Food has always been my passion and one that I have fortunately been able to carve into a successful career. I started cooking for my parents and their friend's dinner parties at 14 years of age then had a stint working in a bakery com coffee shop. I decided to learn as much as I could about my favourite subject so attended a 3 year Hotel management course in Norwich.
It was during the course that I had a three month work experience at the House of Commons. Being the only female in a large team of males I was given some of the less glamorous jobs in the kitchen. It was at this stage I became vegetarian, not feeling comfortable preparing meat, animal welfare and the use of antibiotics which we in turn ingest. I was 19 years of age.
Since then I have been vegan, vegetarian, wheat free and gluten free over various stages of my life. I have now found a balance and am very happy eating no meat and very little wheat and gluten. This works for me but I would never impose my eating habits on others rather share with them the beauty and health benefits of this style of eating. To learn to enjoy what's on the plate rather than what's not.
After a year working as a chef at Cranks I became the Head Chef at Food for Thought where I remained for 27 years. I left only when the restaurant closed its doors after 40 years of business in Covent Garden. I was lucky enough to also write 3 cookery books during this time as well as run a catering business, teach, write food reviews and do some TV work.
Now I'm happy to be out of the structure of a kitchen and want to 'go it alone'. This gives me the opportunity to work my career around my two children and refocus on the aspects of cookery that I love - teaching and private catering.
I am very keen to teach children, either in a party situation or by complimenting the National curriculum by teaching hands on cookery lessons. Children are infectiously enthusiastic and love the interactive nature of cookery. So many things can be taught - nutrition, chopping techniques, how to hold a knife, weights and measures, safety in the kitchen, survival skills when leaving home, the list goes on. It's fun and starts to ignite what I hope will be a lifetimes interest in food.
A few words from my clients:
“Thank you for yesterday. Everyone has been very complimentary about your food and your service was fantastic. Your couscous with all its colours is really spectacular! But all the food was absolutely great.
You really made the party as it was lovely to be able to relax and enjoy ourselves!! ”
“Jane Noraika prepared the most delicious food for my 50th birthday party recently. She gave me a lot of her time to discuss exactly what I wanted and she gave me expert advice. She is a very talented, conscientious and professional chef, and she is also very personable. She put together an amazing team of waiting staff who worked tirelessly throughout the night. All the party guests commented on how excellent the food was. I would recommend Jane to anyone who wants to organise an event. You won’t be disappointed.”
“Having decided that we didn’t want to spend all our time cooking for
a family gathering celebrating my husband’s 70th I contacted Jane to
do the catering. She came up with some lovely suggestions for a
vegetarian lunch and it took us a while to decide as there was such a
wide choice. Similarly she had an eye-wateringly good range of
desserts. Jane was a pleasure to work with, unfazed by a change of
date on our part and helpful with food allergy problems.
On the day she arrived laden with insulated boxes and then took over
in the kitchen preparing and assembling everything whilst I sat and
chatted. The food was lovely and more than enough to go round - at
least twice! Everything was very relaxed and easy-going, just as I
had hoped. The big hits were the jewelled couscous with fresh herbs
and flowers and the sweetcorn and feta wraps. Dessert had to wait
until teatime to make room.
We did all the serving ourselves so it did take a while to clear up
afterwards once the family and 8 grandchildren had left but that’s
normal!!”
“The party was great and I was really impressed by the recipe cards and all the effort that had gone into the party bags.”