My recipe for health? Forget all about faddy eating, says chef Gizzi
SHE is the Scots celebrity chef best known for presenting the TV show Cook Yourself Thin.
But Gizzi Erskine yesterday questioned the growing band of people who claim to have intolerances or allergies to wheat or dairy.
The 36-year-old, from Dumfries, found fame on the Channel 4 show and has a series of books under her belt, including the forthcoming Season’s Eatings, which is inspired by her love of Christmas.
In an interview in a Sunday newspaper, she blanched at
‘Naturopaths don’t have a clue’
being called ‘the new Nigella’ and spoke about those who say they are intolerant to major food groups.
‘I want to take handfuls of these people and just be like, “What are your symptoms?” It’s self-diagnosis, or they’ve gone to naturopaths – people who don’t have a clue and are being paid a lot of money to tell you what you want to hear.
‘Are these people healthier? I bet you they’re not. I don’t want to say I’d bet my life on it because I’ll probably fall over and have a heart attack, but I’m certain that healthiness comes from a varied diet, moderation and a little bit of exercise, and having a nice time.
‘Happy people tend to live longer. And if you’re cutting out food groups I don’t imagine that you are as happy as you could be.’
Miss Erskine, whose beehive and kitten-flick eyeliner have become her trademark, runs pop-up outlets and street food markets in East London, but has yet to own her own restaurant, although she said she was considering the move.
Classically trained in the kitchen, she left school at 15 and came top of her class at Leith’s School Of Food And Wine in London a few years later.
Referring to the attention given to health gurus and their doctrines, she said that if she tweets on the subject, she gets hassled by ‘people who believe they’re dairy intolerant, or who have some kind of gluten problem’.
Miss Erskine added: ‘Unfortunately, it seems in this country we go to such extremities. It would be great if moderation was the key.
‘Since I was a child, as far as diets were concerned, it was the grapefruit diet, it was the cabbage soup diet, nobody really had the balance.
‘We’re very much a nation of pork chop, potatoes, veg.
‘It should be two new potatoes, the pork chop could go for two people, good oils and tons of veg.
‘The most balanced diet was probably the [low] GI diet, which is pretty much what I follow.’
Her approach is detailed on her social media accounts, which are filled with pictures of fillet steak, burgers, pasta, churros with chocolate and ‘proper old school chocolate fudge cake with milk choc mousse filling’.
She said: ‘Listen, I have the best life. I can’t knock it.
‘Some days I’m cooking, some days I’m developing, some days I’m doing telly, some days I’m writing. It’s great.’