Let's Eat! Welcome to Viking Food.

So, then. You like food, eh? The Viking likes people who like food. Welcome!

You’ll probably want to know a little more about me before you decide to dedicate some time to this blog – and why wouldn’t you, you’re a busy internetter and there’s many other things you could be doing with your time. With that in mind, I’m not a chef. You might not even say I’m a cook. What I am, however, is a normal guy who likes normal things – chief among which is food. I like all kinds of food from posh nosh right the way down to dirty burgers. But what I love most – and I mean what I really love (and possibly even live for) – is simple food that packs in a whole ton of flavour. And if you can marry that with a lovely little number from the wine bucket… er, that is to say, bin, then that’s so much the better.

But I wasn’t always this way. Oh no. In years gone past, I had no real desire to cook, nor did I really care if what I was eating was actually any good. I always had good home cooking (but still, whose Mum or Gran isn’t the best cook they know?), but had never had any interest in learning how to cook a Yorkshire pudding. I blame a lot of this on the books that I was bought or were donated to me when I made the move to university – largely patronising, stagnant old things that praised nought but Spag Bol or a Jacket Potato.

And so it was that for most of my time at university I lived on crispy chicken sandwiches and take-aways.

But then I got a job on the bar in a fairly decent restaurant in West Yorkshire, where I met a group of people who were passionate about good food, and I was introduced to a world that I never knew existed. Of flavour and texture and smell and sight and oh god I’m dribbling.

I no longer work in the restaurant industry, and I have no qualifications in cooking at all, but I do know how to cook a little bit, which brings me to my next point:

Just what is the point of this blog?

Well. Just as I was once completely ignorant when it comes to food, I know there are a lot of people out there who want to cook, but are put off. Maybe you’ve been put off by a ‘sleb cook book using such helpful instructions as ‘cook’. Well, what if you don’t know how to cook, say, a chicken? How hot should my oven be? For how long should I cook it? How do I know when it’s cooked? What is the number of the local A&E should I cut my finger off with a knife? Or perhaps you’ve been put off by the fact that a lot of cooking can seem overcomplicated, and a faff. I’ll not lie, the amount of swearing that comes from my kitchen when I’m trying something new sends Mrs. Viking down to the local to get away from me – but you learn by doing, eh? That said, with a bit of careful planning, cooking something tasty, filling and cheap is easy. And, of course, if you’re cooking, you don’t have to wash up!

The point I’m trying to make is this – this is a blog for people who want to cook. It’s not a teaching guide, it’s not haute cuisine, it’s normal, hearty food for normal people. Some people might say it’s man food. But why should man food be just for me? I say it’s Viking food!

So, over the coming weeks and months and maybe even years, I’ll be sharing my favourite recipes with you. There might be the occasional restaurant review, and perhaps even hard-hitting interviews and guests. But let’s not run before we’re even walking.

Now then. Let’s eat!