I know it has been a while since my last post, however now I feel inspired to write Blog number 2.
So I thought, to go back right to the very beginning.
Some of you may be wondering as to why my name is double barrelled - Knight-Pacheco! My dad is British, my mother is Venezuelan, they both met in Exeter, UK, got married and then a short time afterwards they moved to my mum’s birthplace Caracas, Venezuela, where I was born and grew up.
I am the eldest and only boy, I have 3 sisters, needless to say growing up in a mainly female environment had its advantages and disadvantages, the main disadvantage is that every time it did something naughty (which was all the time), I would of course blame everything on my younger sisters, but with all of them being female - I would always get found out via majority vote of finger pointing, at the time I thought all of this was very un-fair but, looking back it was just child’s play and part of being a big brother.
Advantages of being the only boy in a female kingdom, would mean that most of my time is spent in the kitchen helping mum and inheriting her kitchen wisdom.
The thing that really sticks in mind about my time in Venezuela, everything was about family and food, we were always around the table, whatever occasion there was food, family over for the weekend, a massive feast would appear as if by magic, in the bath one time, I was around 6 or 7, and my dad burst in with a massive fish over his shoulder fresh as you like and said “this is what we are having for diner tonight”.
The funny thing is, when he actually cooked this incredible piece of fish (at the time I remember thinking it was the size of a whale), he actually cooked it to perfection. This really inspired my love for fish.
My grandmother, was like the boss of the entire clan, I remember we would always have large family gatherings, my cousins and I would try to cause as much mis-chief as we possibly could, but if we were caught by her, we were in serious trouble! My punishment, would be time in the kitchen helping to prepare the feast, and it was by watching her and my aunties, I would learn the secrets to grandmas cooking.
During these gatherings, the men would always cook large slabs of meat and fish on the barbecues, whilst the women would prepare the salads, the rice dishes and the sweets, for me it was amazing to see so many incredible home cooked dishes always displayed on the table, little did I know that food would eventually play a huge part in my career.
Even now, when in the middle of a busy kitchen service, that little boy is still inside me with so much passion, heart, and curiosity, this part of my history shall always remain.
For my next blog I’m going to give you an insight into the Venezuelan food I had whilst growing up!
Thanks for reading
JKP