Meet the Judges

Former Masterchef host and famous food lover, Loyd, is excited about being involved with Food Glorious Food, not least because the show is about real people and real food!

“Food Glorious Food involves the public very widely which is important. People are entering because they love food, not because they want to be celebrities or professionals. These are genuine amateurs who love their food and want to share it. That’s very attractive. We have a lot of programmes on TV with guys in white jackets shouting at members of the public. But on this programme, it’s not about chefs. It’s about the love of food.”

Loyd’s a self-confessed foodie and says childhood experiences first sparked his interest: “I just loved food. I was very lucky: I travelled a lot as a kid; my parents were interested in food and restaurants so I was exposed to a lot of good food. I grew up in New England where there were both farms and fishing so I saw all the fabulous produce firsthand. I always remember how exciting it would be to go down to the harbour in the morning and see the fishermen unloading their catch.”

Loyd explains that, as well as tasting fabulous food, he is interested in the history behind contestants’ dishes: “One of the things that makes travel interesting is eating stuff you don’t get at home and understanding how that reflects history. I think Food Glorious Food highlights that. Food is about our culture, our family history and ourselves as individuals. We’ve seen a lot of recipes people have brought in with photographs of their grandmothers, and that’s terrific. It’s about more than what is on the plate. Every single dish has a story behind it.”

For Loyd, filming Food Glorious Food has reminded him that even the simplest dish can taste wonderful: “We shouldn’t settle for second or third rate food. When we were filming in the South West, we ate incredible pasties. The Cornish pasty has become a generic thing you can buy in every petrol station in the country, people forget that the pasty has its history and it can be so delicious. Rediscovering the things we think of as ordinary is a good thing. Whether it’s a fried egg or a Cornish pasty, it can be brilliant if people put some care and attention into it.”

But, for Loyd, telling contestants their dishes aren’t up to standard proves tricky – especially where children are involved: “It’s always hard judging younger ones. You want to cut young people a lot of slack and encourage them. On talent shows, you can’t let a six-year-old tap dancer win if they’re not that good at it. Children must be encouraged but you have to judge them with the standards with which you judge everyone else, otherwise it isn’t fair.”

And Loyd also confesses to causing offence with a few honest comments about the dishes he has tasted. He says: “People have an emotional investment with their food. You never tell someone their dog is ugly, do you? You might think it, but you don’t say it. It’s hard telling someone their favourite family dish is not exciting.”

Food writer, author and columnist for the Mail on Sunday’s Live magazine, Tom is no stranger to giving his opinion on food and he was incredibly keen to become a Food Glorious Food judge.

“What I love about Food Glorious Food is that it’s not like other TV shows with really skilled people doing really posh food. It’s more like the Antiques Roadshow of food. It’s much more English and eccentric. This is about home cooking and it doesn’t matter if I’m tasting a curry, a lasagne or a shepherd’s pie – all I’m looking for is the very, very best. It could be cooked by a 90-year-old granny or a six-year-old child – as long as it tastes good, that’s all I care about.”

Rather than eating food made by accomplished cooks, Tom has been keen to meet people who have their own specialty dish: “I like the idea that everyone has one dish they do really well. This could be the show for someone who does great roast potatoes.”

Tom is a champion of using home grown food and local produce and reveals he’s like to see a nod to British cuisine in the winning meal:

“I’d prefer to see people cook with British ingredients. This isn’t a rarefied programme where you have to use organic; you use the best ingredients you can afford. This is about real food and the real pleasure it delivers.”

Tom admits to having a long love affair with food but says he took a bit longer to get hands-on in the kitchen himself: “I was quite late to cooking. I’ve always eaten, being a greedy pig. My mum’s a good cook and my dad was a farmer but I didn’t really get into cooking myself until after university. I certainly wasn’t at my mother’s apron strings when I was growing up – I was far too lazy.”

However, Tom, who’s a father of two, now prefers to while away his weekends in the kitchen: “Cooking is very relaxing. There’s nothing better than spending Saturday afternoon cooking with a glass of wine and Planet Rock on the radio. For everything else, I have to rush around so cooking is a pleasure.”

Tom’s enjoying the novelty of being on the Food Glorious Food judging panel. “I like that we’re not celebrities: I grew up hearing Loyd talk about food; Stacie is an encyclopedia of baking; Anne truly knows her stuff – they could have hired celeb chefs but the four of us each have our areas: this is what we do. I’ve been judging traditional dishes like chicken pie; fish pie and I’ve just tried a cawl and awarded some remarkable faggots a rosette. The quality of cooking has been mind-blowing.”

When it comes to his role as a judge, Tom clearly knows what he wants from a dish but admits that offering feedback to would-be cooks is a challenge: “It’s difficult being nasty. The contestants might say to me “what do you know?” And that’s fair enough, but I do know when something is under seasoned, burnt or undercooked. Sometimes it’s a matter of taste. I did expect some things to be awful but that hasn’t happened!”

