TV chef Keith Floyd celebrated at humanist funeral

Keith Floyd, the original celebrity TV chef, was today mourned and celebrated at a humanist funeral in Bristol.
 
The 65-year-old died at his partner's home in Dorset on 14 September after suffering a heart attack, just weeks after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, in June.
 
His funeral was held at Ashton Court Mansion, in Bristol, the city where he started his career in the restaurant business and was discovered by the BBC
 
Floyd was cremated in a banana leaf coffin - a humorous tribute to his love of cooking with leaves.
 
David Pritchard, the BBC TV producer who discovered Floyd 27 years ago in Bristol at Floyd's Bistro, paid tribute to the chef.
 
“Before he came along, most cooking programmes were sensible but ... the thing people loved was his clear enjoyment of the cooking process. This is a sad day for me,” he said.
 
Floyd married four times, and leaves a son from his first marriage and a daughter from his second.
 
Upon learning of Floyd’s death earlier this month, Marco Pierre White told Caterersearch that a “little piece of Britain had died”.
 
“Keith was one of the best loved and most influential chefs in Britain and no one could express themselves on television as articulately as he could,” he added.

Speaking during the panel session at the Caterer and Hotelkeeper Chef Conference on Monday, Shaun Hill, chef at the Walnut Tree, Abergavenny, said: “I was on his second series. I’d been at Gidleigh Park [in Chagford, Devon] for three weeks and he wasn’t what anybody would have expected. He had a couple of large scotches at 8am and as the day wore on I got more drunk as well. He was all good news - he was exciting and interesting – and there’s always room for that.”

Fellow panellists John Williams, executive chef of London’s Ritz, added: “I think Keith Floyd was superb first and foremost. It wasn’t about his cooking alone, it was his personality and the enjoyment he had. He had a way of bringing everything to life.”

When asked if Floyd could actually cook, Hill responded: “He did cook me breakfast once. He wasn’t a superb craftsman, but he had a love of cooking and eating and he was a tremendous enthusiast - all that was very genuine.”
 

Industry figures pay tribute to Keith Floyd >>
 
Read more on Keith Floyd here >>
 
Keith Floyd named most decadent foodie by Olive magazine >>
 
Keith Floyd divorced by fourth wife >>

 
By Daniel Thomas

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