Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: I’m conflicted about my Eton education

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has said he is conflicted about the existence of “extraordinarily elite” private schools and his Eton education.

The broadcaster and food writer does not regret going to public school, but said he finds it “dysfunctional” that boys educated there go on to run the country. His contemporaries at Eton included David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

“I’m still quite confused and conflicted by the whole private boarding school system which I experienced 10 years of. I was incredibly well-taught, had some amazing friends that are still with me, but I do think there’s quite a dysfunctional thing going on with a small section of our society being educated in this extraordinarily elite way and then going on to hold so much sway,” he told BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions.

He continued: “It’s an extraordinary experience and I’m not going to deny it. It’s probably one of the reasons I’m sitting here now. I felt compelled to do something with the extraordinary opportunities that that’s presented me with.

“And so I don’t resent it and I don’t regret it. There wouldn’t be much point. It is, of course, entirely formative and a big part of who I am.”

Asked for his food memories at Eton, the 59-year-old River Cottage founder said: “A lot of toast. One thing that was quite a striking feature of Eton life was tea. You had this gap in between your afternoon lessons where you went back to your house and had tea, and that’s where the toast came in.

“There were various ways of making it more interesting. I managed to gather a little condiment cupboard so would spice up my cheese on toast into a proper Welsh rarebit with a little bit of Worcestershire sauce or Colman’s mustard.”

Fearnley-Whittingstall went on to Oxford, where his passion for food writing began.

He said: “I wrote for the ISIS magazine at Oxford – not very often but I did get a little food column which again was about how to customise student food to make it a little bit more interesting.

“You’d crack open a tin of baked beans and pimp them with various other condiments.

“I’ve always enjoyed writing. I’ve been very lucky to have a break and get to do some stuff on the telly as well but I always come back to writing and I enjoy it very much.”