by Laura Hitchcock - and Philippa Davis
Random 19 - with TV Judge, Private Chef & Food Writer Philippa Davis. Philippa Davis is private chef and food writer. She works all around the world cooking for a range of international clients including celebrities, royalty and entrepreneurs. She grew up on her family’s smallholding in north Dorset where they reared their own meat, grew their own fruit and veg and even had a go at wine making. At 18 with a desire to pursue a chef career she moved to London and worked at Lidgates the butchers, the Michelin starred The River Café and Moro restaurants before setting up and running the Mudchute Kitchen in London’s Docklands. In 2011, keen to explore more of the world’s food cultures and flavours, she became a private chef. Since then she has cooked all around the world for an exciting range of clients. Philippa also writes for BBCfood, The Deepest Book series, The Field magazine, Dorset Magazine and House & Garden. She also helped set up Liberty Kitchen, a BBC Food and Farming award winning street food project based in Pentonville prison that aims to help reduce reoffending rates.
The Random 19 1. What’s your relationship with the Blackmore Vale (the area, not us!)? I’m always excited to see the Blackmore Vale as it means I’m home! As a private chef I travel abroad a lot but my family has lived here for over 35 years so when not working, like a homing pigeon, I always return. 2. What was the last song you sang out loud in your car? I don’t do that much travelling in cars, its mostly trains, planes or walking. However, I absolutely
love singing and listen to a lot of music from pretty much any genre. Currently I’m taking the train fairly regularly between Dorset and London, the two-hour trip is a perfect amount of time for me to do some writing. I usually pop my earphones in and get totally absorbed in the music, tapping away on my laptop. As the trains are pretty quiet at the moment I may have once or twice caught myself bursting out into song. I’ll have to check with the conductor but I think my last performance in the carriage was “Coffee, black” from BIG the musical which is all about getting lots of stuff done, but needing caffeine first, which I can relate to.
RANDOM 19
image: Hugh MacNish Porter
3. Last movie you watched? Would you recommend it? I’m going through a food and environmental documentary phase at the moment. I have worked my way through Seaspiracy, Cowspiracy, and Game Changers. I only recommend you watch these if you are prepared to do more research around the subjects for a more balanced view. Like many involved in the food industry I don’t find them particularly helpful in moving the debate forward. Such a shame as they tackle incredibly important subjects we all need to address.
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