About Me.
In 2009, my partner and I packed up our things and moved from everything I knew in Indonesia to England. The first few years came as a shock to me, adjusting to a completely different culture from what I was used to in Indonesia. One thing that I noticed after moving to the UK was the difference in dinner time, it wasn’t just the different cuisine but the way that families would have dinner together, it didn’t feel the same as at home.
Living in the UK
I noticed that in the UK, eating is a habit of convenience, with a lot of families eating at different times to each other due to busy lifestyles. Growing up in Indonesia taught me about the significance of eating alongside family in an Asian society. Asian people like to eat together. I would notice that my children would eat separately to my husband and I, and this made me miss being at home, surrounded by not just my own family, but people from my village, eating together as a community.
I became homesick and found that the distance between my family only grew more as the days went on. I found comfort and pride through recreating my mothers’ dishes with my friends and family, whilst also talking about the amazing moments I experienced through childhood in Indonesia and my travels.
Opened up My Exotic Kitchen..
Awed by my mother’s cooking skills, I eventually made a career choice and surrendered to the call of the kitchen. I developed my recipes and cooking tricks from my mum as well as the local roadside food stalls I grew up with, and my first-hand experiences from travelling. There is nothing more nostalgic than food, and using my knowledge to recreate memories through the science of flavour is my passion.
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And that gave me the idea, of sharing my love of food with other people and so I opened up my kitchen to welcome everyone to learn to cook, in a fun and relaxing environment; and so My Exotic Kitchen was born !!!!
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I Look forward to welcome you to my class..
Tina x
