My first clear memory of actual cooking is a three course meal I made for my family - aged 8 and all by myself. That same year, I nearly gave my grandmother a heart attack by enthusiastically licking my plate clean at a posh hotel restaurant.

These two memories pretty much sum up my relationship with food: equal parts creativity and unrestrained joy.  

Growing up in Greece in the 1970s, with a Greek father and German mother, I inhabited a world where food cultures naturally mixed and merged. Home cooking wasn't a hobby or a special occasion thing—it was simply how we lived. Even the local tavernas felt like extensions of home kitchens (you could literally walk into their kitchens and peek into the pots to choose your meal!). I never formally learned to cook.

Instead, I absorbed it from my environment, like learning a mother tongue.

The concept of cooking by recipe didn't enter my world until my late twenties when I moved to London and encountered the cult of celebrity chefs and cookbook writers. Suddenly, I questioned whether I was really a "good cook" if I couldn't properly follow a recipe. Yet, everyone who tasted my food raved about it.

This puzzling contradiction made me realise: somewhere along the way, our food culture had lost touch with the natural, joyful approach to cooking I grew up with.  

For the past decade, I've been running a wholefood shop in the foothills of Snowdonia, North Wales. The thousands of shop floor conversations I've had with home cooks about their kitchen goals and fears have shaped my mission as a kitchen coach.

I've seen too many passionate people lose their confidence to the pressures of modern food culture - the cult of recipes, glossy Instagram perfection and celebrity chef culture - and that's how I realised that sharing my way of cooking can shine a light on the path towards more calm, fun and taste in the kitchen.

As The Intuitive Cook, I bring together practical kitchen wisdom, a love for bold flavours and a gently rebellious streak against conventional cooking dogma.

Through my blog, workshops and podcast, I help frazzled home cooks break free from recipe jail and rediscover their natural cooking instincts.  

My unconventional approach has caught the attention of publications like The Guardian and HuffPost, but what I love most is seeing people light up and get creative when they realize they can trust their own senses in the kitchen.  

I believe everyone is born with the instinct to cook intuitively. Sometimes we just need a little help remembering how. Whether you're struggling with recipe anxiety, wanting to break free from 'recipe jail', or simply looking to bring more joy back into your kitchen, I'm here to help you trust your taste buds and rediscover your natural cooking confidence.

There should be no doubt: you can't develop intuition by reading about it. You have to touch it, chop it, taste it, live it, embody it, and let the practice and knowledge sink from the head to the heart—and to the belly.

But you don't have to get started as a toddler (although it helps, young parents take notice!). You can start today. Embrace cooking—and eating—as the joyful adventure it is.  

It's not rocket science, it's just dinner!

Greek girl happily lost in the foothills of Snowdonia. Intuitive cook. IRREVERENT
Kitchen coach.
LOVER OF Real GOOD food. Nutritionist in training. PROUD Shopkeeper.

Health & Food
8 Denbigh Street, Llanrwst, Conwy Valley, North Wales