PubChef Live - Vickery's views
Background:
Kent-born Phil trained in the Lake District before working at Gravetye Manor near East Grinstead, West Sussex, and Restaurant 74 in Canterbury, Kent. He then moved to the Castle Hotel in Taunton,Somerset, where he became head chef and won a Michelin star and four AA rosettes.
He appears regularly on Ready Steady Cook and has written a number of books, including Proof of the Pudding.
On British produce:
"My love of great British produce started at the Castle Hotel, where I had local producers bringing in fantastic strawberries, asparagus, potatoes, fish from Brixham and West Country cheeses. I remember causing uproar when I chucked out the French cheeseboard and brought in English cheeses."
On Michelin-star food:
"What I got fed up with was the formality of cooking Michelin-star food and the rigid lines you have to follow to do anything. You have to cook to a formulaic way, you have to follow all these guidelines. I wanted to be free from that."
On pub food:
"What worries me is this huge void. You've got the guys who do egg and chips and pub grub and then you get the gastro pubs. There's nothing in between. I want to give people great food in a nice pub atmosphere."
On PubChef Live:
"It's nice to get young chefs in here, teach them and give them information. Not in a dictatorial way, but by letting them taste things and talk about it.
It's a good day out for a chef and it's priced right - look what they get for a tenner."
