Walking on a Cornish beach on a wintery cold day, we caught up with champion of home grown and foraged foods and MasterChef Professionals finalist Sven-Hanson Britt. Chatting about food provenance and Swedish cuisine, we are very excited to see what will be next for the Hampshire born chef who created some stunning dishes in the competition.
Name:
Sven-Hanson Britt
DOB:
13/09/1988
Place of birth:
Winchester, Hampshire
Twitter:
@Svenhansonbritt
Fun fact:
I once captained a football team at Stamford Bridge…
When did you know you were going to be a chef? Was it something you’d always wanted?
I started working in a restaurant in Bishop’s Waltham when I was 14. I absolutely loved it, it took a while before I was promoted from chief griddle scourer but then it sort of grew from there.
On MasterChef you cooked with a lot of vegetables from your garden, is this an important part of cooking for you?
The most exciting part of cooking, for me, is when it reflects what is outside the window. Whether that is homegrown veg, some foraged seaweed or a really local ingredient. It seems to make more sense, if you cook what is available and local to you. I find that if you grow something from scratch, look after it, go outside and water it, pick it yourself and then eventually cook it- so much care has gone into the preparation of that one ingredient that it is inevitably going to be delicious. You end up respecting everything a lot more and in turn, you let it shine on a plate.
Cooking is just a tiny aspect of the large cycle of ‘food’, but it is given all of the glory. The most exciting bit for me is the growing!
Where did the interest in your allotment come from?
My grandad had a wonderful veg patch when I was really young, I will always remember going to pick the runner beans… I hated eating them though! My dad now has an amazing allotment!
If you could sum up everything you’ve learnt about cooking in a sentence what would that sentence be?
As much as I strive to learn, I will never know as much as I want to know.
When you were in the competition you were working at the Ritz; what’s changed since then?
I was working at the Ritz up until January this year, It is a fantastic institution and very traditional, an amazing place to learn, I had been there for 7 years and for me it came to a natural end. The journey that I wanted to be involved with and the food I wanted to cook wouldn’t have worked at the Ritz.
What is your culinary philosophy?
Simplicity is the most memorable thing to eat but the most complex thing to achieve.
You’ve just done some spring pop ups in Brighton, how did that go?
I’m currently half way through my 4 dinners in Brighton. So far they have gone really well! we have received some great feedback. Mainly due to the team I have with me! I’m planning to do a few in London too in June which are going to be amazing! Lots of surprises coming up…
Sounds exciting!
The menu looked amazing; a real celebration of spring. Is this seasonal cooking integral to your philosophy?
I always say food has to be relevant- relevant to the person eating it, relevant to the time of year, relevant to the place you are in. It doesn’t make sense to me to serve New Zealand Lamb, Kenyan Green Beans and Spanish Strawberries in February in the UK. So many places do this and that is something we need to get out of the habit of if we are to change the farming systems in place and leave a better legacy for future generations. Unfortunately very few people at the top of a very large pyramid have all the power.
You visited Sweden on a culinary trip earlier in the year, what lessons did you take from the cooks there?
I visited Stockholm and Faviken with a friend in February. I think I had the best meal of my life there. The attention to detail and the extreme dedication to the local environment and ingredients was awesome. Seeing how they prepared to make vegetables last year round, when in remote areas was revelatory. Lucky old Tom Swanny gets to go back! It is such a beautiful country with beautiful people!
What’s a day in your life like? Could you give us an insight what you’re up to these days?
At the moment every day is different! Which I’m not used to at all! If I have a dinner on, I will spend most of the day and the day before prepping. Going to suppliers and farmers and picking up the best ingredients, or stealing it from my dad’s allotment! I’m working with Miele on some projects too so a lot of planning has to go into that. As well as helping a few restaurants with their development. Never been this busy!
What have you got planned for the future?
Hopefully I will be back in a restaurant cooking in the near future. That’s about as much as I can say!
It’s customary for us to ask three ridiculous questions to give our readers something new:
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Probably fresh, seasonal vegetables cooked simply! (or Lasagne!!)
If you had to pick a music genre to represent your cooking, what would it be? What what your album be like?
A Rock-Blues-Folk vibe. Kings of Leon circa 2003. Something free flowing and not set to any strict guidelines! I have a love-hate relationship with recipes. That must be the same for a musician; they must just want to break out of the confines of their sheet music!
You’ve either got to cook a final meal for someone on death row or a Hollywood A Lister, which would you choose, and why?
Definitely the death row meal. Can’t be doing with all of those Hollywood fad diets!