From His Mother's Table To A Caribbean Galley

Kevin Dundon was born in Dublin^[1]. His first cookery school was the family kitchen table. That is where his mother taught him to cook^[2].

It was a simple start. No famous chefs, no fancy equipment. Just a mother, a son and the everyday meals of a Dublin home^[2]. Those lessons stayed with him for life.

Off To Switzerland

After school he won a scholarship to work in Switzerland^[1]. For a young Dubliner, it was a first taste of a serious European kitchen, where precision and order rule.

Back To College

He came home to study. He was a student at the College of Catering in Dublin and worked at a restaurant called Coffers at the same time^[3]. In 1986 he graduated from the Dublin Institute of Technology^[1].

With his qualification in hand, he went to work at The Old Schoolhouse, a restaurant in Dublin^[1]. It was a chance to put his training into daily practice.

All At Sea

Then he went much further. He signed on as a cook on a cruise liner sailing the Caribbean^[1]. Ship kitchens are busy and cramped, and they feed hundreds of guests at every meal. It was a hard but valuable school.

Each step taught him something new. Switzerland gave him discipline. College gave him the theory. The Old Schoolhouse gave him a real dining room, and the cruise liner gave him speed and stamina.

Ready For Canada

The young cook was ready for something bigger. His next move would take him across the Atlantic, to a career in the grand hotels of Canada^[1][2].

Years later, he would build his own cookery school in Wexford. In a way, he was passing on what his mother first taught him at that Dublin kitchen table^[2].