How the time has flown, Kitchen Exile is 5 years old!

By Kitchen Exile August 30, 2019

When I started this website five years ago it was merely as a way of committing my recipes to some form where I could easily find them and access them. There were no grandiose notions of putting my dishes out in the ether to gain fame and fortune. I merely wanted to access my own recipes and if other people fancied trying them out, then good for them too.

I am in this for myself, not to gain followers or recognition. You may have noticed that I follow my own path not trends, I don't apologise for what or how I cook. I eat meat, veg, fish whatever and whenever. I don't tell people what diets or food fads to follow, it's not me. I just want people to enjoy good food and respect the products and producers, maybe give an actual shit about where their food comes from. One thing above all, its not about me, its the food (hence the lack of selfies and foot pictures), I'm very much the background noise in this instance.

Oh, and you may have noticed I don't do pretty pictures, I'm not a stylist, I cook and if the plate happens to look ok, then great! The vast majority of pictures are taken in the 1 minute window when I've stuck the dish on the plate and we're about to have breakfast/lunch/dinner. I try my best, but plating even when I trained as a chef, was not my strong point. Not everyone is lucky to have taken time off, trained as a chef and worked in the industry, I was lucky enough to do that and the classical training I got has helped a lot in the dishes I create from a technical and flavour perspective.

If I support or mention brands, its ones I've been using for years. I would never recommend something that I could never consume or use myself. If I've been to a restaurant and reviewed it, it's all paid for by me. Which is why you don't see much in the way of sponsorship. This is a hobby not my full time job. I'd love for it to be full time but I'm not willing to sell out my principles to do so.

For me it's all abut seasonality, supporting small farmers and local producers and highlighting all the good work and tasty products that they are producing. I've got to cook with them using their wonderful produce. I've also been lucky to meet some wonderful chefs over the years too as well as some great people in the hospitality industry.

So once again a BIG THANK YOU, to my readers and supporters and also the brands, chefs, farmers and producers that I've been involved with in the last five years. Here's to many more!

So enough about me for the time being, normal service will resume next week with more recipes!