My First Venture on TV

That's Anthony Worall Thompson and yes the other person is me.


Hi everyone !!! I was off on a short holiday but I am back now and boy am I ready to blog. Blog about something amazing. OK OK I admit I have not kept you all updated about what's been happening these last couple of months ,but believe me I had a tough time holding back all the fantastic news I could share with all my foodie bloggo-buddies. Well I think the time has come to reveal all that has happened .

In the month of February you might have read a post on my blog about a recipe entry I sent to UKTV Food for the People's Cookbook. Well if you did'nt then take a look here.
What happened after that is that my recipe of Sweet Semolina with a touch of Saffron was selected by UKTV FOOD.
I first got a mail from them a month later saying so. When I called their office I was asked if I was ready for a day and a half of shooting. The half day shoot was at home and the next shoot would be at the studios for one whole day. I said yes of course and the ball was set rolling.

On the 3rd of April two guys (a cameraman and a director) from Denham Productions came to my place and we had a prelimnary shoot which consisted of partly cooking the dish and a 10 min interview in which they asked me questions about the dish and about myself. I was also asked to perform a pooja which they shot and then make an offering of the sweet dish as Prashad. Besides family members I could also invite a couple of friends to eat the dish. Well the whole thing took about 3 and a half hrs but it was great fun.

After that we were asked to come to the studios on the 9th of May. The location of the shoot was actually a cookery school called "Lucy Cooks" in a very small village called Stavely in the Lake District. Now the Lake District is one of the most scenic places in UK ,so we took the opportunity and turned our trip into a small holiday .

The actual shoot was a 6 hr long affair. There were two celebrity chefs: Anthony Worall Thompson and Paul Rankin. Anthony cooked my dish with me sitting at the counter and chatting with him and Paul Rankin cooked the other participant's recipe. Both dishes were tasted by a panel of judges and one was selected to go into the People's Cookbook (which is a online multi-cultural cookbook they are creating). The downside is that my recipe did not make it into the People's Cookbook but the experience is one that I will always cherish .The number of people involved and the hard work put in, in shooting a 60 min episode is amazing.

For me it still feels unreal. I never thought I would be on UKTV Food which is one of my most frequently watched channels.

Thanks to all of them for giving me this chance.