How TV chefs have influenced the nation’s food habits over the years
From Fanny Cradock to Jamie Oliver we take a look back
Ella Walker looks back at how the likes of Delia Smith, Keith Floyd and Gordon Ramsay have changed Britain’s food culture.
Everyone’s got their favourite telly chef – Rick Stein jetting off to Mexico to sample the ceviche, Gordon Ramsay yelling at another poor, incompetent restaurateur, Nigella eating yet more cake – but the actual phenomenon of celebrity chefs is still fairly recent.
Here’s a look back at the celebrity chefs that have shaped what we eat and how we eat it…
In the Fifties, Fanny Cradock became one of the first celebrity chefs
Chef Fanny Cradock in 1956
Fanny Cradock found fame on TV in the post-war years, creating recipes with French names that had a thrifty, economical bent. She was known for her restaurant column, Bon Viveur in The Daily Telegraph (co-written with her husband Johnnie) and for being rather eccentric, in both her fashion and make-up choices, as well as her private life. Her food fed a nation grown heartily sick of rationing.
In the Seventies, Delia Smith taught us all the classics
Television chef Delia Smith in 1979
Is there any kitchen in the country that doesn’t contain a Delia Smith cookery book, corners folded down and splattered with food? The woman is a tour de force – and is as well known for her food as for being the joint majority shareholder of Norwich City F.C.. Her direct, no nonsense approach to teaching budding home-cooks the basics, has meant generations of people actually know how to whip a meal up (and supermarkets have certainly benefited from the ‘Delia effect’ – any gadget she used in her programmes was almost guaranteed to sell out in store). Smith retired from cooking on telly in 2013, but she’s still going strong sharing her recipes online.
In the early-Eighties, Keith Floyd made cooking with a glass of wine in one hand mainstream
The late Keith Floyd with his third wife Shaunagh in 1992
Ask almost any chef who it was that inspired them, and they’re likely to tell you about Keith Floyd. The restaurateur-turned-radio-presenter and telly chef was the guy who took TV cooking shows out of the studio, and added wine – lots of wine. The likes of Rick Stein – the king of location cooking today – are merely following in Floyd’s charming and rambunctious foodie footsteps.
In the mid-Nineties, Heston Blumenthal brought science into the kitchen
Heston Blumenthal in 2012
Gels, foams, bizarre flavour combinations and meals that confound the eyes as well as the taste buds – Heston Blumenthal pioneered the role of wacky professor in the food world. The Fat Duck owner’s incredible, cult-status creations include snail porridge with crispy frog legs, his meat fruit (chicken liver and fois gras parfait in the shape of a mandarin), and Sound of the Sea (a meal that is served with an iPod). There’s no one else quite like him.
In the late-Nineties, Nigella gave us avocado on toast
Nigella Lawson with her late husband, columnist and author John Diamond in 2000
Yep, apparently Nigella invented avocado on toast – or was at least the first person to publicly share a ‘recipe’ for the act of mashing an avocado and spreading it on toasted bread. She did, of course, receive a huge amount of flack for it, but Nigella, a former journalist, seems invincible. Her simple, colourful recipes (no fancy chopping, she’s a home-cook after all) are as well-loved as those segments in her TV series where she sneaks downstairs at night for a slice of chocolate cake from the fridge. The woman made cooking sexy.
Jamie Oliver made cooking cool
Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools in 2000
Cheeky chappie Jamie Oliver hit TV screens as The Naked Chef in 1999, bringing with him an attitude that said: ‘Lads, you can cook too’. He had herbs on his little flat’s windowsill, knew what to do with Italian flavours (thanks to working with Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo in his early kitchen jobs), and was always coming up with recipes to salve a hangover. Since then, he’s fought for healthier lunch options in schools (no turkey twizzlers) and had us cooking meals that take no longer than 15 minutes, or most recently, use just five ingredients.
And Gordon Ramsay showed us just how angry chefs can get
Chef Gordon Ramsay with his wife Tana in 2003
He might have a clutch of Michelin stars to his name, but Gordon Ramsay will forever be best known for using the ‘F’ word. He swore his way through most of the late-Nineties and Noughties on the likes of Hell’s Kitchen and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, giving rise to the idea that, to be a real chef, you’ve got to have a temper (Marco Pierre White certainly helped encourage the impression). Although in recent years, Ramsay’s actually become quite the family man (his daughter Tilly’s first cookbook came out in 2017) and he’s moving into the wellbeing side of cookbooks (check out Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Fit Food).
In the early-Noughties, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall raised awareness of food ethics
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in 2008
The floppy haired food writer and River Cottage chef was one of the first celebrity cooks to really talk about where our food is grown, reared, slaughtered and fished, helping us become more aware of the wider implications of what goes on our plates than ever before. He’s championed seasonal produce, responsible fishing and, most recently, embarked on a war on food waste. He’s also the guy who flambéed, puréed and served a human placenta on national television… which hasn’t exactly taken off, thankfully.
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