In an interview in The Sunday Times (December 30), celebrity chef Tom Kerridge encourages consumers to start their new year by buying some good kitchen gadgets. He states: “If you get a nice chopping board and a nice knife, you’ll want to use it.”
Tom is also an advocate of the blowtorch, saying: “It’s an edgy sense of danger that brings back enthusiasm and excitement about food.”
The interview coincides with the new book and TV series Tom Kerridge’s Fresh Start (which started last night, January 2) where the chef is on a mission to inspire people to cook from scratch for healthier lives. In the BBC2 programme, Tom recruits eight families that are typical of today’s time-poor consumers who also lack confidence in cooking.
In The Sunday Times interview, Tom acknowledges the rise of convenience food in the 1980s and how some TV food shows portray cooking as a highly technical procedure, while he is determined to provide consumers with some confidence building basics as well as creative dishes.
Tom also emphasises the pleasure of food preparation, including chopping vegetables and “the sense of making it a family occasion.”
Top: The new TV series started on BBC2 on January 2, to inspire some new year’s resolutions for home cooking.
