When Keith Floyd burst on to the scene, what seems like an age ago, he transformed the way we think about food. Elizabeth David invented it, Egon Ronay pronounced on it, but Floyd turned it into fun. Posing as a sybarite, Floyd was anarchic, boozy and occasionally boorish, but never dull. (If you want to know what my father was like, Floyd was an uncanny clone, replete with culinery skills, real bow tie, bonhomie, a very nasty streak and a lifelong attachment to alcoholism, fags and women.)
He demonstrated that cooking was best done with a glass of wine in one hand and a naughty leer in the eye. There is no doubt he was the first celebrity chef and more or less fathered the genre (and probably some of the chefs).
Keith Floyd did not so much teach you how to cook (Delia did that). What Floyd did was to teach you how to enjoy cooking.
May he rest in peace, surrounded by ladies and good Burgundy.
4 comments:
An excellent post in tribute to a wonderful British character. I can remember watching his show in the 80's as a child and realising that cooking looked like fun and not just something mother's and gran's did. The great Chef's in the country loved him and they are people who know their onions. A good day for Floyd would involve wine, women and rugby and on that, I share his tastes. As well as being a player of the oval ball and a fan of the female of the species he's also inspired my love for the blessed grape juice and I shall be opening a bottle in his honour tonight. RIP
well written WW. Let's hope he gets all those virgins promised to those sad individuals who want to change our blessed country into Afghanistan!! Plus as much good wine as he can drink!
Wonderful stuff, WW.
That C4 documentary last night could not have been more poignant, in the light of this sad news. It was painful to watch, though.
He was a great man in many ways and I'll miss him.
I enjoyed the documentary on CH4 aswell. He still managed to be a bit OTT. Calling his producer a c***. First time I've heard that word on the telly ! Near choked on my wine.
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