HISTORY

BBX’s journey with food is as diverse as the kitchens she’s worked in and built. From assisting at the renowned Demuths Cookery School and learning from award-winning chefs, to managing and setting up kitchens focused on cooking with waste food, wild ingredients, and donated items, her experience comes from some very unique and varied spaces. She has taught volunteers in night shelters to create vibrant and healing menus, curated cooking courses for mental health projects, and worked as head chef in kitchens and restaurants around the world. She has learned from chefs, witches, healers and artists.

Years running an award winning retreat kitchen in rural Crete and cooking in Mexican kitchens, have both been huge influences on her process, style and flavour.

Experimenting with very little and cooking with what others might consider weeds began from when she was very young. She learned cooking to make basic food exciting through growing up without money or resources.

This also rooted her interest in herbal medicine and medicinal cookery; studying plants and how different herbs and processes support and heal the body and self has always been part of her food.

This also deepened her interest in herbal medicine and medicinal cookery. Intuitively studying plants, herbs, and how different food replenishes and heals our bodies has always been integral to her food. Drawing from lineages in Welsh, Irish, English, Middle-Eastern and Chinese medicine, she has followed these roots through her journey.

Process & MEaning

Food is sacred. Mainstream and westernised vegan cuisine doesn’t offer the depth and diversity of flavour and pleasure that it can, and should. Her inspiration for plant based food comes largely from older or ancient traditions from different cultures, street food, caffs, wild cooking and exploring naturally plant-based foods.

BBX feels that connection to our food; its origins, why we choose it and our understanding of it, is deeply important in our relationship with cooking and eating. Land justice and looking after our earth is integral to her work.

How food is cooked and experienced has always been important to her, as has bringing exciting food into kitchens or spaces that don’t usually have it.

She wants to help people to connect to where our food comes from, and respect and celebrate the magic of plants and cookery.

Inspired by flavours offered by the different landscapes around her; wild coastline, pine forests, mountains and meadows. Foraging plants, barks, seeds, fruits and wild vegetables with the seasons, sourcing food from local markets and growers and honouring and exploring traditional preserving processes; sun pickling, fermentation, sun drying, brewing and playing with different cooking methods are all part of her practice.

Experiences

Food is the heart of community and connection. It is this importance that shapes the way BBX shares her food. Influenced by how food and drink is used in different celebrations and ceremonies she creates new ways to connect through the pleasure of food. Combining playful interactive elements in presentation, medicinal mixology and thoughtful drink pairing she blends cooking and eating with art and alchemy. Through curated tasting and feasting experiences, she creates moments that go beyond dining, where relationship and meaning of the food and the environment are integral parts of the event.

Often she builds temporary wild kitchens in beautiful outdoor spaces such as remote beaches, by waterfalls, on mountain tops and at cliff edges, then cooks and serves food in those spaces, which have been inspiration for the dishes themselves.

BB is an award winning artist and curator and this background has hugely impacted how she works with food; centring pleasure, connection and multi-sensory experiences in all her work.

Her mission is to challenge the boundaries of how we view, understand and experience food.