In Conversation with Rick Stein and Brian Turner
Pembroke was pleased to welcome distinguished chefs Rick Stein and Brian Turner to deliver the 2018 Cooks' Company Lecture. The lecture took the form of a conversation between Brian Turner and Rick Stein, chaired by Peter Messent (1967), and touched on routes into cooking, changes to the industry in recent years, and the importance of education when it comes to food.
Both speakers began by describing their very different journeys into the industry; Brian Turner trained at Simpson’s in the Strand, the Savoy, and Claridges, whilst Rick Stein described running the nightclub that gave him his first taste of what it was like to go bust, something which has contributed to his success with business since. What they both had in common was a genuine passion for food and cooking.
Brian spoke strongly about the value of apprenticeships and education for young people. He argued that you can only really learn by learning in the kitchen with a Master. If you teach young people who are enthusiastic and want to work because they enjoy it, the rest will follow. Rick followed this by arguing that there’s a problem with young chefs not knowing how to eat – it’s now a privilege to share food over family meals, and to eat out in restaurants. Diet, he said, is important to who you are, and we should be putting more resources into encouraging people, especially young people, to eat better. Later in the discussion it became clear that this is not a simple issue. Fresh, healthy food and the time to cook it and eat together are inaccessible luxuries for many people, a problem beyond the remit of this lecture but certainly connected to it.
Brian also emphasised the broader role of food. He argued for buying local and seasonal food, and improving relationships with farmers. Chefs have a duty to maintain the cultural legacy and sustainability of UK farmland, echoing Rick’s belief that gastronomy is about food and culture. He continually returned to the importance of education as a tool for teaching people to eat better, to waste less, and become the chefs and restaurateurs of the future.
At the beginning of the lecture Rick argued that we should take food seriously. By the end of the discussion it was clear why: that food has roots in our behaviour, identities, and cultures, and that food education is something we as a society should be very interested in indeed.
The Worshipful Company of Cooks of London is the smallest of the livery companies. One of the few organisations Pembroke hosts who can claim to be even older than the College, it traces its origins back to the 12th century founded from two guilds of cooks in medieval London - the Cooks of Eastcheap and the Cooks of Bread Street. Today the Company's present membership continues to include craft tradesmen, and it engages actively with a broad range of organisations and charities associated with cooking.
