FOOD CONSOLATION

Not pretending: a story with food

Chef, author and food presenter Valentine Warner has published a new book called The Consolation of Food. It’s not really a recipe book, more of a poignantly authentic self-portait, says Melissa Blease, who grills Valentine about painting, food, gin, the Arctic, creating space in his brain and, most of all, not pretending

I’ve always been a somewhat frivolous, happy-go-lucky, inquisitive kind of soul,” says Valentine Warner. “Then suddenly life can absolutely wallop you; odd feelings come up, you feel divided, you feel a kind of anger, and moments of sadness that are quite surprising.” The result of such a walloping, for Valentine, is his new book The Consolation of Food: Stories about Life and Death, Seasoned with Recipes... described by Valentine himself as “a bonkers book of s tories about the less than perfect human condition... but with food”. The leitmotif of The Consolation... may come as a surprise to those of us who are familiar with VW’s back catalogue. While none of his six previous books, several of them self-illustrated, could be described as mere recipe books, none of them have offered such a candid insight into Warner’s true temperament either. But how much ab out him did/do we already know? Va lentine’s mainstream TV show appearances (What to Eat Now, Coast to Coast, Great British Chefs, etc) attest to the

ruminative, exacting side of his personality, qualities further endorsed by his reputation for being one of the most rigorous judges on the panel for the illustrious BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards. But Valentine Warner Eats Scandinavia or Wild Table: Canada reveal a more untamed side to his n ature and a skittish sense of enthusiasm that, perhaps, a less prime-time-specific format encourages.

Gin is usually somewhere at the forefront of Valentine’s mind, too; he co-founded the Moorland Spirit Company distillery, producers of Hepple Gin, in the Northumberland moorlands in 2013. And here’s the really wild (in the true sense of the word) Val-angle: his Holmen Lofo ten K itchen On The Edge Of The World, which he co-founded with visionary entrepreneur Ingunn Rasmussen, is one of the most magical, almost ethereal food-related travel destination communities imaginable, set on the last inhabited island in Norway’s rugged Lofoten archipelago inside the Arctic Circle. So, with all that already going on, why this book – and why now?

“I started to write another cookbook while I was going through turbulent times i n my personal life, but as I moved along, it became almost a kind of brain dump that I wouldn’t quite call a memoir,” he says. “I tend to carry everything around in my head, and walk around having some kind of argument with myself about whatever situation I’m in on any given day. Writing the book created a space in my brain, because I logged all those thoughts. “Also , right now, with social media and everything, everybody, to a certain degree, seems to be pretending. I wanted to write a book that wasn’t pretending anything. So, here are my disasters, here are my sadnesses, here I am as I actually am: a divorced dad, with children living in a foreign country; a son who lost his father and maybe still hasn’t grieved for him yet. I’ve included all sorts of things, from m y worries for nature t o the kind of personal cock-ups, frankly, which are hopefully funny enough to share.” Was the writing process cathartic, or even therapeutic? “It was a difficult process in some ways, but only in the sense that I’m somebody who likes being on my feet, with a series of things to do during the day that keep me going, physically,” he says. “I find sitting still very hard, so my writing time w as interrupted by lots of trips to the fridge. And because I do quite a lot of different things at any given time, what was meant to

take me a year to write took me two, and the first draft was much bigger then the published version is. I had to think: how much do I really want people to know about me? But anyway, it’s out there now. Physically, it’s a small book but it’s got a lot of stuff in it.”

Indeed it has – and to describe it as a vivid, poignantly authentic sel f-portrait painted with words isn’t as much of a stretch as it might seem to be; Valentine originally trained as painter before taking himself off down the route that led to where he is today, but never left his innate creative instincts behind.

I love being in France in a market with a smell of Pernod and cigarettes on the air, eating a plate of wonderful ratatouille ❝ ❝

“ My family were all very interested in food, it was very much at the centre of everything that went on,” he recalls. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life, but I got to this point when I w as at art college where I thought, I need to do something that will actually sustain me. And as much as I thought I wanted to be a painter, it felt too unstructured. I needed discipline, to be honest, and food [Valentine worked in London restaurants for eight years before setting up a private catering company, Green Pea] gave me that structure, that discipline. And I’ve always liked w orking with words too, but real words that really mean something. So much good food

writing has so little to do with the sum total of ingredients in a recipe; it’s actually the story that’s written before the recipe that’s important to me.”

Is writing more important to Valentine’s career than, say, TV? “Well yes and no, really,” he says. “I like travelling, I like remote places with a st rong sense of community, and tradition, and food culture; in many ways, that’s all easier to share on TV. But the decent food shows are all on the digital channels now, rather than mainstream TV. I’m not interested in baking, I don’t need to be told how to eat healthily, I’m not interested in cookery competitions – are any of us, really? “ What I love about Rick Stein, whose TV shows I do watch, is that he suddenly starts t alking about Keith Floyd, or the books he read in the sixties, and I think we need a lot more of that – people who can actually join the dots and show you things that you think are apparently unrelated to food, but are actually integral. I struggle with the age of the influencers who appear not to have the strength of knowledge and experience to back their influence up. But for all the cook ery books, TV shows, online recipes, all o f it, I actually think that, in this country, we know less about food than we ever have; people don’t know about food, or where it comes from, and they’d rather buy something cheap than understand any of that. Apparently we’re all foodies, but we’d rather spend time on our telephones than actually cooking and eating together. None of us have any time to look after ourselves, b ut the one way that we can really love and cherish ourselves and others with is food. It’s all really weird. All I know is that as you go along through life, you kind of collect people and select your team, so to speak; I like to be with people who really know what they’re talking about – that’s what I love.” Ah, love; on this subject, Valentine lives up to his name as he readily shares his Happ y Place list. “My children make me e xtremely happy; they exhaust me but recharge me at the same time,” he says. “When I’m in nature, lying in the bluebells in springtime, I’m super-happy. Cooking makes me happy, and fishing is a lifetime love; there’s this wonderful world of water –a mysterious world that you can’t see, full of very beautiful creatures shuttling around over the gravel or in and out of roc ks – I find it captivating. Anything to do with nature, for me, issues in a sense of peace, without restlessness.”

