Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was cooking seasonal, back-to-basics food before it was cool. His philosophy centres around creating inspiring, fuss-free meals out of fresh produce; yet his career achievements go far beyond getting us cooking. Over the years he has used his platform for the greater good, supporting a whole host of causes - from his War on Waste, which challenged the needless food waste of supermarkets and the fast food industry, to his successful Fish Fight campaign to change the European fisheries policy of throwing perfectly edible dead fish overboard. He even took on the ivory trade in Africa, a place close to his heart, in an eye-opening 2016 BBC documentary Saving Africa’s Elephants: Hugh and the Ivory War.

But speaking to him recently, he tells me why he has now chosen to focus his energies on the nation’s vegetable consumption: ‘I think the vegetable has been sorely underrepresented so far in our food culture. I’d like to showcase all the delicious ways we can cook with all this wonderful, diverse produce we have available to us.’ Indeed, this isn’t the first time Hugh has delved into the Vegetable Kingdom, as he calls it. His book and TV was the result of a stint as a vegetarian, and offered an inspiring introduction to veg-centric cooking. However, Hugh feels his work isn’t done and that maw’s the time to be having honest, hard conversations about the way we eat as a country ‘There are so many different forces working against the simple fact that cooking with vegetables is cheaper, healthier and better for the planet’.