Cook Yourself Thin? Not on my wedding day, says TV chef Gizzi
SHE is best known as the host of a television show called Cook Yourself Thin, and has cultivated a quirky reputation for cuttingedge cuisine.
But when i t comes to her wedding day, Dumfries-born chef Gizzi Erskine is planning to eat something a little more traditional – and the calories to go with it.
The 34-year-old former body piercer, now one of the coolest cooks on television, is to marry her fiancé Dean Martin (no, not that one) later this year.
Unsurprisingly, although timings and location for the wedding are still vague, the food has already been planned.
Miss Erskine said: ‘We don’t have a date or a venue yet, but a good friend will be cooking for our wedding. We’ll be having roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, then apple pie... very classic.’
One man who will be pleased with the menu choice is the groom. Illustrator Mr Martin said recently: ‘I grew up on meat and two veg British classics until university, when I migrated to brown food of varying hues cooked in the oven for 20 minutes.
‘Meeting Gizzi changed my eating habits for the better.’
Mr Martin added that there is one everyday dish on which they hold very different views.
He said: ‘Gizzi can’t stand baked beans, which I love – on jacket potatoes, with sausage and mash, a side with a fry-up and especially on thick-cut toast – but they’re really not her bag.’
As well as presenting Channel 4’s Cook Yourself Thin, Miss Erskine is also an author of the popular book with the same title.
She had a career as a body piercer before attending Leith’s School of Food and Wine in 2003, going on to win a placement at BBC Good Food magazine.
In January, Miss Erskine raised eyebrows when she appeared at a cookery book launch in an off-theshoulder dress which revealed angel wings tattooed on her back. She has previously admitted she has tattoos all over her body.
Her style, in and out of the kitchen, won her the Britain’s Sexiest Chef title in the annual Kitchen Crumpet Awards last year.
Six months ago, she admitted that she had been trying to lose weight after gaining half a stone, but at January’s book launch she was looking trim again.