On eating tortellini with chopsticks, taking the emotion out of eating, and being a little bit kinder to ourselves, in and out of the kitchen.
The Little Paris Kitchen was the first cookbook I bought with my own money. A cookbook seemed like such a grown up thing to own when I was still sharing a basement kitchenette with roommates. I loved reading through the recipes and looking at the photos of a young British Asian woman strolling through the streets of Paris, fresh baguette secured in her market tote; the pre-Emily in Paris era. I could almost imagine myself in that dream world, where a life of food and cookbooks and chefs (so rarely Asian, hardly ever Asian and female) still seemed so impossibly out of reach.
A decade later, I’d write about being a longtime Rachel Khoo fangirl in my application to the KETTLE Khoo Academy: a mentorship opportunity co-led by KETTLE Chips and Rachel Khoo herself, to support female chefs and food entrepreneurs navigating their way through the culinary world. Alongside four brilliant women, I’ve spent this year learning from Rachel and some of the food industry’s wisest leaders, including Valeo Foods’ Kevin Moore and Michael Inpong, and Mano Masa co-founder Lynn Saul (I am now extremely partial to the Pineapple and Habanero Chilli chips). We’ve spent time at the KETTLE Chips Academy in Norwich, following potatoes through the production line to their perfected crisp completion. One of my favourite discoveries: upon delivery to the factory, every potato gets rinsed down. All of that mud get collected and re-loaded on the delivery trucks and sent back to the farmers, because those little bits of dirt make up the precious topsoil of all of the British farms that supply potatoes for almost every brand of crisp on our supermarket shelves.
It’s really been quite special to be a part of the KETTLE Khoo Academy’s inaugural class, and to top it all off, Rachel kindly sat down with me to talk all things eating, cooking, and nourishing ourselves (surprisingly, not always connected experiences) throughout the changing seasons of our lives.
Applications are now open for the second year of the KETTLE Khoo Academy, and I can’t recommend applying enough. In addition to the mentorship and learning experience, we were also awarded scholarships which made it possible for HI Foods to be a part of Raye’s Christmas pop-up in London, where our Luteal & Menstrual Honey Almond Butter landed in the top 5 wellness products sold across the holiday season. Check out the rest of my brilliant KETTLE Khoo Academy cohort:
Sohini Banerjee of Smoke and Lime, who puts on the best supper clubs in London. Her food celebrates Bengali cooking and she takes a seasonal, zero waste approach (see her feature in Vogue); her approach to food is deeply thoughtful and unbelievably delicious.
Sadhbh Moore of The Sustainable Food Story. Sadhbh is an expedition eco-chef and cares so deeply about the environment, and cooking and eating in a way that truly protects the planet. She’s a co-author of Sustainable Kitchen, and if you’re lucky enough to spend time with her, you need to ask her about her time as a chef in Antarctica.
Wing-Lee Chan, chef and founder of Timmy’s Fusion, with canned cocktails coming soon. She spent 20 years in finance before making the jump over to food, she made me a Barbie birthday cake for my birthday after learning I never got one as a child, and she’s training to be a sommelier now; in short, an unbelievably lovely and multi-talented person with a highly sophisticated palette.
Alexa Fernandez of Chili Maven. She’s bringing the very best, most authentic flavours of Mexico (where all her products are sourced and made) to the UK, including her beloved, signature mild & smoky Salsa Macha: a really unique product that stands out on supermarket shelves crowded with bland salsas. We’re also both Georgetown graduates—Hoya Saxa!
