TWO LEADING CHEFS TAKE A UNIQUE ANGLE TO HEALTHY EATING

In the kitchens of Europe’s finest restaurants, healthy eating is a term rarely used and, when it is, is likely to be scoffed at, in the much the same way as might a batch of overcooked rice, or a souffle that collapses. “Creating food that ticks all the boxes in terms of diet, calorific content and a drive towards so-called ‘good’ ingredients will often mean sacrificing the things that really make stellar, statement dishes what they are, so chefs tend not to put all their muscle behind the concept,” begins Jamie Oliver. “It’s a bit like F1 racing in electric cars – you’re not going to be able to compete unless everyone begins to subscribe to the same rules… and yet that’s exactly what is happening on the racetracks, and in the same way, there is a drive for greater responsibility over what we put in our food – the fat, the sugar, the salt.” Certainly, consumer tastes are demanding greater transparency and provenance over ingredients, though whether that translates from the home kitchen into the restaurant remains to be seen. In the meantime, we asked two leading chefs to name a unique experience of theirs where healthy eating played such a defining role… in the food that they cook, but also in terms of the contentment and pleasure of what we consume.

By Matt Lee

CLARE SMYTh

Clare Smyth was the first female British chef to be awarded three Michelin star status, and her other career highlights include holding the unique position of Chef Patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, and being awarded a perfect 10 by the UK Good Food Guide.

At the heart of healthy eating for Smyth, is affordability.

“If we could have the education in place so people could learn how to cook healthier, better meals for themselves, create a stimulus so it’s better for the family in the context of sitting around a table to eat, then cooking becomes therapeutic as well as healthy.

“In that respect, I think we need to teach people how to cook again, maybe even at school level. Everyone is struggling to be able to afford to eat healthily, and that coupled with a lack of knowledge seems to compound the problem,” she says.

“When I was a child, I was taught how to cook at school and that’s not something that happens so much today.

“People go into supermarkets and it is actually more expensive to eat healthily. Fruit is more expensive than a litre of fizzy drink, and I find that ridiculous,” she begins.

Covid and the complications that have arisen out of Brexit have also tightened the noose around what we eat and what we can afford to eat. “I see as pivotal the initiatives designed to support farmers in the way of producing food that people can afford to eat and buy. This will mean the next generation does not fall into the trap of fast food and bad food choices that perhaps we have.

Smyth grew up in Northern Ireland in a rural setting – indeed, her family operated a farm. “I love animals and was very much into the farming background. I was big on horse riding - I used to have a couple of horses, so I was very lucky to be quote close to nature.”

As time went on, the decorated chef began working in kitchens on weekends and during school holidays. “When I was 16, I remember having an interview for a job and the chef told me I had more knowledge than any chef he had interviewed, because all I had done from 14, 15 years old was read books.

“I read Auguste Escoffier, the legendary French figure amongst chefs and gourmets; I read Anton Mosimann, who was the chef at the Dorchester at the time; I read about all the classic sauces, about all the preparation, making veal stocks, glaces (stocks made from bones, usually veal and highly concentrated by reduction), and as far as herbs went, I had memorised them in a kind of way that I think some people were doing with pop groups or music. I was just into food.”

Smyth says if she had to name one food item to stimulate the healthy eating habits of the next generation, it would be the humble potato.

“Being Irish, potatoes would be part of every meal. I’ve cooked a lot of potatoes in my life!” she laughs. “In the first instance, people wouldn’t assume it as healthy as a green vegetable or fruit, and they would be correct in that, but potatoes have such versatility and so many options, and as the basis for a meal, they are excellent.

“To this day, my aunt and uncle remain potato farmers - they would always just boil them with the skin on. There are some varieties that will burst open, and with salt, pepper and butter they are so simple yet wonderfully flowery.”

jamiE oliver

Jamie Oliver’s big break as a culinary master came in 1997 BBC documentary River Cafe – the then 22-year-old sparring as a sous chef amidst the chaos of one of the River Thames’ most seductive locations.

Oliver quickly flew the nest on the back of his phenomenally successful Naked Chef series, going on to influence a multi-generation swoop of food lovers whilst quietly amassing a £250million fortune in the process.

The decorated chef takes it all in his stride, yet in growing a chain of restaurants and witnessing his children’s school-cooked lunches, the now 46-year-old found himself closely involved in diet and health.

“In 2005 I agreed to produce a four-part documentary called Jamie’s School Dinners. There was a backdrop of fearsome dinner ladies, outraged students and significant funding cuts, but ultimately it was all about highlighting the dangerous amount of processed food being fed to Britain’s schoolkids... both in the schools and outside of them. And this wasn’t just a British movement, it was global.

“I guess I should have predicted it would go viral,” he says, “and perhaps it always should have anyway. It began talking about school dinners and how they were fundamental to our kids’ physical and mental wellbeing in daylight hours, but it enlarged into this bigger conversation about lunches in general and all the hidden nasties present in so much of what we give our kids.

“Like most things I take on, they begin as one little idea and soon morph into something I can’t really pull back in,” he laughs.

Jamie’s School Dinners eventually led to a government-instigated overhaul of cafeteria menus across Britain which sought to replace processed and fried foods with healthier homecooked alternatives.

It has gone on to kickstart called Jamie’s Food Revolution, which states its mission as to ‘provoke debate and inspire real, meaningful, positive change in the way our children access, consume and understand food’.

“I wanted to do it because even though I employed food nutritionists and I knew a lot myself through experience, I wanted to actually have the proper knowledge,” he explains.

Oliver’s work subsequently earned him an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of General Practitioners and the esteemed TED Prize, which grants the winner US$100,000 to put towards their ‘wish to change the world’, which he has stated as to help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity’.

There have been leaps and bounds made in the fight against child obesity, and Oliver’s charities continue the good work in raising awareness of the more hidden, unreported aspects of this worldwide epidemic.

“Unfortunately, Covid has pulled some back towards convenience – people are going for burgers over steaks; for ready meals over cooking from scratch, because time is tight, as is money.

“Ultimately though, healthy eating only ever starts at home, and it’s a 24/7 battle of balance and perspective. It’s a battle we undertake ourselves, and for our children, but it can be one.

“We may find our perception of tasty over healthy goes back a little towards fatty foods with the way the world is today, certainly if it means food costs less but still ticks the box in terms of flavour. The challenge is there, however, for making salad or vegetables or a lower grade piece of meat as flavoursome as possible using ‘new’ ingredients, and that should be something that excites any chef, professional or amateur.