Keith Floyd

When I was first discovering the joys of cooking in the 1980's, Keith Floyd was my idol, hero and guru. I loved his chaotic, over the top style on television, his flamboyant bow ties ( I took to sporting one myself on occasions) his shunning of any kind of apron in the kitchen, the way he permanently flaunted a large glass of wine. I devoured his books like Floyd on Fish and Floyd on Spain. Browsing through them again now, I realised that there are dishes there I still cook and influences that are still on my cooking, even though I've long forgotten the source. I felt immediately inspired to rush into the kitchen and start cooking, my taste buds going strong. And that doesnt usually happen before I've had my first cup of coffee.
Floyd was a million miles away from the starched and stiff approach which, and its hard to remember it now, was the norm among television cooks until he came along. He was, as all the obituaries have made clear, the first television celebrity chef. But he was more than just an amusing drunk -as people like Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley Whittingstall, both inheritors his style - have made clear, he was enormously influential on them and on in helping to create the wider acceptance of the importance of everyday good food and cooking. He made cooking fun and casual, he demystified recipes, he made it all seem to so easy. It was, of course, very sad to see his decline in recent years - the failed marriages and restaurants, the health problems - and he must have looked slightly enviously (although I suspect with a healthy amount of realism) on the easy fortunes being made by his successors. But such a lust for life, for tastes, for indulgence. You had to admire it. And it was at least good to know that he died in his own chair, as the Indy reported yesterday, after a very good lunch of cocktails, roast partridge and a nice bottle of Cotes Du Rhone. The story is here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/cocktails-and-a-slurp-or-two--keith-floyds-final-day-1787742.html
So, was it the drinking that did for him? Or the smoking? Or the inevitably rich diet? He wasn't really a salad and mineral water kind of guy. Probably a bit of everything really - he had bowel cancer, but died from a heart attack. If one thing doesn't get you, another will, I think.

These things have been much on my mind recently. I learnt of Floyds death on the radio of the taxi that was taking me to my appointment at the hospital for the ERCP procedure that was designed to end the agonising stomach cramps that have been dogging me since early July. Well, I had the procedure - a tube shoved down my throat and into my stomach, a 3mm snip of the bottom of my bile duct and what they call a 'ductal clearance' designed to remove a stray gall stone that had, doctors thought, been growing there since my gall bladder was removed in April, together with what they termed 'sludge.' The thing is, they didn't find anything, even though my consultant believed that a stone was almost certainly the cause. What the doctors who did the ERCP did say was that the 'snip' should be enough to relieve pressure on the bile duct and stop the cramps. Since they have been occurring at intervals of between 5 and 14 days - although the intervals did appear to be shortening - then only time will tell whether they are right. I've been fine since the ERCP - just some residual soreness from the procedure itself. And my last attack and longest attack of cramps was 11 days ago.

But - and here's the slight connection with Floyd - one thing that does intrigue me is the connection between diet and the gall bladder and subsequent problems. Did Floyds bowel cancer stem from his imaginative diet? At no time have any of my doctors suggested there was any diet connection with my propensity for growing gall stones - it just happens, mostly in women rather than men. Neither was I given any post-operative diet advice, so carried on eating and drinking as normal. I have a varied, but I hope relatively healthy diet and certainly dont want to give any of it up. Some gall bladder removal patients do find they have to de-fat their diets (and take drugs for life) to prevent seriously loose bowels after eating - a common side affect. Thankfully, that hasn't happened to me, although my fat content is quite low. I do think there was some correlation between my consumption of dairy and spicy (specifically Indian) foods and the earlier gall stone attacks and later cramps. Its an unproven theory - some of the attacks came after I'd eaten the blandest of foods, but most occurred on a more or less empty stomach. What this does suggest to me is that there are many things we still dont know about connections between diet and disease.
Although I tended to avoid spicy or dairy foods over the past few weeks, I'm not going to bother now. And, I can drink alcohol again. So, its now just a matter of waiting to see if I get another attack. And getting on with the cooking. Tonight, I think it will be one of Floyd's finest- hake and potatoes from Floyd on Spain. I wont be getting out the bow tie, but I will be raising a large glass of rose in memory of a flawed, but rather endearing man.