Raymond Blanc: My Life in 5 Dishes

06/09/21 • 35 min

The Food Chain

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Inside the mind of a kitchen gadget

Meet the unsung heroes of your kitchen drawers.

When you hold a vegetable peeler or potato masher, do you ever think about the person behind it?

We celebrate chefs and cookbook writers - but what about the people who make the tools that make it all easier?

Emily Thomas meets three product designers who explain the thinking behind the everyday objects we keep in our kitchens. We’ll hear about accessibility and segregation - but also art and beauty. Welcome to the philosophy of kitchen gadgets.

Contributors: Dan Formosa, Scott Jarvie, and Gavin Reay.

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Raymond Blanc: My life in five dishes

The celebrated French chef Raymond Blanc tells Emily Thomas about his life through five dishes.

From a childhood roaming magical forests in Eastern France, to the rather less enticing restaurant scene of 1970s England, Raymond describes how with little grasp of the language and no formal training, he quickly became one of the UK’s best known chefs. His restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, has been thriving for almost 40 years and during that time he has added a string of cookbooks, TV shows and brasseries to his name. Raymond explains how he balances being a gastronome and perfectionist with running a large business.

But we also hear another side to the exuberant chef. The past year has been perhaps one the most difficult of Raymond’s life - closing his restaurants, the isolation of lockdown, the death of his mother and being hospitalised with coronavirus for a month. He tells us why he thinks it will make him a better man.