Tony Cowell
TV chef Tonia Buxton – or the ‘Greek Nigella’ as she is affectionately known – has hosted TV shows My Greek Kitchen and My Cypriot Kitchen, and is now a global ambassador for Greek food. The married mother-offour is deliciously outspoken, too, when it comes to talking about why we’re still eating far too much junk food in Britain. Can you tell us why you wrote your latest cook book, The Secret Of Spice? Yes! Variety is the spice of life and I believe using spices in your food can improve every aspect of your physical and mental health. We all get tired, stressed, busy and struggle trying to shift that stubborn half a stone or to fall asleep... So, what if simply adding spices to your meals could help? What if I told you that fennel and nutmeg can settle your hormones? That aniseed can help you sleep better? Or rosemary could help you look younger? That’s what I do in my book. It’s not in an effort to make people live longer lives, it’s just to help them live healthier ones.
Where does your love of cooking come from – your Greek roots?
My mum will hate me for saying this, but I didn’t really love cooking when I was young! My parents were immigrants and they both worked all hours. I was older than my two brothers and had to come home from school and make food for them. So, as an 11-year-old, it wasn’t my idea of fun. It wasn’t till I went to university that I started cooking, and it made me very popular, because my friends would all come to my house to get ‘real’ food!
So why is Greek food so good for us, then?
Well, the food we eat in the UK now is so much better than when we were known for kebab shops! Nowadays, it is well known that the Greek diet is good for us – it’s varied, very healthy and I’m pretty sure it helps you live longer.
You look amazing, but was turning 50 last year daunting?
Haha! I just couldn’t get my head around the number. I remember my mother and my grandmother at 50, and they appeared like old ladies. I don’t want to be like that, so I think I just rebelled against it – I went a little bit mad! My husband would say to me, ‘ Would you like to stay in tonight, darling?’– and I would say, ‘No, no, I want to go out.’ Turning 50 made me think, ‘I’m going to embrace this and just enjoy it.’
Last year, you famously said on Good Morning Britain that parents shouldn’t feed kids cake – and that ‘sugar has the same effect on the brain as cocaine’!
Well, I still think it’s true! When they did tests on the brain and looked at what they call the pleasure principle of sugar, it hits the same area of the brain – people crave it. When I talk about sugar, I do mean white, refined sugar. Of course, when that story came out in the media, it got a bit distorted.
You were arguing specifically against supermarket cakes?
Yes, exactly. Anything you cook at home with sugar is never as bad as the cakes you would buy from a supermarket. I’d say, just take time to read the ingredients – think about what you’re putting into your – or your kid’s – body. That’s certainly what I try and teach my children.
You have two daughters and two sons – was it tough getting them to eat healthy, fresh food?
I was quite strict with them when they were young. But when my fourth child arrived, he was extremely difficult. He did this great party trick where if I forced him to eat the food I had cooked, he would puke it up there and then. It did make me change the way I cooked for him. He was a challenge.
You are quite outspoken about our eating habits – are us Brits still eating too much processed food?
I’m afraid so, yes. I don’t mean to be rude, but a lot of British women don’t want to cook from scratch. I do work a lot from home, so I’m able to ensure that most days I cook homemade meals. But if you want to eat well, you do have to devote some time and effort to it. All I hear from working women is, ‘Oh, by the time I get home, I’m so tired I don’t want to cook.’ But it’s worth finding the time if you can.
What do you make of the new vegan food fad?
Well, personally, I’m probably eating 80 per cent vegan now and I feel better for it. We are all still eating too much meat, and obesity figures are still far too high. The meat and chickens in supermarkets have been disgustingly reared, too.
You look incredible. Any health and fitness secrets you’d like to impart?
Yes – consistency! Nobody wants to hear that, but it’s true. I have to do some exercise every day – even if it’s moving for just 10 minutes. I do love to walk, and you just need something every day that gets your heart pumping. Tonia Buxton’s new book
The Secret Of Spice (Bonnier) is out now
‘Living a long, healthy and fulfilled life is pretty much top of everyone’s wish list. A healthy diet, mixing food and spices, can make all the difference and leave you brimming with energy’