Heston Blumenthal ‘driven’ to succeed by hard-to-please parents
CELEBRITY CHEF Heston Blumenthal has admitted that praise from his parents was hardwon despite his glittering career.
The Fat Duck proprietor said that the first time his father told him he loved him was just before he died in 2011, and that his mother was reluctant to congratulate him on his successes in cooking.
According to the Daily Mail, experimental chef Blumenthal said: “My dad only told me he loved me on his deathbed.
“I said, ‘I love you’, and he said, ‘love you too’.
“It was only when I heard him say it that I thought, ‘That’s the first time you’ve ever said it.’”
Talking about his fourth published recipe book, 2008’s The Fat Duck Cookbook, Blumenthal admitted that his mother did not share his excitement at its release. The chef said: “When The Fat
Duck Cookbook came out – it took me six years to do that book and I was so proud of it – she said to me, ‘That’s not a book.’
“It [the hurt] got right in there so I had to fight.
“That was the drive – ‘I’m going to do better than anyone else.’”
He continued: “Last year we were at lunch and I said, ‘Cheers, Mum.’
“She turned around and looked at me and said, ‘I’m really proud of you.’
“At first I laughed because I was so shocked. I went, ‘You’ve never said that out loud,’ and we hugged.”