Heston Blumenthal: I’ve been tempted to tell diners to eat food while it’s hot

Heston Blumenthal says he is tempted to tell diners to stop photographing their food because it is going cold.

The chef’s new TV show is inspired by “food porn”, the trend for putting snaps of envy-inducing meals on social media.

But Blumenthal, 53, told Radio Times magazine that staff at his triple Michelin-starred restaurant had discussed the issue.

“At the Fat Duck, we’ve debated this for several years now. If we say to people, ‘Your food’s going cold’, you put up a barrier between you and the diner,” Blumenthal said.

Asked whether he gets annoyed and has ever been close to saying anything to a customer, he told the magazine: “Yes, and I’ve been very tempted.

“We did it once in Australia because somebody was taking pictures with a flash, which affected other tables. It’s a really tricky thing.”

He added: “Social media is such a big part of our lives, our sight has become almost the more important sense rather than smell or taste.

“If I see something beautiful like a sunset, I try to be in the moment, then take a picture afterwards.”

Blumenthal, known for his outlandish culinary creations, is judging a new cooking competition featuring the “world’s first edible set” in a series airing on Channel 4 and Netflix.

He said of Crazy Delicious: “Unlike The X Factor, we celebrate what they’ve done as opposed to humiliating them and kicking them off. And they made some great dishes.”

Blumenthal, who was diagnosed with  extreme ADHD in 2016, said he was previously “stuck on a hamster wheel”, and had to “perform a bit of a reverse manoeuvre”.

The chef, who moved to the French countryside with his second wife and has taken up meditation and tai chi, said he is “still a work in progress” but “I’m going in the right direction”.

The full interview is in this week’s Radio Times magazine.