The Galloping Gourmet
From 1969 to 1971, the wildly popular show The Galloping Gourmet inspired many viewers to hit the kitchen themselves - including Rachael! Millions loved the unconventional cooking style of its host Graham Kerr, so it's no surprise to learn that the show began in an unconventional way. "I was ordered on television by the Air Force because I was chief catering advisor for the Air Force in New Zealand," Graham tells Rachael. "I went on the air and did this extremely boring program! And my wife Trina said, 'You are the most unutterably boring man in the entire world!' So I said, 'Hey, if you're so clever, why don't you produce it!' So she went down to [the studio] and said, 'You're ruining my husband! He's got a sense of humor and you have to let it out.' And they said, "OK, you do it.' And she did it!"
Graham's program featured many decadent meals that included delicious creams and butter, but as he explains to Rachael, he's done a complete 180 when it comes to the health content of his recipes, in honor of Trina, his wife of 55 years. "The thing is, she had a stroke and a heart attack," Graham says. "Has diabetes, hypertension ... and she's married to me! All of that, plus her parents died young from heart disease. So here's this cook that's cooked for her and done her injury, not wittingly ... so I had to unwrap my entire career and rethink the whole thing."
Graham's healthier outlook to cooking inspired him to start using ingredients that he grew himself, which is the focus of his latest book, Growing at the Speed of Life: A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden. He recalls, "When my very first seeds came up, I walked into the greenhouse (and I'd been going into the greenhouse for seven days and nothing had happened), and there was this row of green things and one of them had soil on top of its head, and I yelled, 'Good morning!' And I thought, 'I am talking to my plants ... I've crossed over!'"
Rachael joins her cooking icon in the kitchen to make his healthy recipe for Cauliflower with Carrot "Cheese" Sauce.


