His Story
Graham started cooking because he had a passion for food. He was one of 6 children and the family was pretty self sufficient on their small acerage just on the outskirts of Christchurch. He was an industrious boy and couldn't wait to join Boy Scouts once he arrived he was horrified at the rubbish they were being served up so he took over the cooking duties and his career really began there.
Grahams opportunity came to enter a real kitchen as a school holiday job, he was keen to work and he grabbed the opportunity.
After the initial years of hotel work Graham 's approach to cooking changed when he entered the world of Leon Langley and the Greenhouse restaurant. The basis of Leon's food was local market fare and seasonal food ( this style of cooking in common place in New Zealand now but was a bit left field at the time). The stand out point of Leon's food was the menu changed everyday and all the kitchen crew had an input into the menu a far cry from the strict hotel regime most chefs were bought up with.
After The Greenhouse Graham and his family took off to the bright waters of Noosa Heads in Queensland. It was an exciting time for Graham and the food business Nouvelle Cuisine had taken centre stage and there was an abundance of fresh tropical ingredients from the land and sea.
But New Zealand was home and it in the mid 80's it was time to return.
Graham has a passion for New Zealand , the food , the lifestyle and its purity has always being strongly represented in Graham’s food. “Keeping it simple” has been motto throughout his culinary career. Using fresh local seasonal produce where possible, and using food that is relatively affordable and available has always been part of the philosophy. Graham believes the most important thing is to treat every ingredient with absolute reverence and make the best of it.
This kind of respect for food has put Graham in good steed in the ever changing world of professional cooking.
The Competition Years
He stumbled into competitive cooking when he was encouraged by some of the boys at Christchurch Polytechnic (where on returning from Australia he had taken up a position as a tutor) to enter the Lamb competition. Graham was running his restaurant Scarbrough Fare and relatively unknown. He took out the South Island final and went up to Wellington for the National Final where he won Gold. Graham will tell you it was a lucky break but he is a humble man and luck had nothing to do with it. He was a great Chef and he had arrived on the scene with a hiss and a roar! He was on a roll and it was good for business so he entered the National Pork Board competition, it was a mystery box (a box of ingredients given to the chefs without any pre warning so you have to think on your feet and it really lets the chefs with natural talent rise to the top) this was great for Graham because at Scarborough Fare that was how they cooked and how Graham cooked best. Just using what’s on offer and having to think around it. So he thought the magic box would be great because it was just like working at the restaurant - he was right and he won that too! There was no stopping him now.
Graham was invited onto the New Zealand Chefs team and starting travelling for with the team and doing promotions to procure money for the team to get them to the Culinary Olympics. Competing had a huge influence not only what he did in terms of cooking but it opened his eyes to other parts of the world and the different cooking techniques. Graham was to meet many amazing people which has been very helpful and has shaped the next 30+ years of his career.
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