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Liam's Ethos

Liam takes fine dining to new levels with a range of experimental, traditional and modernist techniques to create theatre and present the perfection of his ingredients. Liam’s cooking is an expression of passion, flair and enthusiasm for food as an art form through unique and elaborate tasting menus. Reviews of his cooking have been featured in the Sunday Times and the Financial Times.

He has developed his own Modernist plant-based British cuisine from which he presents innovative, exciting and creative tasting menus. Finding passion from an array of fruits, vegetables and herbs that he either forages or grows. Liam and his partner Sarah have a 1/2 acre plot of land which they grow the produce for the events at.

Over the past 15 years Liam has worked alongside some of the most awarded and talented chefs in modern cuisine: celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal at the 3 Michelin star restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’; celebrity chef Simon Rogan at the now 3 Michelin star restaurant ‘L’enclume’ and Andrew Dargue at the acclaimed vegetarian restaurant ‘Vanilla Black’ in London.

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An interview with Liam

Tell us about the concept of Edible Storytelling?

“ I’m trying to create a new type of cuisine if you like. Food and storytelling should always be entwined. Throughout human history the relationship between food and the story of where the food has come from has been integral to our survival as a species. Which mushrooms are edible? Where did they come from? Was there an angry boar to avoid? How did they escape? We learnt about how and what we could eat from stories told around a fire. I think nowadays that too often chefs focus and obsess over the best ingredients, whereas the proof in the pudding really lies in the food with the best stories. Throughout the seasons the themes to my stories change and a whole new menu is written. These revolve around different stories which may be influenced by literature, popular culture or even just my own personal experiences.

To name a couple: A Trip to the Seaside, An Edible Ode to Roald Dahl, The Perfect Date, An Enchanted Walk, Great British Animation, Edible Histories and The Feast of St Nicholas.”

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Where did your love of food come from?

“ When I was growing up, my mum loved following recipes and was a fantastic cook. However, even from a young age whenever I cooked with her I mischievously always wanted to change the ingredients. I wanted to treat it as if it was some kind of mad science experiment. What flavours worked together? What new textures could I create? Why couldn’t this be savoury not sweet? I found inspiration from literature and the world of fictional books. Made up ingredients caused my imagination to go wild. I loved finding a book where you could taste the flavours coming right off the pages.”

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What is your favourite dish to make?

“ I love playing with fermentation at the moment. I think there’s some really exciting techniques to be explored especially with lactobacillus and penicillin. I’ve recently been growing roqueforti on cornflakes for a dish revolving around childhood memories.

My favourite thing to eat at the moment is actually born from a mistake... I love making brownies, especially ones that are really thick, gooey, rich and indulgent. I’ve actually created a recipe inspired by Roald Dahl’s Matilda: Bruce Bogtrotter’s Bisto Brownies. You can try it out at home!”

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"I believe true creativity can only be found at the edge of insanity. "


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What was it like working with Heston Blumenthal and Simon Rogan?


“ Working with Heston was awe inspiring, he was a very creative character. When we worked on dishes together, he had a unique ability to question everything, this is in fact is Heston’s motto. He even has it printed on the walls of the kitchen. At The Fat Duck I worked in depth on the science of flavour and theatre. We delved deeply in to the world of molecular gastronomy.

Simon has been a big influence on how I craft my dishes, and my time there really opened my eyes to how fantastic it is to be so in touch with the farming of your own ingredients. Choosing exactly how and when to harvest your produce for the best flavours it can bring to the dish.”

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What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a plant-based chef?

“Go work for the best restaurants you can even if they’re not vegan. We need to start taking skills and techniques from the non-vegan world and bring them into vegan restaurants. The future for young passionate vegan chefs is to push boundaries in vegan food. As much as I love it, there must be more to plant-based cuisine than a bean burger or a nut roast and we have to look elsewhere for inspiration.”


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