TV chef Matt’s mixed emotions as live show launches during crisis

Matt teams up with journalist and author Jack Monroe for new series Daily Kitchen Live, at a time when the catering sector has taken a huge hit because of the coronavirus crisis. The 46-year-old chef, who took over from James Martin on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen, said: “Yes, it is a fantastic thing for me to do and I’m really lucky and it’s the sort of thing in ordinary times that I would shout about from the rooftops.

“It’s a tricky one to measure because I’m really excited at the thought of doing a live daily TV show. If someone had told me a couple of years ago, then I wouldn’t have believed them. So, of course, I am happy, but I think to be all over social media smashing it around would be insensitive.

“At the moment, you have to tread carefully.

“There are waiters I know who were earning a good wage and now they’re out on their ear and penniless, so for me to turn around and say I’m down in the dumps [about the virus] won’t resonate as there’s always someone worse off.”

Matt and Jack, author of Tin Can Cook, will respond to lockdown challenges facing viewers, such as cooking on a budget, and will provide insights into how to make a little go a long way.

The host chef added: “It’s going to be a great show and it will be a bit of light relief in what is such a dull and worrying time.

“Hopefully, a couple of us messing around on live telly and having a bit of a laugh is going to be a bit of a relief rather than an irritant.

“But people can phone up and ask questions and so we can react to that. I think it’s one of those things where we’re going to have to roll with the punches, as it were.

“I do love liveTV and the immediacy of it, although it is terrifying.”

Matt has previously appeared on cookery shows Food Unwrapped and Market Kitchen.

His big break came after James Martin shocked viewers by announcing that he was quitting Saturday Kitchen in 2016 after 10 years.

Fans of the show championed Matt to take over.

In between presenting duties, Matt can be found with his wife of more than 20 years, Lisa, and his two teenage children at their home near the Brecon Beacons in southWales.

Prior to his TV career taking off, Matt and Lisa worked together running The Foxhunter Inn in nearby Abergavenny.

Daily Kitchen Live starts tomorrow on BBC One at 10am

Source: Read Full Article