Sunshine on
LEITH From her sunny disposition to her love of colour, food, books and life – the sun always shines on Prue Leith. With a schedule that would floor most of us, Prue continues to swallow up life. We catch up with her for an exclusive one-to-one…
Did you cook as a child and did anyone inspire you? No, I was brought up in South Africa in a very privileged family and we had a wonderful Zulu cook called Charlie. But it never occurred to my parents, or to me, that I should learn to cook. They just thought I’d go to university and do something like be a lawyer or a translator. I got the cooking bug in Paris when I was at Uni there.
Your love of books and writing, did this come at a young age? As a child I was more interested in horses and ponies than in books. All the books I read were about animals. I guess that was the start: Black Beauty, My Friend Flika and the Paul Gallico books like Jennie and The Snow Goose. Did growing up in Cape Town inspire your love of the outdoors and gardening? I think it did subconsciously. I never did any gardening but I think my love of bright colours comes from Africa. We spent most of our time outside, we didn’t have a television but we had a big garden, went on holiday to the game parks and camping up mountains or on wild beaches. What advice would you give to aspiring young chefs?
4 schoolnotices.co.uk SPRING 2021
