After a gruelling cycle ride home along my carbon footpath following a hectic dinner service I find myself too cold (and […]
An Englishman abroad…Day one
It’s a wednesday morning in July of 1992, I am horizontal in the worst bed in Western Europe. I look across the room at an unopened suitcase garnished with the previous days clothes, passport and wad (small) of Deutsche marks. I look to see if Mrs Collins has left a mug of […]