Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Catch it while you can!

Available on BBCi player for the rest of the week, broadcast on Sunday evening gone, BBC's tribute to Keith Floyd whom, amongst other things, made it cool for guys to cook. This was just one of the changes to British culture that the great man made through his ground breaking approach to cooking on TV. Way back in 1984, he predicted that, in the future, chefs would be as celebrated as rock stars and Formula 1 race drivers. Contributions from Marco Pierre White, Sophie Grigson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal, Michael Winner, Gary Rhodes, Hester Blumenthall all attest to the man's incredible knowledge of food and wine which, through his award winning shows he passed on to his 'little gastronauts'. Not least of the bon viveur's legacy was his genuine interest in the provenance of ingredients through seeking out local producers wherever he traveled - an experience Newlyn and other Cornish ports were lucky enough to share in on many occasions with the rest of the world.

Thirty nine minutes in, the show finds him battling with a Westerly gale on the North Quay in Newlyn reading an ode to the humble pilchard. Standing in front of an outdoor cooking location, the tribute ends with his own words, "I think I must be one of the luckiest chaps in the whole world, I travel it, I eat it, I drink it, I smell it and I touch it". Millions of his 'gastronauts' must feel that, they too, shared that journey with him.

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