It’s no secret in the culinary industry that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is obsessed with where food comes from. His dedication to ecologically sourced meat and fish has spawned a host of TV series and books wherein the Hampstead-born foodie investigates the people behind the ingredients.
That aside, however, there is one aspect of cooking that seems to ignite Fearnley- Whittingstall’s exacting passions more than any other – growing your own.
“My mum and dad and I were living in London until I was almost seven years old”, the 52-year-old reminisces. “My parents made a decision to move out of the city and go and live in the country. We moved to a little rented farmhouse in Gloucestershire and when we arrived, there was already a vegetable garden there. We moved in the summer and the vegetable garden was a little bit overgrown, but it had some stuff in it that was ready to eat.