Gill Meller is a unique kind of chef, the sort who steps aside to let the produce speak for itself. Rather than trying to create the next most fabulous thing out of the same old ingredients, he celebrates the fact that the year rolls round, bringing the same treasured treats and gluts. His food and photographs take you to a place where you remember how it is to eat the first asparagus of spring, knowing that the frosts are behind you and trees coming into leaf. He takes you outside to eat with your fingers, cooking something over a casually assembled fire, cheeks rosy from the heat.
Gill has taught for many years at River Cottage in Devon, cookery schools around the UK and cooked at pop up events around the world. He has contributed to a host of books by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and written River Cottage handbooks, but his award winning solo books are the ones to really treasure and you can find links to them below. We recorded this conversation over zoom, with Gill in his garden office, during the third UK lockdown earlier this year. If it doesn’t make you want to get outside and build a fire then nothing will!
Gill’s solo books: Gather, Time and Root Stem Leaf Flower
Photo Credit: Kim Lightbody
