We’re thrilled to introduce you to Ben Fogle, our newest Mindful Chef Ambassador. We were searching for an extraordinary individual who shares our values – and he was a natural fit!
Ben is an award-winning broadcaster and adventurer who has scaled Mount Everest, rowed the Atlantic, raced to the South Pole and crossed deserts in the Middle East.
He has great respect for the planet and in 2017 was appointed the UN’s Patron of the Wilderness, to highlight the pressure and impact on the earth’s wildest corners.
Despite being a self-proclaimed ‘lazy cook’, Ben is hugely conscious of fuelling his adventures with healthy food, and he’s passionate about the provenance of ingredients and supporting local producers – which is where Mindful Chef comes in. Read more about Ben’s approach to food and feeding his family below.
Why have you teamed up with Mindful Chef?
To me, provenance is essential. We all need to become more thoughtful consumers, and Mindful Chef makes this really easy. I get so much satisfaction knowing I’m eating the finest ingredients while supporting amazing local farmers. When it comes to cooking I have to admit I’m pretty lazy, but these boxes have fired up my inner chef – I also love the fact there’s so little wastage. What’s not to love? It’s honest, healthy feel-good food.
What do you do as a family to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle?
As a family we try to engage in every aspect of health and the food we consume is a really important part of that. We’re very aware of what we eat – and cooking is something special we can do together.
How do you get the kids involved?
We have two quite picky children, we don’t mind admitting! As a parent you try to lead by example, so if the children see us preparing and eating all sorts of different foods, we hope they’ll be more adventurous as a result. There’s so much more to the ritual of eating than simply eating, it’s connecting as a family. We try to make a celebration of the whole process, from cooking to laying the table and sitting down together, if it can all be enjoyable it’s a win-win for everyone.
In your latest book you talk about what we can learn from nature. What are your top tips for living well and living wild?
It’s simple – slow down, step back, reflect and have some perspective. Try to spend a couple of minutes every day absorbing nature, whether that’s in a park, your garden or the woods – wherever it is, it’ll give you a moment to exercise your mind and body. Routines like this help us keep on top of our wellbeing and our happiness.
What’s the toughest challenge you’ve overcome?
I’ve done quite a few big physical challenges over the years. Rowing across the Atlantic was the first really big challenge I ever did and probably tested me the most – 3,000 miles, 49 days, and we were consuming probably about 10,000 calories a day! From walking across Antarctica, to climbing Mount Everest, it wasn’t really about the taste of the food, it was just about the fuel to keep us going.
I’ve realised that food is the best carrot you can get. It’s a motivator, it’s something to look forward to. So actually I’ve been able to bling up my expedition food, whether that’s bringing some chilli peppers or some other condiments that can just spice it up a little bit. On Everest up at altitude your tastebuds get dulled, so you need to have things even more spicy – even anyone that’s flown will know that food tastes much duller than it does down at sea level. So food has been a huge motivating factor, and of course there’s the great excitement of finally coming home to beautifully home cooked food.
What new foods have you tried during lockdown?
We’ve tried a few different things during lockdown actually – we’ve tried to be a bit more creative and adventurous with vegetarian food too. Obviously, we haven’t been able to go out to restaurants, so we’ve used Mindful Chef to make home our restaurant.
Yet to try healthy eating made easy? Get £10 off your first two healthy recipe boxes by entering code BLOG20 at checkout. Mindful Chef healthy recipe boxes provide you with the tools to cook delicious nutritious meals, in under 30 minutes. Each box contains recipe instructions, pre-portioned ingredients and fresh produce sourced from small award-winning British farms.