And to eat...? “If I could eat one cuisine for the rest of my life, it’d be Japanese,” he says. “It’s a wonderful reflection of the natural world, very carefully prepared. I love places which have been around for a long time and aren’t necessarily in vogue as much they used to be, too, or bein g in France in a m arket with a smell of Pernod and cigarettes on the air, eating a plate of wonderful ratatouille. I’m more likely to be found in a trattoria or a little brasserie than in a Michelin-starred restaurant; I like understandable links between the place I’m in and the food that I'm getting. If I’m required to walk into a place where I’m immediately expected to start talking like I’m in church and the waiter is dressed like s omebody from Star Trek, it’s not my thing.”

Live long and prosper, Valentine. n

Valentinewarner.com

Valentine Warner’s latest book, The Consolation of Food, published by Pavilion Books, £20, offers a collection of tales covering everything from growing up in Dorset to adventures abroad, catering disasters, reflections on nature and the oddities of divorce

TRISTAN DARBY

Columnist Tristan Darby takes stock of affordable and quality wine options to see us through this period of uncertainty – and let’s raise a glass to the good times ahead...

As much as I feel that this is not the place to provide a social or political commentary, these are unprecedented times. Supermarkets literally can’t keep up with demand from the public and are keeping buoyant, so I’d like to use this column’s small voice to urge you to support local businesses for as long as you can in as many ways as you can – be they a deli, a farm shop, a cheesemonger, a butcher, baker or bottle shop (many of whom are delivering). Your money will make a huge difference to those within our community who are facing uncertain times ahead. I’m ultimately here to talk wines, and this month’s theme is quality versus cost, with some ideas for good wines to stock up on and see you through.

The quality of Cava in the UK, even at the low end, is increasingly good, and the best offer almost unbeatable value for the price point. Pere Ventura’s ‘Tresor’ Brut Reserva Cava 2016 (£13.95, Great Western Wine) is an excellent example. Produced in the Penedes region south of Barcelona, the wine, made from a blend of traditional cava grape varieties, has had an extended time aging on the lees after second fermentation in the bottle, creating a cava that’s crisp and apple-fresh, but with toasty complexity and depth and a wonderfully rich and soft mouthfeel. Top-quality fizz at half the price of cheap champers? For me, it’s a total no-brainer. For fans of white, Chateau Sainte Marie, Entre-Deux-Mers (£11.95, GWW) from Bordeaux will please a wide variety of palates. It’s an appetising unoaked

blend of Sauvignon blanc, semillon and muscadelle grapes

harvested from a plot of low-yielding mature vines at around 30 years of age.

I reckon that all sauvignon fans will get on very well with this and there’s loads of character here to enjoy. It’s crisp and refreshing with classic pink grapefruit and citrusy notes backed up with a lovely weight and texture in the mouth and a nice long fresh

finish. This will work with a plethora of fish and chicken dishes, tomato-based sauces, salads, and creamy pasta or risotto –especially those featuring green vegetables or goat’s cheese. Red wine drinkers should get hold of Biferno Rosso Riserva (£9.50, GWW). Hailing from southern Italy’s second smallest

wine region, Molise, this is a hidden gem. Made with montepulciano and aglianico grapes, it’s soft, fruity and almost too easy to drink with lovely cherry notes partnered by just the right amount of oak and

followed up with a satisfying chocolatey richness. It’s so smooth, with lovely mature tannins and savoury notes from 32 months aging in barrel and tank

before release. It’ll work well with anything from pizza and rich cream or tomato-based pasta

dishes to hearty stews, shepherd’s pie, roasted red meats, burgers and barbecue food. I keep

coming back to this in columns because, quite simply, it’s one of the best reds out there for under a tenner.

That’s me for now, folks, and please remember to support local, stay safe and, whenever you can, smile. n

Join Tristan for a range of wine classes throughout the year at Great Western Wine. Visit greatwineschool.co.uk for information and booking.

GWW update

The Great Western Wine team sends their very best wishes to all their customers at this difficult time. The team are doing everything they can to fulfil the high demand that they are currently experiencing, while adhering to all current guidelines relating to Covid-19.

Great Western Wine has made the following amendments to the services offered: • The GWW Bath shop is open. To offer the very best service,

the revised opening hours are 10am until 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday. • If you’d rather not enter the shop, you can use Bell or Yell! Just press the hygienically wiped bell at the front of the shop and someone will come to take and fetch your order. • The GWW website is always open – the team willl deliver to your door, so let them bring your order to you. • GWW offer click and collect from their Bath shop. • Free deliveries – to allow you to stock up, the free delivery threshold has been reduced to just £50.

Very best wishes and stay safe, from The Great Western Wine Team

01225 322810 wine@greatwesternwine.co.uk greatwesternwine.co.uk