Chef Jane Pepito
Paris, France
Hello! I’m Jane Pepito
Think big, work hard, push limits, never stop & savor every opportunity that this world has to offer!
As a true nomad, I am constantly on the move, eager to take on new challenges, immerse myself in diverse environments, and explore new horizons. With an entrepreneurial spirit at my core, I’m not one to shy away from hard work, involved in personal advocacies and projects, and always on the lookout for new opportunities. My passion for life is matched only by my insatiable appetite for adventure. I live for stories I can tell about interesting ideas, fascinating people, places, and events that I encounter along the way.
As a professional chef, culinary nutritionist, and a self-proclaimed amateur food and spice anthropologist, I’m always on the lookout for new and exciting flavours and cuisines to add to my repertoire. I’m a global Filipina, and I take pride in my cultural heritage and have a deep appreciation for different cultures. When I’m not cooking up a storm or traveling, you can find me writing about culture, food, lifestyle, nutrition, and travels.
Thank you for stopping by! It’s been a pleasure to share a little about myself with you. Let’s keep in touch and share our adventures!
about the island chef kitchen
Island Chef Kitchen began not so much with a plan, more on a shoestring and with an idea. It is my personal repository – of thoughts, observations on cuisines, culture, yachting, places I’ve visited and people I encountered through my journey.
This site is about my adventures as a chef which started in the island of Cebu, Philippines, to places where the trade wind blows – from one island/continent to another, and through the ancient Spice Route. You can also have a glimpse of my legacy project – a cookbook inspired by the Spice Route.
People always ask me why center on spices, and why the spice route? And more business-minded people have often said, “How on earth do you make it work?”
My intention is to have a central theme for my travels – I started with a question: where can I travel that will stimulate my mind and has something to do with food?
I’ve been obsessed with archeology and desert explorations when I saw the first Indiana Jones movie – Raiders of the Lost Ark, at the age of 7. The movie brought out my adventurous spirit.
I remember as a little girl reading a volume of encyclopedia, holding a flashlight under the sheets at night, perusing desert maps and documentaries of African animals. I was in love with my two favourite tales, Aladdin and Tarzan, and growing up I thought I would follow Amelia Earhart as a pilot. I’m always that curious little girl with a romantic view of foreign cultures and history.
When I first conceived the idea of writing a cookbook, I did not fully understand the depth and complexity of it.
All I have is the fervent passion of exploring the world, uncovering the influence of spices to a country’s cuisines, and a curiosity of how the ancient Spice Trade and Silk Roads defined the culture of places along its path.
I’m not a historian nor claim to be an expert in sociology and this site is not aiming to be a source of food history. My simple aim is to share my personal experiences, build confidence in newbie foodies, inspire an inventive side in experienced cooks and invigorate the way people cook at home.
I’m also hoping to encourage others to visit those wonderful places too. I know it’s a long road (and lots of long-haul flights and island hopping!) but here praying that I could sustain it.
Knowing the story behind our food and that sense of knowledge is something we can all benefit from in the kitchen.
recipes
This site is about discovering a casual attitude toward cooking, making a new and informal approach to island flavours and “Spice Route” cuisines. Most recipes highlight herbs and spices, produce endemic to a place, that are weaved through stories of adventures.
meet jane
A true city girl with an island heart – quite often with a messy beach hair and sand between toes. Jane is a professional chef, a culinary nutritionist, an entrepreneur, restaurant consultant, food writer and stylist.
She’s currently based in The Netherlands as Head Chef of a Research Vessel. In between consultancies and cheffing for yachts, she visits countries along the Spice Route to learn more about their culture and cuisines.
Chef Jane has always loved the mix of flavours and has unconditional love for down-to-earth, good food. Growing up in Manila, Philippines in the 80s, with both parents working and being the eldest in a brood of 6, Jane learned how to cook at the age of 7. Thanks to her mom and lola, who taught her traditional Filipino-Spanish and Indian dishes (dahl dishes and chutneys were everyday staples!) while her father – who was an international airline pilot – exposed her to the flavours of the world.
Her father was also a good cook, fearless and borderless when it comes to blending flavours and techniques – taught her to trust and connect by her sight and smell. The sight and smell of wheels of gouda and blue cheese all the way from Amsterdam were quite unforgettable to a 10 yo girl.
She started combining recipes and tested them on her brother and sisters to figure out what were the most successful combinations. Cooking and exotic flavours occupy a major part of her core memories.
A former corporate marketing/advertising suit based in Manila, she and her family opted for a laid back lifestyle and moved to Cebu City in 2005. The island life was ideal for spontaneous afternoon aperitivo and weekend dinner parties with friends, start-up and expat community.
Jane’s lifelong love for and interest in food and wellness inspired her to launch the Midori Bento Catering in 2007, where she combined uniquely designed healthy meals for the health-and-wellness-conscious start-up companies in Cebu City. The venture eventually led her to detour into Integrative Nutrition and Culinary Arts. Combined with her passion for organic food, she also studied hydroponics to grow her own produce.
When the family moved to Los Angeles, Jane worked as a freelance private chef and on-call chef to several VIPs, restaurants and hotels around SoCal area – LA County, Orange County, San Diego, and Riverside County (specifically around Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio, La Quinta & Coachella Valley). With her culinary training background based on classic French, she went to Brittany, France to train.
After France, she worked in Dubai and Morocco. To further enhance her culinary knowledge, she collaborated with local chefs in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. She eventually returned to the Philippines in 2015 to open a bistro, The Clove on the Quay at the Cebu Yacht Club and as Corporate Chef to La Vie Parisienne & La Vie in the Sky (M. Lhuillier Wines & Supermarket).
In 2019, she became the 2nd chef of MY White Rabbit Golf, the world’s largest luxury trimaran yacht based in Singapore.