Hello and Welcome to Kitchen Acorns
Tosh Lubek is the owner of kitchenacorns.com, which is part of Tosh Lubek Productions, an audio, video, and content production company based in Ayr, Scotland.
Before setting up a business of his own, Tosh Lubek worked in broadcasting, first being part of the start-up team at Moray Firth Radio (Inverness) in 1982. Then moving to Northsound Radio in Aberdeen, before becoming part of the management team at West Sound, West FM, and South West Sound, three radio stations in South West Scotland.
It was while working in the broadcasting industry that, among many other things, Tosh got involved in cookery radio programs. You might think that having cooking shows on the radio might seem odd, but they proved very popular with both the audience and program sponsors. The radio shows would cook a dish each week live on air, as well as invite expert chefs and quality food suppliers to share their valuable knowledge.
Naturally, this was also an ideal opportunity for Tosh to assimilate professional cookery information and tips. He added this knowledge to what he had already learned from his Mon about Polish cooking and cuisine while growing up. In the 1980s Tosh worked in The Manor Restaurant in Leicester, which at the time was owned by his uncle and aunt. Working beside highly qualified chefs and restaurant staff provided more invaluable information, as did his visits to the now-demolished School of Domestic Science in Aberdeen, known affectionately as the Dough School.
More recently, through Tosh Lubek Productions, he created several radio advertorials for ASDA, for broadcast on radio stations in the News UK & Ireland group. These short program pieces featured important Scottish food suppliers, including Scotty Brand, part of Albert Bartlet, and Malcolm Allan Foods.
Having been brought up by Polish immigrant parents in the English Midlands, and then moving to Scotland in his twenties, Tosh was exposed to a diverse range of cuisines and cooking experiences. Interestingly, his mother’s Polish cooking embraced a multi-country cuisine due to Poland’s links with her European neighbors. The area of Poland where Tosh’s mother’s family lived was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire prior to the First World War and became part of Ukraine after the Second World War. It was only in later life that Tosh realized that many of his Mon’s “Polish” recipes and ingredient names had their roots in other European countries.
Tosh has had a lifelong passion for good food and cooking, (you only need to look at my waistline to realize that :-). It therefore seemed natural for him to share his passion and knowledge with others by creating kitchenacorns.com.
Enjoy reading the articles and hopefully, they will help you in your own kitchen.