Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall really, really wants us to eat more vegetables
The 52-year-old chef and TV personality, who lives in East Devon, has made a career out of committing to seasonal, ethically produced food, and is best known for hosting Channel 4 series River Cottage, which documents his efforts to become a self-reliant farmer in rural England.
His TV ventures have led to huge campaigns aimed at reducing food waste and changing EU fishing policies, and also the publication of several cookbooks, including his hugely successful first vegetarian cookbook, River Cottage Veg Every Day back in 2011, which set out to make plants more appealing.
Cook from scratch to keeps costs down
"If you've got no interest in cooking and you want to eat, as many people do these days, essentially by choosing ready-to-eat food - whether it's ready meals in the shop or takeaways, or combinations thereof, and nothing is cooked from fresh - then yeah, it's quite hard," says Hugh, considering the costs involved with rising food prices and relying on packaged meals.
"But if you're prepared to cook from scratch then fresh fruit and veg - in their raw form - are not especially expensive. And if you're prepared to spend a little time in the kitchen, just chop up a load of vegetables and pop them in the oven with a little bit of salt and pepper and some spices, if you've got them, that is a very easy win."
