You met some pretty interesting characters while filming the show, did you have a favourite? That’s a tricky one, but probably my most favourite would be Ueli, the smoked salmon seller from the final episode. This is the guy who serenaded his salmon? Yes, he was a little bit quirky, a little bit off-centre but, what a character! He’s now a really good friend. He was a true artisan, an artist and cook. Will you now be singing to your food? Not yet, but he was explaining to me about how we use our eyes, our mouths, our palate, but what about when we offer food sound? When he explained that, I understood the philosophy behind it. It’s quite fascinating, him sitting there, loving this salmon and singing to it.
British food has suffered under a reputation of being a little bleak. I must admit, prior to travelling the UK, I probably thought the same thing. People would say, “As a foodie, why would you go to the UK?” People probably thought the same thing about Australia 10 or 15 years ago. And now? What’s happened in Australia and also the UK is migrants. Different cultures have made the food and the evolution of cuisine vibrant. So, today, food in the UK is incredible because of that multiculturalism. So the culinary history has affected the maturity of cuisine there? Absolutely. If you look at the influence India has had on British cuisine, it’s been there for so long that one of Britain’s national dishes is a curry. There’s a whole street in Manchester called Curry Mile. You catch a cab and say, “Can you take me to Curry Mile?” It’s not in the street directory, but everyone knows it.
Have your experiences in Britain influenced you as a chef? Oh my goodness, yes. Where do you go for inspiration as a chef? You go to Tokyo, Seoul, Lyon, but you need to go throughout the UK as well. Was there any specific experience that you’ll never forget? In England I went half-net fishing for salmon. It’s how they fished thousands of years ago – and they’re still doing it today! I felt like a grizzly bear, waiting for my prey, snapping it up as it swam upstream. Those are once-in-a-lifetime experiences. And you went deer hunting. I’m into ethical eating and cooking, so hunting properly is a major thing for me. In this region, the deer are in abundance, they are a pest and farmers have to cull them. In saying that, I didn’t want to hunt deer unless I was confident in my shooting skills. You chose not to take the risk in the end. If I could take one shot and the deer would drop instantly, there’d be no issues for me. But unfortunately, I wasn’t a very good shot, so I didn’t do it.
In France, everyone’s a foodie. I didn’t think the UK was like that, but people really know their food and, in particular, their produce. They’re passionate about what produce their region is known for.
You tried both haggis and deep-fried chocolate, which would you rather eat? Haggis! Haggis might sound a little ugly, but it actually tastes really good. It’s a local delicacy that’s been passed down from generation to generation and it just gets better. The locals love it. And they also love fried chocolate, as you discovered. Unfortunately, yes, there’s another delicacy that was introduced to this area, which is deep-fried Mars bars. Initially, I didn’t want to do it, but I eat everything else, like crickets and spiders, so I can’t just say, “No, I don’t want a deep-fried Mars bar.” It’s probably the last time I’ll do that. Aside from frying their chocolate, what was one of the culinary traditions that stood out for you in the UK? I loved all the cake baking and pastries. One of my favourite experiences was meeting the lardy cake lady and learning to make it. That’s a heart attack right there. However, it was really delicious, it didn’t taste that fatty. There really was a huge amount of lard in that cake. Back in history, they used lard to preserve the cake when there wasn’t a lot of refrigeration. Meeting people like her, who respect the history of food, you learn so much.
It seems as though the people are as important as the food you discover? It’s about finding those real people, that quirkiness. When we started with Vietnam, the goal was to show the real Vietnam and I think we achieved that. Everywhere I go from there is to show the real people. I didn’t go to London or Paris to meet Michelin-starred chefs and go to fine dining restaurants. That’s not showing the country off. For me, it’s meeting the people and spending time there.
For me, food is always about culture and history, every dish has a story, and every grower and farmer has a story. So that’s what we set out to discover.
Was it easier doing a show in an English-speaking country? Yeah, for sure. But the beauty about what I do is that food is a form of language. A language you’re quite well-versed in… When you’re in a kitchen surrounded by ingredients and a fellow cook, you don’t need to speak English or the local language, you communicate through the food. It might sound strange, but it’s true. I think I’ve proven on my shows that you can converse through cooking, which is such a beautiful language.
What’s up next for Luke Nguyen? I just flew back from Saigon, where I opened a cooking school called Grain. It’s one of my dreams – I’ve been trying to do it for the last 10 years. What brought this about? I’m very passionate about my food, cooking, and culture. As a visitor when you go to Vietnam and enjoy the food, I want you to be able to take it home and cook it. But it’s also for locals because, unfortunately, in Vietnam at the moment the younger generation doesn’t cook. That's not what you'd expect from such a food-driven culture. Food is so vital to our Vietnamese culture, I need to set up this school so we can keep it alive. Where are you finding all this energy to create cooking shows, open a school, write books and run a restaurant? For me it’s all about passion projects. I’m not out there to do a whole chain of restaurants. Do what you love and do it well. Do it with a bit of pride and enjoy it.
Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom starts Thursday 14 May 2015 at 8pm on SBS ONE and finishes 2 July 2015. Visit the Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom website to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes or find out more about the show.