Food Glorious Food’s baking expert knows what she wants from the show’s winner and Stacie, who opened The Beehive Bakery in Sunderland after reaching Masterchef’s semi finals in 2010, has boldly remarked that she won’t be happy if a cupcake baker is crowned champ.

“Cupcakes are over. Everyone makes them. In our first week of the competition I had at least six sets of cupcakes to taste. There’s no way a cupcake will win a prize like this. 50 million cupcakes are sold every year. You can buy them in a corner shop. As far as I’m concerned, cupcakes won’t win this competition and I’m not going to embarrass myself in front of the other judges by putting them through.”

Instead, Stacie is looking for someone who’s tweaked a recipe to deliver the perfect dish – and she’s one hard woman to impress: “I want to find something unique but what I’m really hoping for is something traditional with a twist. I want something original yet amazing. I’ve just tasted a ginger cake – which you can get anywhere – but this one had a crumble topping and a compote to compliment it. The man who baked it had thought about the flavours: he knew it was going to be fiery and it needed something moist to balance it. That’s what cooking is about, balancing things. Why would you bring a normal ginger cake, when you could bring one with a something extra?”

For Stacie, a family connection will also win points: “I like to see people cooking recipes that have been handed down through generations because that’s how I learnt to cook.”

Stacie’s grandmother is responsible for her passion for baking, and cooking stems from her childhood: “My mum can’t boil an egg so my nana taught me how to cook. Every Saturday without fail our mam went to bingo, our dad went to the pub, our grandad sat in the front room and watched the horse racing and my nine cousins and I were in the kitchen with our nana. It’s a great memory and, now, all my cousins cook as well as I do.”

Though she likes a family tradition, Stacie won’t be impressed unless a competitor has put their own spin on a dish: “I also like to see innovation: taking something you’ve been taught how to do and making it better. Just because something was done one way many years ago, it doesn’t mean it has to be done that way now. If that were the case, we’d still be walking around like cavemen. There has to be progression. My nana used to make scones with lard and water, because that’s all she could afford. It doesn’t mean they were the best scones in the world.”

Following her stint on Masterchef, Stacie started her own business and she hopes whoever is victorious on Food Glorious Food will be able to follow their ambitions too: “I hope whoever wins will let this change their life. I’d like to think anyone serious enough about cooking to enter Food Glorious Food is prepared to change career like I did. I was a PA before Masterchef. I loved being a PA and I thought that was my career, then I entered Masterchef and everything changed. It took me 26 years to realise my dream and now I want to help other people.”

Straight talking Stacie doesn’t believe in not being honest with contestants and wants to help them to improve: “I try to give constructive criticism – you have to tell someone if what they’re doing is wrong. No one sugar-coated it for me: I got kicked off Masterchef and it didn’t make me run away and cry.”

Anne’s day job as Vice Chairwoman of the Women’s Institute sees her judging homemade food all over the country and she’d like to see the same very high standards from Food Glorious Food contestants: “I do a lot of judging at county shows, W.I. shows and village shows. I actually taught cookery so I know what’s right and wrong, that’s what I’m doing here.”

So what is Anne looking for in a winning dish? The experienced judge wants to see proper, thorough cooking and dishes made to a high standard: “The main thing about judging food is that it tastes good. I consider appearance and how it’s made too: I want to see good home cooking and I like to see people cooking from scratch and not relying on packets. I give people credit for producing their own pastry. If we’re looking for perfection then we want everything made from scratch.”

For Anne, sticking to traditional recipes is important and she would like to see a traditional dish end up on the shelves of Marks & Spencer: “I’m very keen on traditional foods. I love roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and a champion Yorkshire maker has already impressed me in this competition. I’m hoping he’ll let me have his recipe! We’re a multicultural country but I think we should be looking for good, traditional food. Whatever wins has got to impress all the judges. We’re looking for something extra special.”

Anne’s foodie beginnings came from her farming background: “My parents were farmers and my father was killed in the Second World War. My mother didn’t go out to work: she and my grandmother always cooked. In those days, you didn’t go out to buy anything. I was always keen to have a go at cooking myself, I suppose I absorbed their knowledge and I’ve always been used to home cooked food. Later, I went to boarding school and excelled at what they called domestic science. That led me to teaching.’

Despite her busy schedule of W.I. business that sees Anne travel all over the country, she still likes to bake and cook as much as possible and has some very strict views on baking: “Buying biscuits is such a waste of money: with a bit of flour and sugar, you can make something very quickly. I’m not at home every day but I do still cook for my husband and son and I keep my freezer full. You know what they say: a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and, in the case of my husband, if he isn’t fed, he gets bad tempered!”

However, even Anne confesses to having some help when she’s pushed for time: “I do however keep some ready-made meals in the freezer – but I’d only ever trust Marks & Spencer.”