Jul 20, 2020
This episode was recorded just before COVID lockdown, so is not referred to in the episode, but it's a great chat, so I wanted to finally get round to releasing it. Thanks.
By the time Tim Maddams had reached the end of his first year as a professional chef, working in a restaurant kitchen, he came to a crazy realisation: he had cooked more meals in those 12 months than most people prepare in an entire life time.
For a while, working hard with luminaries like Alastair Little and Marco Pierre White and appearing on TV with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, gave Tim a constant buzz. But after one family holiday, he realised that if he continued on that 70-hour-a-week path, he would find himself in a ‘destructive spiral of doom’.
That is why, in 2012, he turned himself into what he calls a ‘free-range foodie’, offering a variety of services which draw on his life-long love of foraging, game and field sports, as well as his considerable culinary experience.
I’m fascinated by the plethora of jobs and opportunities linked loosely under the ‘hospitality’ genre. I’ve employed hundreds of chefs over the last 17 years and seen many look for a career change, when the reality of working every weekend starts to have an impact on family life. So, when the opportunity to interview Tim cropped up, looking at just how diverse his income streams are, I was excited to find out more.
This edition gives you a snapshot of what it’s like to have a varied freelance career, from running a Chef’s Shed, created from old telegraph poles and palettes, to organising ethical, small-bag foodie shoot days and more. Incidentally, these small days are supporting a much bigger movement: helping to feed 600,000 people in the last 4 years, through Tim’s work with The Country Food Trust