About FoodFunk.ca

I’m Michael Hawkins, an obessive soul-funk music fan and foodie that can’t go to sleep unless there’s at least a dozen cookbooks next to the night light.

At 20-years-old back in 1990, I graduated from college with a diploma in Photojournalism and went to work as a full time photographer in Cornwall, Ontario, with the local daily, the Standard-Freeholder.   This was my first time out on my own and I decided that I really didn’t want to eat lousy food.  I recall doing shopping trips with some of my college buddies and witnessing them fill their carts with mac and cheese dinners, Mr. Noodles packs by pallet-load and frozen french fries.  Blech.  I knew real food was out there somewhere and I set out to find it.

Occasionally my shifts at the paper had me working from 5 am to 1 pm in the afternoon, which allowed me to watch cooking shows on TV the rest of the afternoon.  Shows like Biba’s Italian Kitchen, Carlo Cooks Italian, Wok with Yan and The Urban Peasant suddenly opened my eyes to a world of diverse and easy food to prepare.   I gave a few dishes a try and I was off to the races.  I’ve had a horribly messy kitchen ever since.

Making some fresh pasta.

By 1997 I was doing my part to teach others about how they could do more cooking on their own and depend less on processed foods and worse yet, fast foods.   I wrote a weekly column for the Saint John Times Globe, a column that ran until I left the paper in 2001.

I’m now a freelance writer and photographer,  a husband to Lisa Hrabluk and the father of one fabulous six-year-old named Alexandra.  I’m now cooking more than ever, enjoying food more than ever, playing the funk more than ever.

Michael and FoodFunk.ca have their head offices in Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada.  Contact Mike Hawkins at (506)-647-0421 or email mike AT wordphoto DOT ca. Please note that all content of this site, both stories and photos is copyright protected.  Stories can be linked to another site if directed to the original source here, but any other use in whole in or part is not allowed without consent.

When not in the kitchen…..