When I think of my dad, one of the first memories that comes to my mind is him arriving home with his hands full of vegetables and fruit, and a big smile on his face. Despite of working hard and for long hours, in the end of every working day my dad would still spend the remaining hours before sunset taking care of our vegetable garden.

Carrots, beetroots, sweet potatoes, cassava, peanuts, string beans, courgettes, spring greens, cabbages, lettuce, spinach, onions, garlic, spring onions, parsley, basil and mint are just some examples of the impressive variety of vegetables, leaves and herbs that my dad used to grow in the backyard of our house. On top of that my dad used to keep an orchard with a huge variety of fruit including mangos, passionfruit, many types of bananas, avocados, oranges, tangerines, clementines, lemons, sweet lemons, guavas, grapes and Sharon fruit.

I’ve never met someone so passionate about growing food as my dad… If you were to give him the smallest piece of land, he would surely grow something on it and his passion for working the soil was also closely followed by raising animals and fishing.

I can clearly see my dad’s influence in my cooking today, when I am carefully choosing every ingredient that will be part of my dishes, but it took me a while to connect the dots… For most of my life, if you would ask me “where does your passion for food come from?”, I would answer without thinking for a second: “from my mum”, as she was the one cooking the food I loved eating and she taught me how to cook. However, the majority of the ingredients used by her to make her delicious dishes were produced by my dad… And isn’t this perception that chefs are the main responsible for good food still prevailing today? This world is full of celebrity chefs, but have you ever heard of a celebrity farmer?

So before I start paying tribute to the amazing cooks in my family and to the great chefs that inspired me with their delicious food, here is my tribute to my dad and to all farmers who work so hard, under unpredictable conditions to one day happily bring the harvest home. They continuously remind me that every delicious dish starts with delicious ingredients.