Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (See his amazing 10 bird roast).

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was born in 1965 and is a British celebrity chef and television presenter, noted for his eccentricities.

He is a television chef with a reputation as that of someone who is prepared to try cooking everything and I mean everything!. He also has an unorthodox style of TV presentation. Initial exposure came in Cook on the Wild Side, an exploration of earthy cuisine. His habit of "picking up roadkill" earned him his nickname of Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall".

His series "TV Dinners", show cased an episode in which he notoriously flambéed and puréed a human placenta which was served as a pâté and "much enjoyed by the baby's family and friends".

He opened the River Cottage in Dorset. This became the setting for three Channel 4 series:

- Escape to River Cottage
- Return to River Cottage
- River Cottage Forever.

Showcased below is a "typical" Hugh dish, the "10 Bird Roast".

Fearnley-Whittingstall appeared on "The F-Word", advising Gordon Ramsay on the rearing of turkeys, pigs and lambs. All subsequently eaten in the last episodes of each of the three F-Word series.

He has presented the short series "River Cottage: Gone Fishing", where he examines the state of native british fish stocks. His fruitless search for wild scottish salmon show cases the crisis many of our fish species are in.

The chef has also written the best-selling cookery books The River Cottage Cookbook, The River Cottage Year and The River Cottage Meat Book. His latest book is The River Cottage Fish Book.

Hugh is a vocal supporter of the organic movement. "Beyond River Cottage" followed Fearnley-Whittingstall's progress as he sets up a new business, River Cottage H.Q.

His comprehensive book titled "The River Cottage Meat Book", which has been mentioned above, details his philosophy of organic husbandry whilst also covering many aspects of selecting, preparing and cooking meat.

Hugh's interest in modern methods of food production recently put the poultry industry and "broiler hens" under the spot light. They are reared for their meat in just 39days. This compares to Free Range Hens which live for 75+ days in more humane / natural surroundings. Hugh is trying to get people to realise where their food is actually coming from with his Chicken Out campaign - Chicken Out

"It's one thing to challenge individual consumers to give up intensively reared chicken but it's also an issue where anyone in the business of selling chicken has to take a stand... in some cases I know chefs, not naming names, at the very high-end sector who are not using free-range birds. Some of them are on the road to Michelin stars."

(Content paraphrased from Wikipedia)

Hugh is married with two sons.

To find out more about his life, books, series, and campaigns check out the the list below.