TV chef and restaurateur Rick on being a perfectionist, his latest food TV odyssey and his theatre tour
WORDS: ALISON JAMES
● My latest TV series Rick Stein’s Food Stories [available on BBC iPlayer] is about my travels around Britain and Northern Ireland, trying to get a handle on British cuisine today. Behind every dish there’s a story, from fish and chips to pad Thai noodles, chicken tikka masala to square sausages in a bun for breakfast on the streets of Glasgow. Over my 55-year career, I’ve seen British cuisine transform. What we have now is an amalgam of our own rich repertoire of dishes, and the food and flavours of so many cultures from the people who have made Britain their home.
● I’m generally easy going, but in terms of cooking, I’m always thinking I could do better. I’m a bit of a perfectionist but that’s not to say I beat myself up. It’s therapeutic because it’s a constant reminder that you need to be serious about cooking. I feel you should always intend to create something really lovely, and the only way to do that is to be aware of how easy it is for things to go wrong.
● I had heart surgery to have my aortic valve replaced in 2022. Having had the operation and recovered, the improvement in my health has left me tremendously optimistic. I think as long as you’ve got your health and you’re enjoying your life, you don’t tend to ponder too much about how much life you’ve got left.
Buy tickets for Rick’s tour from
rickstein.com/tour
Tough Times
● Unless you’ve been on TV or have Michelin stars, it’s difficult to get young, talented pe
