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Of all the Christmas presents Rick Stein received as a child, there was one clear favourite. “One year, I was given a push-pedal car,” he says. “I was still tiny, and we were living in the Cotswolds. I don’t think they exist now. You sat in the car and pushed the two pedals, and went round and round the sitting room in it. I loved it.” Those were simpler times. Seven decades on, Stein’s hoping for a far less joyful but more practical gift this year — from Keir Starmer, rather than Santa. “A moratorium on VAT would be good,” he says, of the changes he’d like to see for the struggling hospitality industry. “80,000 jobs have been lost in hospitality this year. Things aren’t going well in our particular part of the industry. “I’m trying to be reasonable about it. I know stuff has to be paid for. What the government is trying to do, I guess, is to increase the tax situation by growth, but doing so by putting National Insurance up just stopped growth. If you’re faced with ever-increasing taxes, you’re going to cut back on labour wherever you can. You’re certainly not going to hire people unless you absolutely need to. “I appreciate that the country is not in a good state, but it seems to me a complete ‘home goal’ to target parts of the economy that are not well-equipped to deal with it. Hospitality is always taken as slightly second-rate way of the national wealth, but tourism and hospitality are so important.” How have his own restaurants fared? “It’s hard work — there’s no denying that,” says Stein. “We were dealt some difficult hands. The National Insurance increase in the last budget was really hard. It started with the war in Ukraine, and food prices have just continued to increase. It’s a tough business. It makes me quite irritated when people think that restaurant prices being on the high side now means restaurants are making loads of money. I just think ‘you try it, if you think it’s a way of printing money!’ — because it’s hard.” Stein famously got his start when he moved to Padstow in the early 1970s. There he went on to build an empire, which sprawls into London and even Australia, while his enduringly popular foodie-travel programmes for the BBC over the last three decades have seen him eating his way across the UK, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and beyond. Food telly famously has been turmoil this year. What are his thoughts on the Masterchef crisis, with hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode both losing their jobs after reports of misconduct, and of the two new hosts Anna Haugh and Grace Dent? He skilfully evades the question — perhaps after landing in a little hot water for previously saying he felt “a bit sorry” for Gregg Wallace. “I’m quite a fan of MasterChef,” he says now. “I think it’s sensible to have two female judges on it. I know Anna and Grace. Grace is a journalist and Anna is a cook, but both are very serious about what they do. They’ll bring a great deal of experience and humour, I’d imagine.” As for decades working in TV without complaints against his name, you could put that down to decency and professionalism. Or, as Stein puts it: “All I’m really interested in is the food. I’m a bit pathetic but the thing that really, really interests me is the cooking of food, so I don’t really get involved in any sort of… I’m not saying I don’t like the people I’m talking to, but if they’re interested in food, I’m interested in them, and that’s it.” One complaint that has been levelled against him, though, is that, in the 50 years since Stein set out his stall with The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, the town now synonymous with his name has changed considerably, some would argue to its detriment — that it’s become too popular, too touristy, too crowded, with locals no longer able to afford to live there, as house prices have been inflated by second homes and holiday houses. Does Stein feel he was part of that? “Of course, I’m part of it. But my response to that is that all I did was try to run a good restaurant. If people don’t want to come to Padstow, they won’t. It’s just somewhere that’s nice. People going on about ‘Padstein’ and that kind of thing, I’m past being pissed off about it, and I don’t think a lot of people in Padstow are bothered about all that anymore. Just look at it the other way: if Padstow wasn’t a very attractive place and there weren’t any places to eat, what would happen to Padstow? “I remember travelling a lot through France, filming, and looking at villages that had just packed up,” he adds. “In many places, the only thing that was keeping these beautiful villages going was British people taking up residence because they’re so beautiful. People say ‘What is going to happen to the locals?’ Well, locals also need something to do, which is tourism. It’s a problem, I understand it. I understand that property prices in somewhere like Padstow are too high for the locals, but without tourism, what would they do anyway? It’s a Catch-22 situation. There’s no answer to it, so you just do your best.” He’s not there all the time, he says. He and his wife and business partner Sarah, married since 2011 and currently divide their time between Cornwall, London and Australia. “Last year [for Christmas] I was in Padstow, so this year I’ll be in Sydney, as Sas is Australian,” he explains. “My two stepchildren Olivia and Jack will be there, Sas’ brother and one of her sisters, and her mother. There’ll be about 12 of us altogether.” Stein will be cooking. But Christmas meals are different in Oz. “In the UK, one person tends to cook Christmas lunch or dinner, whereas in Australia you all share it. “In Sas’s family there will be a roast turkey, roast beef and a ham at Christmas, and everyone brings an accompanying vegetable, and there will be salads as well. Christmas is a big deal.” Stein’s Christmas memories, experiences and, most importantly, his appetising recipes at home and abroad are poured into his new cookbook Rick Stein’s Christmas, from festive game and poultry to mince pies and yule logs, with plenty of seafood, vegetarian options, desserts, cocktails and gifts… it’s comprehensive. Stein drew on Asian, Mexican and other influences from his global travels to complete it. It’s been a busy year for the chef: the book, the preparations for a festive Countdown To Christmas! UK tour, the three months filming in New South Wales for a new series (Rick Stein’s Australia, set to air on the BBC in 2026). “It sounds absurd the amount of stuff going on,” he admits. Working regularly in the English capital, too, he “doesn’t eat out as much as he should. But it’s nice to have a bolthole in London because so much happens here. It’s lovely to meet up with other chefs and eat out in this great city.” London’s restaurant scene is in fine shape, he believes, though he tends towards old favourites. “I still love going to The Wolseley. I love what Jeremy King’s done at The Arlington. My favourite is a little Italian in Barnes, called Riva. It does really good Italian food, lovely specials. The same guy, Andrea Riva, runs it, and it hasn’t changed over 30, 40, maybe 50 years. That’s quite a feat.” Have any new venues particularly impressed him? “I went to Angela Hartnett’s new Café Murano in Marylebone the other night. I really like her food. She’s half-Italian, which gives her an authenticity. Her food is simply good Italian cooking.” Aged 78 and about to launch his new seafood-focused restaurant this December at the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach in New South Wales, Stein’s still working hard. No retirement plans on the horizon, then? ““Slowing down” is what I would say,” he laughs. More than anything, he’s hoping 2026 will be less challenging for those working in the UK’s restaurant industry. “We’re still here and we love it,” he says. “My sons, Jack and Charlie, really love it, too. But I wouldn’t advise people to go into the restaurant business if they didn’t know what they’re letting themselves in for. It would be an absolute shock to them about how much of your life you have to put into it.” Rick Stein’s Christmas: Recipes, Memories & Stories For The Festive Season is published November 6 by BBC Books (£28). His UK tour Rick Stein’s Countdown to Christmas! runs from November 24 to December 8. rickstein.com and @chefrickstein
