![]() ![]() 10 Heston Blumenthal, who launched his product line with Waitrose in 2010, holds more Michelin stars than any English chef, six, for The Fat Duck and Hind’s Head in Bray, and Dinner in Knightsbridge. 9 The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, awarded Protected Geographical Indication status in 2008, has been made in the Leicestershire town for 170 years and is worth £50 million to the area’s economy. 8 Nyetimber’s Sussexmade Classic Cuvée 2003 beat French Champagne houses, including Bollinger and Louis Roederer, to become Champion of Worldwide Sparkling Wines in the Bollicine del Mondo in 2010. 7 Credited as the world’s rst TV chef, Fulham-born Philip Harben made his small-screen debut on 12 June 1946 in a 10-minute BBC show simply titled Cookery. ![]() Wilderness, Grace & Savour and Carters of Moseley all made the top 20. 6 Birmingham has been crowned the nation’s most exciting food destination by The Good Food Guide 2022, beating London. Penned by ‘the master cooks of King Richard II’, it includes recipes for whale, curlew and porpoise. 5 The oldest known cookbook in the English language, published circa 1390, is The Forme of Cury. Named Rosso, after United’s red strip, it’s acclaimed for classic pasta dishes and its signature lobster. 4 Former England footballer Rio Ferdinand owns an Italian restaurant in Manchester. In a UK Fisheries survey, 83% of people said it has the best claim to be the UK’s national dish. 3 Fish and chips has been an English staple since Victorian times and escaped rationing in the Second World War. The title sold 1,873,709 copies between publication in 2010 and 8 January this year, according to data by Nielsen. 2 Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals is o cially the bestselling UK cookbook of the 21st century. With a 20-course tasting menu, it’s located in a former 13th-century smithy. ‘Each day became a conveyor belt of pre-trip double and triple checking, andmy wife saw an opportunity to put her cunning plan intomotion’ 1 Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in the Lake District is the rst English restaurant north of London to win a third Michelin star. Nihal’s book Let’s Talk: How to Have Better Conversations (Trapeze) is out now. He’s now a boisterous, e ervescent, mischievous part of our lives, and I havemy wonderful, caring, deceitful, amazing wife to thank for that. And rather than eking out a perilous existence on a Romanian rubbish tip (where he was found), he’ll have a better Christmas than I will – the spoilt so-and-so. Wagging his tail alongside Lyra wasWilson, a scru y little terrier-dachshund-rottweiler mash-up named after the dog in the brilliant sitcom Friday Night Dinner. Awaitingme onmy return was a wife, two children and two dogs. I laboured under themisapprehension that this was a pipe dreamof hers, but it was quite the opposite. For months, my wife had suggested we add to our family with a Romanian rescue dog. But I wasn’t aware that back in England things were about to change. I missedmy wife, our two children and our Sta ordshire bull terrier, Lyra, while in Japan. She played the long game, secretly contacting people abroad and putting the logistics together over months. We have been together for nearly 20 years and I askmyself why I didn’t read the warning signs that this was no idle chit-chat, but an idea that was going to become a reality regardless of my protestations. When she brought the subject up, I would laugh it o as an impulsive idea that would dissipate into the ether as quickly as it had arrived. Looking back, she had been dropping hints for months, but I had ignored them, focusing instead on one of the biggest adventures of my career. As each day became an almost full-time conveyor belt of pre-trip double and triple checking, my wife saw a window of opportunity to put her cunning plan intomotion. I felt overwhelmed with the amount of bureaucracy involved to prepare for entering a country that prides itself on e ciency and thoroughness. For weeks mymind was solely onmy trip – PCR tests, apps to download, GPS signals to activate and formupon form to complete just to board the plane. While I was in Japan reporting fromempty stadia on various sports, my wife was in England plotting behindmy back. Japanese taxpayers had paid out billions of dollars to prepare for a sporting spectacle that, sadly, none of them could attend due to Covid regulations. 7 24 NOVEMBER 2022 Last summer, I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo for a surreal Olympic Games. ![]()
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