After a brain tumour halted his career, John Lawson, a chef who has worked with the likes of Raymond Blanc and Gordon Ramsay, now puts health at the heart of his food. Louise Wates found out how he mixes nutrition with high-end cuisine, and how he got Blanc on board for charity.
Drinking coffee in a corner of the little restaurant (Lawson has one coffee a day and has waited for me to arrive to have it) I ask if he has a big kitchen, imagining what it might be like to work with someone like Blanc. “No,” he laughs. “Things will get quite spicy!”
As we sit and chat, Lawson apologises when he has to occasionally get up to receive a parcel or delivery of local produce. “I’ve always loved that whole idea, after working for Raymond Blanc, of using produce that is grown as close as possible. It is so important for the environment,” he says.
Once or twice a local pops their head through the door to call out “Hello chef!”.
“People are friendly here,” he smiles.
It is hard to imagine that Lawson was soill, and so recently. He looks fit and well, and his eyes sparkle with enthusiasm when he talks. Later when I ask him what he thinks when he looks in the mirror, he says:
“I see that I’m the healthiest that I’ve ever been!”
Twice a month he consults a nutritionist who has been working with him on his diet. His tumour could come back at any time, so these days he is on a ketogenic diet (typically high-fat, medium-protein, low-carbohydrate) which is used to treat epilepsy in children and has been investigated as a means to improve outcomes in patients with brain tumours.
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