Five years ago we moved to the British Virgin Islands and opened an artisan bakery called Family Food Bakery which is possibly the smallest and hottest bakery on the planet.
Since living on the island I've learnt how to suck my teeth, drive a 4WD truck and ice biscuits in 100% humidity.
For several years, I kept a blog about our adventures which when I re-read it now makes us look more like the Addams Family than Family Crusoe. I am trying to write a book about our adventures but tend to get a bit distracted by the garden and hungry children.
In January 2015 our three boys and I moved to the Kwazulu Natal Midlands, where the boys attend school, leaving the Sexy Baker back on the island to man the fort. We've bought an old boxy house with a wildly beautiful overgrown garden and when not trying to tame this we can be found on Face Time.
The Natal Midlands at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains is rich farming land with rolling hills and mist. It also has a reputation for being the 'last colonial outpost' and so we've dubbed it Zulushire for it's wonderful combination of African beauty and abundance of pubs. It's also known for it's excellent local produce - beef, dairy, pork, poultry, potatoes, flowers and more. Since I cannot stop eating all the fabulous local food I thought I'd better do something about this. Most people go to gym. I write.
We've come to know some of the amazing local producers and artisan enterprises and as much as I enjoy eating, I feel even stronger about artisans and local producers being recognised and supported for their hard work in bringing us beautiful food in a sustainable way.
We do believe that by Living Locally we can make a difference and I've built a Soap Box to shout about this. I write for the media, academic institutions, corporate's and anyone else who is interested in the artisan food industry. Although I love to get on my Soap Box, with my rather sensible background in economics and corporate finance I do recognise the limitations and sillinesses that sometimes go with this way of living. I am however pretty fervent that local economic development is important to focus on in order to retain traditional skills, provide job creation and happily eat our way towards a more sustainable world at the same time.
We've also recently started up the Africa Division of Family Food Bakery and we're making our popular Traditional Artisan Christmas Hampers full of our Stollen, Panettone, Christmas Pud, Lebkuchen and other delectables. Our wicker baskets are made by the Civilian Blind and we've also included Chrissie's award-winning Stilton and Franco Esposito's Charcuterie. The hampers will be available online and at selected markets and fairs.