Veggie_Magazine_July_2017

ÒMy first memory of
cooking is making Jammy
Dodgers with my nanÓ
Presenter and author Fearne Cotton talks
to editor Holly Treacy about motherhood,
mealtimes and meditation...
There aren't many days
at the office when you
can expect a phone call
from one of Britain's
most-loved presenters, but today
is one of them: I'm about to
discuss all things family, food
and feeling good with the
effervescent Fearne Cotton and
in 20 minutes I learned two
things; a) Fearne's famous wit,
charisma and charm certainly
didn't disappoint, and b) she's
refreshingly down to earth and
oh-so inspiring.
The rock 'n' roll wife (to Jesse
Wood) and mother of two (to Rex
and Honey) now boasts three
books to her author status, with
another two on the way and
there's no sign of her slowing
down, so how does she stay on
top of her busy schedule and
juggle family life? “I've changed
my life quite a lot in the past five
years; I left radio and had a bit of
a career shift,” Cotton tells me. “I
spend most of my time writing
now (I'm currently writing a
follow up to Happy) and I'm able
to do that from home." But if
you pictured Fearne locked away
in a swanky home office while
someone else looks after the kids,
you'd be sorely mistaken: “My
son goes to nursery in the
mornings, in which time my
daughter will have a nap, so I
have a bit of time there, but I
tend to write a lot in the
evenings, between about
7-midnight, because I know I
have a chunk of time when no
one will disturb me at all,” she
says. “I don't have the luxury of
escaping to a cottage in Cornwall
for a month to submerge into
another world, I have to make it
work at home – that's kind of
good for me, as it gives me a
discipline and I have to do it in
a certain amount of time; my
deadlines get nearer and nearer
and the time starts to dwindle,
so I just have to get on with it
in those allotted moments. It's
usually when I'm out of the house
when I have to juggle things a bit,
so if I'm doing some TV work, or
I'm presenting on Radio 2 at the
moment, so my husband and I
chat through the logistics to
decide who is where and when,
which sounds boring to talk
about, but we have to be really
militant about it. My husband has
two other children as well, so we
try and make it work as much as
we can. I obviously still get a bit
of mum-guilt and I'm constantly
wondering if I'm doing things
well enough – it's nothing
different to any other working
mum out there: you beat yourself
up and all that jazz, but that's just
part of being a mum, really.”
Known for her effortlessly cool
style, her engaging nature and
infectious laugh, Fearne talks
about enjoying the simple
pleasures in life: from reading
a good book to painting and
drawing. So, has she always been
creative in the kitchen as well as
outside of it? “I've always baked
and I'm quite confident in
experimenting with flavours –
a lot of people say they are good
at cooking, but are not too sure
about baking, but I've always
been the other way around. My
interest in cooking came much
later, probably in my late 20s
when my lifestyle had changed
and I'd started a family. And,
because I'm an all-or-nothing
kind of person, I then started
researching everything I could on
what types of food would make
me feel good; how can I get the
most energy, what's going to give
me glowing skin, make me feel
vibrant and happy? That then
became my mission to start
cooking as much as I could and
working out new, fun things to
do. I then started having people
over for breakfast, lunch and
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