Who or what is Hub-UK:

Hub-UK is very much a who, rather than being an impersonal entity, and is made up from a group of people all contributing to what they enjoy - the cooking of good food.

Hub-UK is my creation and I am David Jenkins. So to tell you about Hub-UK I really need to tell you a little bit about me and how Hub-UK came about.

I am a Welshman now living in Ipswich in the UK. I trained myself as a web designer and worked for several years as a freelance designer creating web sites for the smaller businesses and enterprises all over the UK. I still do the occasional web site or help people with maintaining their sites but Hub-UK is now my main work.

I started Hub-UK in May 2000. Originally I created it as a portal, as I found the general access portals of the big ISPs annoying. Did you realise you can choose whatever you want as your Home Page without it affecting your access to the Internet?

Having created a portal for my own use I thought I should make it available for others to use and as such I should make it more interesting! Having loved to cook from about the age of twelve but always had the annoying habit of never writing down recipes, I decided to provide a recipe page. The rest, as they say is history.

Along the way I have been lucky enough to build a team of contributors without whom the site would never have been half what it is. I am not going to mention names here because you will find ample evidence of their contributions throughout the site and there is nothing worse than causing offence by missing someone's name out.

And what is my claim to fame? Not a lot really - I did two six month stints over an eighteen month period as a kitchen assistant in Raymond Blanc's Cheltenham Brasserie, le petit Blanc (now known as Brasserie Blanc). It gave me the opportunity to learn more about cooking and gain in experience, as well as realise what dedication goes into becoming a chef. Then, of course, there was the added bonus of getting the opportunity to spend time talking to the great man himself - you do not realise what is meant by the expression "the love of food" until you have met someone with such a passion for it as Raymond Blanc has. One of the great honours in my life is to have met him.

Hub-UK has now become very much part of my life, and part of my family's as they have to endure the continual experimentation with new recipes - mind you, you will not hear them complaining very often!

Hub-UK is for everyone and anyone can get involved so if you have a favourite recipe Hub-UK would like to hear from you. Send it to us.

What does the future hold?

To continue to grow Hub-UK needs to generate revenue from advertising so I apologise for the adverts but they are necessary for growth and to keep the site free. This will not only enable the generic growth in recipes to continue but it will also enable us to increase the usefulness of the site in terms of educating and helping those who want to learn to cook and enjoy real food.

If you are interested in advertising on Hub-UK, there are several options available, please email us with your requirements - click here