THE BIG ISSUE The Big Issue - 11 January 2016

FOCUS WorldMags.net WEEK IN GEEK JEKYLL & HYDE IS KILLED OFF. WHO’S FOR DOCTOR WHO? A FILM FOR DOWNTON ITV has pulled the plug on Jekyll & Hyde after just one series. The big-budget drama was marred by complaints that it was too gory to be shown pre-watershed. Michael Bay will direct Transformers 5. He helmed the previous four ﬁlms, and says this is his last before he moves on (he’s promised that twice before, though!). Ultra HD Blu-rays – the latest attempt to get you to update your ﬁlm collection – launches this year. Titles for the higher deﬁnition format will include Mad Max: Fury Road and The LEGO Movie. Downton Abbey may have left our tellies but its exec producer, Gareth Neame, has said discussions continue about a ﬁlm. Don’t expect news on it this year, mind. Doctor Who exec producer Steven Moffat has said he’s “actively engaged” in the search for his successor. But he’ll still oversee the next series at the very least, which may also be Peter Capaldi’s last as the Doctor. denofgeek.com John Torode MasterChef’s food wizard from Oz says don’t knock a pot noodle A s our waistlines recover from festive feasting, spare a thought for John Torode. It must feel like Christmas every day being a judge on MasterChef. “In the last two days I’ve eaten quite a quantity of food,” he groans. “My stomach would be like some kind of geological dig. If you did a cross-section after every series of MasterChef, you’d be able to work out where all the food came from.” Before ﬁlming started on the latest series of the proliﬁc cookery show, Torode was travelling all over Malaysia, scoing the best food the country has to ofer. “To understand any country’s food, I think you’ve got to understand the culture,” he says. “Great food is born out of that culture, especially celebrations and ceremony. I was fascinated by the tri-cultural society in Malaysia – these three extraordinary diferent cultures and religions from India, China and Malaysia that coexist quite peacefully and harmoniously. y “They have n’t really merged into each othe r. You’ve got a Chinese mark et trader selling next to an Indi ian market trader selling n next to a Malaysian ma rket trader. I think that’s im mportant. So many countrie es have become homogenised and they don’t have any ident tity – but Malaysia does .” Perhaps th e secret of diferent cultu ures and religions coex isting harmoniously y is the power of food to connect and bring b people togeth er. But increasing gly big supermark ket chains, including Tesco, are moving in. Does that threaten to change the country’s food culture? “Evolution and revolution is always inevitable and I don’t think you can stop that clock from ticking,” Torode says. “But the street markets have got everything. They’re clean, they’re beautiful and the food is amazing… so why would you want to go to a supermarket? It’s a nice way of making sure your food is always fresh. Very few people there think the way we do, that you store food for a very long period of time. As far as Malaysians are concerned, you go and buy the food, you cook it, then you serve it. Plus, “I’m the bloke who told you guys how good your beef was – you’ve got the best beef in the whole world but nobody screams about it” THE BIG ISSUE / p35 / January 11-17 2016 WorldMags.net each vendor will cook only one thing. Because they specialise and they look after each other, they’re not trying to be big conglomerates, they’re just trying to survive.” Closer to home, our increasingly multicultural society has impacted on our diet. “We have embraced world culture,” Torode says. “We all eat pasta. A staple these days is a chorizo sausage or soy sauce or cumin or coriander because people are cooking Indian or Asian or whatever it might be. “We’re also inﬂuenced by fast food. Pizza restaurants and burger restaurants have had a huge impact. I know people laugh about pot noodles but a posh pot noodle is a bloody good thing.” Eating in Britain has never been better, and Torode believes this is thanks, in part, to shows like MasterChef (and himself ) raising the proﬁle of good cooking. “I’m the bloke who told you guys how good your beef was. I opened a beef restaurant 15 years ago before anybody was talking about cuts of meat. I had a meat list like a wine list. You’ve got the best beef in the wh ole world, you’ve got the be est asparagus in the whole e world, the best raspberri es in the whole world, the e best smoked n the whole world – salmon in dy screams about it. but nobod “I thin k the British have always be een quite ashamed ood but over the last of their fo des, because of two decad n like MasterChef, or television or Delia, Jamie or Nigella N people ar en’t ashamed any nally the British are more. Fin being a bi t more conﬁdent about wh o they are and what they are.” John Toro ode’s Malaysian Adventur e is new and exclusive to Good Fo od, weeknights at 8pm. Intervi ew: Steven MacKenzie @stev venmackenzie

THE BIG ISSUE The Big Issue - 11 January 2016 | Page 35