Shooting the Cook

Forewrod by Rick Stein.

As the producer behind the phenomenally successful Keith Floyd and Rick Stein BBC cookery programmes‚ David Pritchard tells the tale of the ascent of the chef celebre. With £2‚000 in the budget‚ a game young Keith Floyd determined to make a name for himself‚ a rather sea-sick film crew‚ a crate of fine wine and a boat adrift in the ocean ready to purloin the catch of the day‚ one fateful day in 1984 a cookery star was waiting to be born.

Twenty five years ago‚ no one could have foreseen the incredible popularity commanded by food programmes on television today. Now we have a whole army of chefs representing virtually every single personality trait from sexy to aggressive‚ to young and experimental. But back then‚ when Floyd was found‚ he was the only one - the chef to start it all. Charismatic‚ with a slight erratic edge‚ always happy to have a slurp of wine or two‚ and not afraid to say exactly what he thought on air‚ Floyd was a revelation‚ a chef that television had not seen the like of before.

SHOOTING THE COOK divulges the stories of what went on behind the scenes to the groundbreaking television that inspired the event of modern television chefs as we understand them today. David Pritchard shares the overwhelming excitement that went into making the early Floyd series - from sitting down to a silver service dinner aboard a tiny fishing trawler heading out of the Plymouth Sound‚ to attempting abortive hot-air balloon adventures over Alsace.

Tangled up amid the tales of the bust-ups‚ the botched camera shots and the exquisite regional food are reminisces also about the David's life growing up in ration-starved‚ post-war Britain. Also containing snapshots of life behind the scenes of Sixties television making and spanning the era from when avocados were virtually unheard of to a time where the term 'foodie' has gaining an almost cult-like status‚ this is an outstanding memoir from the producer who single-handedly changed the face of food as we know it today.