MARK HIX
“When I was young it most certainly wasn’t glamorous and my friends wondered what I was doing with my life”
As an authority on British cuisine, how do you do to stay on top of the new cooking trends? I don’t. I tend to stay simple and not really follow trends as these tend to be short lived. Successful restaurants in your portfolio… what keeps you motivated? The minute you stop being motivated or interested in this business is time to throw the keys away. What I do is so diverse, I cross paths with so many people, be it chefs, artists, producers, wine-makers, craft distillers, there’s not a moment to get bored or complacent.
PHOTO © MATT AUSTIN
In the past years how has cuisine changed around the world? It’s constantly changing everywhere as good ingredients become more readily available and trends change and influence what’s going on in the cooking world. This is the joy of cooking and being a chef, things are constantly evolving. Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, your advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time? When I was young it most certainly wasn’t glamorous and my friends wondered what I was doing with my life. These days with TV and celebrity chefs it is most certainly seen to be a glamorous business to go into but sadly some young chefs skip the old fashioned training so aren’t as knowledgeable about some of the classic and crucial cooking and preparation skills. There are many many hours of hard graft, and that isn’t seen as much in the public eye.
156 - WG October 2018
KITCHEN LIBRARY PHOTO © JASON LOWE