North West Home and Garden Show.. Jean-Christophe Novelli interview
By North Wales Daily Post
LIVERPOOL can lay claim to enticing "the world's sexiest chef" Jean-Christophe Novelli away from France to live in Britain. Now the culinary heart-throb is set to say a big thank you to his favourite city.
He'll be cooking up a mouth-watering treat to help launch the first North West Home and Garden Show at the Echo Arena next month. But exactly what will be on the menu remains a mystery.
"I can't tell you," he says with typical French panache. "I can't tell you because I've not decided yet. Cooking is creativity, expression, it depends how I feel. I never decide until the last moment... if I did I'd be a robot. This way it's alive."Do you know what you're having for lunch next Sunday? No, neither do I, so why plan what to cook weeks ahead?"
LIVERPOOL can lay claim to enticing "the world's sexiest chef" Jean-Christophe Novelli away from France to live in Britain. Now the culinary heart-throb is set to say a big thank you to his favourite city.
He'll be cooking up a mouth-watering treat to help launch the first North West Home and Garden Show at the Echo Arena next month. But exactly what will be on the menu remains a mystery.
"I can't tell you," he says with typical French panache. "I can't tell you because I've not decided yet. Cooking is creativity, expression, it depends how I feel. I never decide until the last moment... if I did I'd be a robot. This way it's alive."Do you know what you're having for lunch next Sunday? No, neither do I, so why plan what to cook weeks ahead?"
It depends, too, on what's in season, the weather, ingredients
available, what's looking good at the veg market. Jean-Christophe
wants to source as much as he can from Merseyside and North Wales.
He's passionate about celebrating the wealth of British home-grown
food and is a loyal supporter of diverse regional produce, like the
Anglesey sea salt company Halen Môn.
He can't wait to revisit Liverpool in its year as European Capital of Culture - "I love the city, it's got a big place in my heart". He has many friends there, including fellow chef Paul Heathcote. And he came to Britain, he says, because of Liverpool football, music and Kevin Keegan.
"I wanted to meet Kevin Keegan from when I was a teenager in France. He's my hero, full of energy, so quick, graceful, he never gives up."
His dream came true when Keegan visited a restaurant where Jean-Christophe was working not long after arriving in Britain.
"He was polite, gracious. We had to cook for him, all French chefs in the kitchen and he was our idol. I was so excited I couldn't see properly. Chopping onions, I chopped my finger, blood everywhere!"
Fortunately the mishap did not hinder career success. Having arrived in Britain in 1983, Jean-Christophe, now 47, went on to establish himself as one of Europe's culinary stars, not just via TV fame, but where it counts, earning the respect of fellow professionals - he has won four Michelin stars.
He's also accumulated an army of female fans, was once proclaimed the world's sexiest chef by the New York Times and voted one of the top 50 most beautiful men by Sky viewers.
He learned his cooking skills from his mum, who he also credits with passing on the creative gene at their home in Arras, northern France. Now 76, she suffered polio as a child.
"It was bad then, hard for her. But she's a survivor, quiet, determined. Cooking was a means of communication with her, a way to express emotions. And family meals were important, the time for catching up. Whether we were laughing, rowing, whatever, it was a time for being together over good food."
Today he's happily settled and engaged to girlfriend Michelle, with whom he is expecting a baby at the end of August. They plan to marry in 2009.
And home is a 14th century farmhouse in Hertfordshire, part of which he converted to accommodate his cookery school, the thriving Novelli Academy, which helped him turn round money worries of recent years.
"It's not all been easy, there've been difficult times, but the key is to learn from mistakes, to be positive. There is good and bad in all parts of life - like my cookery school, it's on the flightpath to Luton airport. The good thing is people fly from round world to come here, from America, Dubai, Cyprus, Germany, Ireland - even Wales!"
With new book, Everyday Novelli, flying off the shelves, and TV work lined up including regular appearances on Ant & Dec Saturday Night Takeaway and The Richard and Judy Show, good times have definitely returned for Jean-Christophe.
He can't wait to revisit Liverpool in its year as European Capital of Culture - "I love the city, it's got a big place in my heart". He has many friends there, including fellow chef Paul Heathcote. And he came to Britain, he says, because of Liverpool football, music and Kevin Keegan.
"I wanted to meet Kevin Keegan from when I was a teenager in France. He's my hero, full of energy, so quick, graceful, he never gives up."
His dream came true when Keegan visited a restaurant where Jean-Christophe was working not long after arriving in Britain.
"He was polite, gracious. We had to cook for him, all French chefs in the kitchen and he was our idol. I was so excited I couldn't see properly. Chopping onions, I chopped my finger, blood everywhere!"
Fortunately the mishap did not hinder career success. Having arrived in Britain in 1983, Jean-Christophe, now 47, went on to establish himself as one of Europe's culinary stars, not just via TV fame, but where it counts, earning the respect of fellow professionals - he has won four Michelin stars.
He's also accumulated an army of female fans, was once proclaimed the world's sexiest chef by the New York Times and voted one of the top 50 most beautiful men by Sky viewers.
He learned his cooking skills from his mum, who he also credits with passing on the creative gene at their home in Arras, northern France. Now 76, she suffered polio as a child.
"It was bad then, hard for her. But she's a survivor, quiet, determined. Cooking was a means of communication with her, a way to express emotions. And family meals were important, the time for catching up. Whether we were laughing, rowing, whatever, it was a time for being together over good food."
Today he's happily settled and engaged to girlfriend Michelle, with whom he is expecting a baby at the end of August. They plan to marry in 2009.
And home is a 14th century farmhouse in Hertfordshire, part of which he converted to accommodate his cookery school, the thriving Novelli Academy, which helped him turn round money worries of recent years.
"It's not all been easy, there've been difficult times, but the key is to learn from mistakes, to be positive. There is good and bad in all parts of life - like my cookery school, it's on the flightpath to Luton airport. The good thing is people fly from round world to come here, from America, Dubai, Cyprus, Germany, Ireland - even Wales!"
With new book, Everyday Novelli, flying off the shelves, and TV work lined up including regular appearances on Ant & Dec Saturday Night Takeaway and The Richard and Judy Show, good times have definitely returned for Jean-Christophe.
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