William Head on “the satisfaction when it all goes right and your bread is crunchy and delicious, your salt beef tastes fucking wild and the shoulder you’ve had in the smoker for 18hrs is possibly the best thing ever.” And teaching his young son Kobe to enjoy food as much as he does…
Over the past few days, we’ve heard beautiful tales of fatherhood, nature and eating off the land. Here, William Head – co-founder of catering company Beautiful and the Feast – talks about the importance of local produce…
The joy of exploration
Living in Cornwall has taught me that our food system is a reflection of our culture. This is of course relevant to everyone on the planet. What has been a fun ride for supermarkets selling produce from the far reaches of the planet has to stop.
It’s damaging to more than just the environment, it leaves generations of people out of touch with their food chain and in many cases has made cooking a mere task.
I think what’s most important is the fun you have whilst making everything from scratch. The amount of failures I’ve had trying to make everything by hand is huge. But the satisfaction when it all goes right and your bread is crunchy and delicious, your salt beef tastes fucking wild and the shoulder you’ve had in the smoker for 18hrs is possibly the best thing ever.
It’s all worth it. I want Kobe to grow learning these skills, as if they were as important as reading and writing. Because for us, they are. Our job and morals require us to constantly be seeking out knew methods, ingredients and producers.
Kobe is along for the ride: tasting everything, meeting everyone and learning as we learn.
Beautiful and the Feast do events – like banquets and weddings – supplying beautiful, delicious grub.