….Introducing myself

thewayofthecook

Hello. I’m Raymond Gillespie. My life as a cook began when I was 6 years old. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the following 15 years or so went a lot towards laying the foundations of my own take on food and cooking.

In 1985, I moved from Ireland to the United States and settled in Boston. Essentially, I have worked in restaurants and kitchens since my arrival. I landed with the best intentions and dreams. As a cook, I was fortunate to have worked in 3 and 4 star kitchens receiving a classical education, mostly with a severe French influence. It was only later that I gravitated towards the Italian kitchen, so to speak. The catalyst for this move was football…and personality.

So now that I no longer cook professionally, I still work around good food everyday. More importantly, I get to cook for and sustain myself.  I also have time to explore more and indulge my food related topics of passion, that is, geography and history. A good cook never stops learning. I have to credit geography as a big resource in this aspect.

I also grow a garden, a small kitchen garden. It’s one source of some of the ingredients I like to play with. I love shopping at farmers’ markets also. But the truth is that I love to cook in a peasant style….Life after cheffing!