Our Story

Four Generations of Food

Food has always been part of my family, although the women I grew up with all cooked very differently.

My mum, Jackie, brought me up as a single mum, with my grandparents and great-grandparents playing a huge part in my childhood. And on both sides of the family, food was never very far away.

My nan Vera's parents and in-laws were market people. My great-grandparents Rose and Ben had a seafood stall, and Nan would help prepare the fish and shellfish - it wasn't unusual to find eels swimming in the kitchen sink.

Four Generations of Food

Market Days

Nanny Cis's family had a vegetable barrow on North End Road Market, and visits usually meant coming home with far more than you could comfortably carry.

Fresh produce was simply part of everyday life, but so were the family traditions around food especially at Christmas. Homemade Christmas puddings were made well ahead of time and regularly topped up with a generous splash of booze.

Food wasn't fancy or complicated. It was generous, plentiful and meant to be shared - and there was always something good to eat.

Black and white photograph of a street market scene with several people standing by produce carts and stalls.

My Turn at the Table

Family celebrations always centred around food - crammed into living rooms around whatever space we could find, or going out to eat together.

When I became a student, I wanted to be the one bringing people together too. Restaurants weren't exactly an option on a student budget, so I quickly learned to cook and entertain at home instead.

That's really where my own style of cooking began. I loved the planning, the feeding and, most of all, having people around my table.

Overhead view of a rustic dinner table filled with plates of food, a red enameled cast-iron pot, wine glasses, olives, and hands serving and eating.

From Retail to Food

I spent more than 25 years working in retail, but eventually jumped at the chance to make food part of my working life too.

I joined Cool Chile Company and went on to become a Director, spending around ten years immersed in Mexican food and ingredients. It gave me the opportunity to work with brilliant producers, discover ingredients I hadn't come across before and understand just how much difference having the right things in the cupboard can make.

By then, food wasn't just something I loved cooking and sharing - it had become my career too.

A man in a straw hat and blue checkered shirt uses a large wooden mace to break open an agave plant in an outdoor field.

Then Life Changed

Life has a habit of changing the plan.

When family needed me, I stepped away from my career and became a carer, eventually moving in with my nan during the pandemic.

Suddenly, the way I had always cooked had to change too. I still wanted good food, I still loved having people around and I still wanted to give thoughtful gifts - I just didn't always have the time or headspace for any of it to be complicated.

I started relying more on a well-stocked pantry: brilliant ingredients, shortcuts that actually tasted good and things I could pull together quickly when life was already asking enough of me.

It made me realise that making things easier doesn't mean caring any less.

In fact, that became the beginning of Peak & The Pantry.

A woman in a bright red dress kisses an older woman in a wheelchair wearing a green, white, and black tropical print top. The scene is set in a warmly lit indoor event space with candles, flowers, and glassware in the background.

Peak & The Pantry Today

Peak & The Pantry grew from that idea: good food for real life.

Today, you'll find my own range alongside independent brands and producers I've discovered, cooked with and genuinely rate - with a particular soft spot for female-founded businesses.

Everything is chosen to earn its place: brilliant ingredients for easier dinners, something worth opening when friends come round, or a gift you'd genuinely be happy to give.

Life gets busy. Good food still matters. It just needs to be easier.

Shop The Pantry
K & The Pantr food product packaging on a wooden surface with a tote bag featuring branding.