Yahoo News Ainsley Harriott shares the defining impact his parents had on his cooking career
The chef will soon appear in a new ITV series called Ainsley's Taste of Malta
Ainsley Harriott is an icon of the British culinary scene, with his upbeat, joyful personality resonating with viewers ever since his breakout in Ready Steady Cook and making him stand out from his competitors.
The chef —who is fronting a new ITV show called Ainsley’s Taste of Malta from 5 February— tells Yahoo UK how his childhood, and in particular his parents, had a defining influence on his cooking career. Harriott's smile and his joyful demeanour onscreen is what draws viewers to him, but to hear Harriott tell it his approach to cooking is his "dad and mum rolled into one".
Reflecting on how this came to be, Harriott shares: "I'm a kid that started growing up in the 60s, growing up in an area where people didn't necessarily have lots of money. [At] that time people were still talking about the war and having coupons and stuff like that, green shield stamps, and they were still collecting in a Christmas tub in order to save up.
"But then my dad, having got a scholarship, came over to Britain and suddenly realised going to college isn't gonna pay the bills and made a double act and soon was performing at the BBC with my uncle Vic — there's famous pictures of them then.
"To be honest with you it meant there was a little bit of money around and it meant that mum could just go to the shops and put stuff in her basket without thinking about it, unlike some of my school friends."Ainsley Harriott
"I'd go to their house and when it was tea time I was told I had to leave as they only had enough food for [them], that's the way it was. So I think that's the influence, Dad earning a little bit of money [and] mum therefore allowing us to express ourselves in the kitchen.
"We could use a couple of eggs, we could make a cake, we weren't wasting anything. If we wanted to experiment a little bit, chopping something up and doing something, we were allowed to do it. A lot of my friends [were told] 'get out the kitchen. You shouldn't be in here, there's hot stuff in here.'"
It was having this "freedom" to experiment and find himself as a chef that helped most, he went on: "There was a real sense of freedom, and I think that helped enormously, and it's no surprise that my sister ended up as a home economics teacher, perfectly relaxed in the kitchen, and there's me. My brother got married at 21 [and] every time we went to his house, his wife was Persian, and they'd be in the kitchen together.
"The main influences came from the the people, my mother in particular, who allowed us that freedom."Ainsley Harriott
"And when you have that freedom when you're young to cook it's like painting, it's like music. They just allow you to get onto the piano and you find a way of saying 'I wanna do this properly. I like that sound' and it's the same with food. It's just allowing yourself that freedom to experiment, to feel free, to know when a pan is hot or not so hot — very simple things."
Reflecting on what he's learned during his extensive career and how he's adapted what he took from his childhood and from working in the food business he adds, "You're confident enough that you know you can talk to people, make people relax when they're working with you or you're working with them and it comes across on screen. There's a happiness, there's a joy so I think I've learned that and not to worry."
It's this energy that he brings with him onto his shows, his newest of which sees him travel around Malta and explores its heritage, cuisine, and food business. Harriott explains that he picked the country because he felt it'd pose "an exciting challenge" for him at this point in his career.
"We had a choice," Harriott explains. "We talked about going down Florida [but] I didn't find the food very exciting down there, I'd go down there, America in general, [and] I have friends who live in Malta but I haven't been out there for 30 years.
"I did hear from them at Christmas, sometimes I'd have weddings and stuff like that there and it's always beautiful. It's part of the Med and I thought the cultural mix was so fantastic [as] it's next to North Africa and Sicily.
"The Spanish, the French, the Brits, everybody's made an impression there and left their identity there, and so it's a wonderful, heavy-set cultural mix that has very much reflected in the food."Ainsley Harriott
"I thought it would be more of an exciting challenge, and it was May and it was a little bit dull in Britain, so I thought 'great, let's have a bit of sunshine. Get the old factor 15 out!'"
Harriott, who has been in the entertainment business since the '90s, and the increase in shows focused on cooking like The Bear and Boiling Point are a good sign, he says, because it means people have a better understanding of the hard work that goes into it.
He says: "I think that they're great [shows], I think it just proves that people are genuinely interested and it's nice for people to see that it is hard work. It's 12-15 hours a day... you're under pressure and when that cheque comes in and you get that order it's about producing the food and it's not easy."
"I think they're damn close to mark," Harriott added, in reference to the BBC and FX shows. "Let's not forget these things are researched and researched and researched.
"I thought Boiling Point was good to a certain extent but it's [a lot]. I've worked in some high octane kitchens, but everyone thinks it's going to be a Gordon Ramsay affair —'What the f**** are you doing?' and he's such a good cook but I believe in order to get to that you don't have to swear all the time, you can be in control.
"Some people do it different ways, I think that you can do it in a very gentle way. My mum always used to say, 'if you're happy the food will be happy.'"Ainsley Harriott
"If you're happy cooking it because you're feeding your friends or your family, the food will be happy. It tastes good, it's kind of an energy thing. I've always liked that side of things."
Ainsley’s Taste of Malta premieres on ITV1 on Monday, 5 February.
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