Jean-Christophe Novelli: I love Liverpool, it’s got a big place in my heart

May 13 2008 by Debra Greenhouse, Liverpool Daily Post

Debra Greenhouse talks to one of Britain’s top chefs about love, life, food and football

LIVERPOOL can lay claim to enticing “the world’s sexiest chef” Jean-Christophe Novelli away from France to live in Britain.

And now the culinary heart-throb is set to say a big thank you to his favourite city.

He’ll be cooking up a mouth-watering treat to help launch the first North West Home and Garden Show, staged at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, next month.

But exactly what will be on the menu as Jean-Christophe demonstrates his famed prowess in the kitchen remains a mystery.

“I can’t tell you,” he says with typical French panache. “I can’t tell you because I’ve not decided yet. Cooking is creativity, expression, it depends how I feel, I never decide until the last moment. If I did I’d be a robot. This way it’s alive.”

He says in the real world people don’t plan meals so far in advance.

“Do you know what you’re having for lunch next Sunday? No, neither do I, so why plan what to cook weeks ahead?”

It depends, too, on what’s in season, the weather, ingredients available, what’s looking good at the veg market. Jean-Christophe wants to source as much as he can from Merseyside and North Wales. He’s passionate about celebrating the wealth of British home-grown food and is a loyal supporter of the nation’s diverse regional produce, patronising food artisans like the Anglesey sea salt company, Halen Môn.

He can’t wait to re-visit Liverpool in its year as European Capital of Culture: “I love the city, I’ve been many times, it’s got a big place in my heart.” He has many friends here, is a big fan of fellow chef Paul Heathcote who has a restaurant in the city centre and is great friends with TV presenter and Wirral West parliamentary candidate Esther McVey.

“She’s been really good to me, a big support, especially in difficult years. She’s a good, good friend.”

It’s because of Liverpool that he came to Britain, he says: Liverpool, football, music and Kevin Keegan.

“I wanted to meet Kevin Keegan from when I was a teenager in France, he’s my hero, full of energy, so quick, graceful, he never gives up.”

His dream came true when Keegan visited a restaurant where Jean-Christophe was working not long after arriving in Britain.

“He was polite, gracious. We had to cook for him, all French chefs in the kitchen and he was our idol. I was so excited I couldn’t see properly. Chopping onions, I chopped my finger, blood everywhere.”

Fortunately the mishap did not hinder career success. Having arrived in Britain in 1983, Jean-Christophe, now 47, went on to establish himself as one of Europe’s culinary stars, not just via TV fame, but where it counts, earning the respect of fellow professionals – he has accumulated four Michelin Stars.

He’s also accumulated an army of female fans, was once proclaimed the world’s sexiest chef by the New York Times and voted one of the top 50 most beautiful men by Sky viewers.

He learned his cooking skills from his mother, who he also credits with passing on the creative gene. Now 76, she suffered polio as a child.

“It was bad then, hard for her. But she’s a survivor, quiet, determined. Cooking was a means of communication with her, a way to express emotions. And family meals were important, the time for catching up. Whether we were laughing, rowing, whatever, it was a time for being together over good food.”