Good Morning Britain host Sean Fletcher is on a mission to educate you on where your food comes from. The 48-year-old journalist and presenter chats to WalesOnline from his home in London following the release of new BBC Wales series, Food Fest Wales.
The five episode series, which is currently available in its entirety on BBC iPlayer, has been described as a "treat for food fanatics" and focuses on the local produce that our great country has to offer. Having watched the first episode himself, Sean said that he found it both "educational and informative".
He said: “[Local produce] is good for you, so it’s a real chance to change your shopping and eating habits. Not only is it good for your health but also, your budget. The other thing is that you feel very proud to be Welsh after watching this programme.” Elaborating, Sean recalled how he’d felt after attending Abergavenny Food Festival last year. “There was something about that where I thought, ‘Blimey, this is big and a real event', and that's something to be really proud of."
Read more: All the pubs, bars, and restaurants Cardiff has lost since the start of the pandemic
Sean, who is married to a Welsh television producer/director, added: “Having filmed this, four or five months ago, I’ve actually changed certain things in my life. I do some mail orders for certain Welsh products. It’s difficult to get because I live in London but I have made an attempt to change how I shop."
On how the series has impacted him, he said: “There’s lots of things that I have learnt whilst filming this series. Partly that there is a really thriving food produce scene in Wales and that festivals feed into that. But also, smaller things that you can use in everyday life.”
Then discussing the continued popularity of food festivals, Sean said: “You go to the supermarket nowadays and you don’t think about where the food has come from. That’s changing, though.
“I think that Covid changed that for starters. Local shops selling local produce started to do well. Another reason is climate change and people think, ‘Do I really want to farm produce from Argentina or wherever?’ People are starting to think about those sorts of things.”
Sean also touched on how he thinks that there has been a “shift in people’s attitudes” on where they get their food. He said: “There’s something really nice about knowing that you’re supporting your local area.” As to why he wanted to host the series, he explained: “I live in England but everything points west for me. [After watching the full show,] I thought there were some amazing entrepreneurs in Wales.”
Helping Sean on his journey and revealing just how much effort goes into getting food onto our tables are his co-presenters Welsh Italian chef and cookery writer Michaela Chiappa, businessman and broadcaster Onkar Singh Purewal and S4C’s Ffermio presenter Meinir Howells.
Food Fest Wales is part of a UK-wide series of programmes which are now available to watch on BBC iPlayer. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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