Family values of Joe’s career

coming from an Italian/Yorkshire family, it didn’t come as a huge surprise that Joe Hurd ended up working with food.

“Food was everything in our house when I was growing up,” says the 28-year-old from Hull.

“We were all expected to play our part. I didn’t realise there was anything unusual in that until I went to university in Leeds.”

The chef, who is hosting this weekend’s Birra Moretti Gran Tour which will see Leeds Town Hall transformed into an Italian street market, never meant to have a career with food.

“I wanted to go to sea,” he says. “I still do really. Growing up in Hull, the men from the English side of my family all went to sea. Who knows, I might jump onto a trawler one day.”

Rather than jump on on a trawler Joe did a Masters degree in History at the University of Leeds.

“I put on loads of weight when I went to university, eating all the wrong things and not doing any exercise,” says Joe. “My doctors told me that I was clinically obese, not soemthing you want to hear when you are 19 years old and so I started to cook again.”

His love of cooking rekindled, he helped set up studentcookingTV,

This role saw Joe presenting and demonstrating on camera and also at live events across the country.

“I worked there for four years and really loved combining cooking with presenting. I am an okay cook, but I think I am a good presenter.”

In 2013, Joe moved to London to work in the kitchens of acclaimed Calabrian chef Francesco Mazzei at L’anima and also in the offices of Delicious magazine.

During this period he was recruited by Betty TV to be one of the lead researchers and writers on Heston Blumenthal’s show Great British Food.

“He was amazing to work with,” says Joe, who is a believer in making your own luck. I was able to combine my interest in history with cooking. It was perfect.”

Joe has since gone on to present CITV’s The Munchbox, aired on ITV1 on Saturday mornings and would love to do something similar for adults. After The Munchbox, presenting work dried up a bit and so he started working in a small, neighborhood Italian restaurant in Finsbury Park, London with his two friends Francesco and Marcello. They run a Monday night supper club which is true to Joe’s Yorkshire-Calabrian roots.

“We recreate big family meals of my youth, usually consisting of 8-10 courses, but at great prices. It is the type of thing that I would love to start in Yorkshire. I would love to return to Yorkshire. It’s my home.

“This is the type of food I want to cook. I can’t stand all that fine dining pomp and ceremony. Food is about family and friends and that’s the way I have breen brought up.” As well as hosting this year’s Birra Moretti Gran Tour and cooking in his own inimitable style. Joe will be appearing a the WI Centenary Event in Harrogate on August 6.

“I love live events,” says Joe, who is now working on two other projects for televsion.

“I like to bring a bit of theatre into it, and to really get the audience involved.”

Does he put his success down to luck?

“I come from a sea- faring family who are very superstitious. I think I rebelled against that and believe you make your own luck, although it does help to be in the right place at the right time.”

In addition to hosting the Birra Moretti Gran Tour, Joe will also be running a number of masterclass sessions. The pop-up food and drink festival opens in Leeds from tomorrow and runs until Sunday. Tickets are £10 plus a £1 booking fee and includes two Birra Morettis, two dishes from any vendor on-site and a gelato. www.designmynight.com

For more details and for all things food and drink in Yorkshire visit foodanddrink.yorkshirespost.co.uk