Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards Content Creator of the Year

 

What inspired you to combine comedy and cooking?

“I was busy doing both things separately – stand-up gigs in the evenings and cooking all day, and loving both equally. I just thought I really ought to try doing the two at the same time. I’ve also always enjoyed people who combine music and comedy, like Bill Bailey, where you can laugh at the humour and be impressed by the skill too, so thought that would work with cooking in the same way. I can fillet a fish and tell a joke at the same time, and I think that makes for good viewing.”

Are you still cooking with unconventional appliances?

“On stage, yes. In real life, well yes too, to an extent. I have a hot air gun in my kitchen which I use for warming things up or melting a bit of cheese or lardo (a hot air gun being much less fierce than a blow torch, although I have one of those in the kitchen too, of course). The wallpaper stripper is kept just for the stage show though!”

Who is your culinary role model?

“My dad. He did pretty much all of the cooking when I was growing up. He was experimental and creative and loved food so much. Sadly he died just as I started making my Snack Hacker videos and getting some notoriety for my work with food. It wasn’t until I started writing my book that I realised quite how influential he’d been in the food I was creating.”

What are you working on at the moment?

“I’m still stuck into promoting my book – The Snack Hacker Rule-Breaking Recipes for Cooks and Non-Cooks – which means I’m doing a variety of things from live cooking demos and appearances at events and festivals, to making content on my social media to constantly remind people about it. I do a spot on the Craig Charles Show, BBC Radio 6 Music, every week (on Wednesdays!) so I have to come up with a new idea for that each week. And in addition to that, I’m still touring my live comedy-with-cooking show – off to The Netherlands, Belgium and… Wales (love Wales) with that next year. So always busy juggling different hats.”

 

Follow George on Instagram: @georgeeegg