"What to eat Now"

Valentine Warner gets a write-up on this blog as a Dorset born chef. Even though he is now based in London his love of seasonal and local ingredients was clearly formed from his upbringing on the family farm in Dorset.

I cannot help but be impressed by anyone who can make their catchphrase "yum!". You always want to try the food there and then.

What I like best about his programme "What to eat now" is his infectious enthusiasm. He scoffs food in with a relish one would associate with Billy Bunter (if you can remember that far back!). You can imagine him in his youth scrumping fruit from trees and being chased off by the local farmer. At his heart he is still a mischievous schoolboy and that is his charm.


All this is backed-up by a passion and clear skill for local, British and world cuisines. You feel he has a confidence in mixing and matching his ingredients and I cant help being caught up in his sense of excitement and even "danger" in combining ingredients you may not have thought of previously.

He is being touted as a new Jamie Oliver and I can see why, as Jamie way back when as the "Naked Chef", brought a new enthusiasm to eating that had been somewhat lacking in food programmes up to that point.

Jamie is now fairly mainstream and depending on how successful he gets I am sure Valentine will go that way too, so I am enjoying his enthusiasm while it lasts.

You can catch-up with some clips from his latest series on the BBC website where you can also read his bio or buy his books on Amazon.