Nestled behind the high street of Cheadle Hulme, in Manchester lies At The Kitchen. Its a real hidden gem - unassuming to the untrained eye from the outside - but take a step inside and you'll be met with a passion project, built and realised by food editor , food stylist and author Angela Boggiano and her photographer husband, Craig Robertson.
Angela, born of Italian heritage, had an appreciation of food instilled in her from a child. The culinary talent was strong on the female side, with her grandmother and mother both passing on their recipe tips, providing inspiration and feeding young Angela's passion for cooking. Life was kitchen-centric and revolved around good food; the next meal was always in the planning, the kitchen table was always set, everyone was always well fed, and guests would never go home hungry ! Her favourite memories were always in the kitchen - which fed into the naming of 'At The Kitchen' - the place where good times happen and memories are made.
Angela embarked upon her own culinary career by studying Home Economics in her local city of Manchester - the course introduced Angela to the world of Food media and all it encompassed, such as food styling, recipe development and feature writing. This led to an early career in the publishing and magazine and editing for the likes of Prima Magazine and BBC Good Food. The early 80's was a really exciting time to be in the food media world. There was a food movement bubbling under the surface with so many new chefs, restaurants and ingredients emerging. New cuisines we being discovered, talked and written about. Plus, it was the dawning of the 'celebrity chef ' era with leading figures such as Rick Stein , Antonio Carluccio, Valentina Harris and Keith Floyd spawning a hole host of the new cookery programs.
Angela was hooked - but towards the end of the 80's having embedded herself firmly in the food industry - she wanted to expand her mindset and witness some of these new cuisines and food in their home countries. She therefore took some time out and travelled extensively . Southeast Asia, India and China all featured on our culinary tour of the world with her last stops Austarlia and new Zealand.
Armed with an increased knowledge and passion for food to returned to London launching straight back into the heart of the industry as a freelancer. Her work gave her the opportunity to work on so many different magazines, books, TV programs and even work alongside many of her heroes! The work was incredibly diverse from writing and styling beautiful features for the likes of Olive, Good Food, Waitrose and Country Living magazines to working on commercial creative briefs for clients such as Marks and Spencers, Waitrose and Sainsburys.
Additionally, cooking programs were becoming increasingly popular, and Angela was lucky enough to work with Nigella Lawson on her first 3 series of Nigella Bites. Working behind the scenes with the production team provided a great insight and all added to her over - expanding knowledge of the industry.
During this busy period, Angela also collaborated with so many great chefs and writers such as Giorgio Locatelli, Gennaro Contaldo , Mark Hicks and Diana Henry on their cookbooks and cookery programs. Her work included helping to perfect recipes and style their food for photography. This insight later gave her the impetus to take the plunge and write and produce her own books; always with a passion for Italian cuisine she authored the Italian Ingredients cookbook, '30 Minute Meals Made Simple ' and award nominated book , 'Pie' published in 2006.
At the same time , an opportunity crossed Angela's path - the lure of the full-time employment as Food Editor on Delicious magazine - to be at the helm of a beautiful, new, all food magazine was an offer which she simply could not refuse - it was the dream job, being at the forefront of all that was happening in the food world. Angela spent 5 happy years at the magazine.
Throughout both her time at the magazine and the preceding freelance period, she was grateful to have worked with the best writers, chefs, photographers , and creatives in the business, many of whome she can now call lifelong friends. Including, her now husband and business partner, Craig Robertson! In the early freelance years, Craig and Angela crossed paths on several jobs allowing them to recognise their shared passion, not only for each other , but also for their creative endeavours. He was also a fellow Northerner - born in Cumbria . Craig had studied at Art College then later photography which led him to divide his time between photography and TV commercials assisting a food photographer and director. He later pursued his own freelance career, spanning the next 20 years working for countless top brands , retailers and publishers plus books, campaigns, packaging and a variety of commercial work.
After nearly 30 years living and working in London, and with two new additions to the family, Angela and Craig felt it was the right time to return to their Northern roots and nest down in Manchester . They pooled their shared aspirations within the food media industries and made the bold decision to start up a business together - At The Kitchen was born.
The reality was 12 months in the making - transforming and redesigning and old workshop in Cheadle Hulme, South Manchester into a light, open, airy studio space for food photography and video shoots as well as fully equipped kitchens to accommodate cookery classes, networking events, supper clubs, workshops and masterclasses. Upon opening, At The Kitchen (or ATK as it is occasionally called) flourished, there was an appetite for it's offering and the foodie and workshop events put ATK into the heart of the community.
Which brings us up to today. ATK is thriving, and Angela and Craig find themselves just as enthusiastic, passionate, and inspired now about ATK as when they first set out in the industry. Covid momentarily threw a spanner in the works, especially on the events side, but as ATK has more than just one string to it's bow the Image and Content Production side of the business was able to take over and has flourished.
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