Stay local, says Burton Race
CELEBRITY chef John Burton Race is a man who seems permanently set on simmer.You can practically feel the steam rising as he vents his feelings on the decline of the British farming industry and the lack of home-produced, local food in supermarkets.
There's any number of other dislikes, such as `farmed salmon... yuk, full of disease. Frankly, I'd rather eat a rat'.
He rattles off his forthright views at breakneck speed and with considerable force but is unapologetic because he says: "I'm passionate about food. It's a subject you never stop learning about and I just want people to realise that 50 per cent of good food is about the raw ingredients. The rest is down to the recipe and the skill of the person cooking."
Imaginative
He appears close to boiling point as he emphasises: "We are so apathetic about our food in the UK. We just seem to accept what we are given, but that's so wrong.
"It's so important we source and buy locally and seasonally because that's how we get great taste and flavours and yet what's happening? Our farming industry is in decline, and there won't be one in five years unless it's given support."
Burton Race, 50, is not content to simply sound off but has produced a new cook book, Flavour First - a practical guide to seasonal ingredients, that gives imaginative ways to cook them.
He's chatting about the book as well as the controversial ups and downs of his life in a rare break from his hectic filming schedule for a new ITV series, Britain's Best Dish which is due to start in August.
High profile
Television brought him to prominence as a devoted family man and respected chef in the TV series French Leave and the sequel Return Of The Chef, which also featured his wife Kim and six of the eight children they had between them.
But that high profile also ensured him the full glare of the spotlight when last year he controversially left Kim for Suzi Ward, by whom it was revealed he had a three-year-old son.
A costly divorce followed and after the battle his ex-wife shut the restaurant they were running while he was in the Australian jungle competing in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
Now he's again running the New Angel restaurant in Dartmouth, Devon. He cools down as he reflects on the past tempestuous year and says: "I am more or less out of that mess. I have a lot of rebuilding to do - emotionally and financially."
Wisely perhaps, he's reluctant to predict the future for himself and his current relationship. "I hope it will last but obviously there are no guarantees. I can't speak for her, she's a very independent soul, but I hope it will last forever.
"What I have learned is never to say never - otherwise you look a bit stupid if it all goes pear-shaped." But he does confess that in part his problems were caused by his failure to mature. He says: "Everything that's happened has changed me completely. While a lot of life is about being lucky and unlucky - the other factor was about growing up.
"I just haven't grown up - but I am putting on an impression that I have these days. Of course, I can't, at my age, change, but now I have to make sure that I have enough people around me who can cope with me being me!"
Knowledge
Introspection over, he turns the heat up again and blasts the government: "It's virtually annihilated our farming industry. Do you know most of our milk comes from France and Poland? How crazy is that?
"And all that `Buy British Beef' stuff they put out is just nonsense because in fact much of the meat labelled as British in supermarkets isn't. They get away with it by butchering the meat in this country which apparently makes it British."
He hopes his book will arm people with the knowledge to know what seasonal foods to look for.
It gives a variety of recipes from basic to a more demanding level, as well as practical, step-by-step techniques for preparing dishes such as fresh crab, lamb and filleting fish.
The recipes include imaginative delights such as Steamed Sea Bass Fillets With Warm Basil Butter Sauce. He enthuses: "This is such an enticing dish."
Burton Race beams and says: "I like to try to be optimistic and although I have had very low times I'm not a depressive type. From now on I just want to try to enjoy myself and do the best I can."
Published: Thu, 05 June, 2008
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