Chris Roberts has been obsessed with cooking from the tender age of six. While his friends were busy watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ cartoons, Chris would be immersing himself in the culinary world as he watched cooking programmes by the likes of Keith Floyd and the Two Fat Ladies.
The Caernarfon chef was destined to become and he credits the women in his family for giving him such a sure grounding. He said: “I was lucky in the fact that I was surrounded with brilliant cooks through out my life – both my grandmothers and my mum.
“I have really fond memories of having food with my family, eating old-school, comforting meals. Tatws yn popty (oven potatoes), stews, good hearty meals. My Nain would cook a lot of fish too. It was a variety of things.”
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For nearly a decade, the 39-year-old cook has been a familiar face on Welsh language TV. Thanks to his programme Bwyd Epic Chris [Chris’ Epic Food], S4C viewers have had the chance to see the talented chef cook all kinds of dishes over the fire, while bringing personality and humour as extra ingredients. Now, the chef is taking his culinary journey to another level, showcasing his cooking skills on his first ever English show – Chris Cooks Cymru. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter.
Speaking to Wales Online, Chris explained that it had taken him years to step into his passion and turn it into his career. When Chris left school at the age of 18, he went travelling and would take part in various long drive competitions all over the world.
In between his travels, Chris would return back home to Wales and work as a support worker for people with learning disabilities. What started as a temporary job as a support worker, became his full-time job for the next 18 years, with Chris concluding his career in long drive at the age of 24.
According to Chris, working as a support worker opened his eyes to the importance of home cooking. He said: “It showed me the transformative power of food. With cooking, I could work with people and bring them joy with my food. Within the first few shifts as a support worker, I started thinking to myself of ways I could make these shifts a little bit better.
“I would ask the person what they wanted for tea that night, we’d write a list of ingredients, head to the supermarkets, fishmongers or butchers to get those ingredients, and then we would go back and cook from scratch. It wasn’t just about eating a good meal, it was about them gaining good life skills and building on their confidence and self-esteem, especially when they would meet up and make friends with people like the butcher or the customers that would also be at the shops.”
Welsh chef, Chris ‘Flamebaster’ Roberts, is a familiar face for many of us here in Wales thanks to his S4C series ‘Bwyd Epic Chris’ -Credit:S4C
Chris’ dad, Colin Roberts, also had a massive influence on his desire to cook. Every year, his father would travel to Patagonia in Argentina where he would go fishing. Upon his return, he would tell Chris about all the amazing asados, which is the Argentinian process of slow-cooking various pieces of meat over the embers, which maintains their smoky flavours.
“He would tell all these amazing stories,” Chris said. “And that’s what triggered my love for cooking over a flame.” Sadly, Colin passed away in 2013, which spurred Chris to pursue his passion even further. In 2016, Chris launched his own Instagram page in which he showcased the various dishes he would cook over an old-fashioned spit roasting fire.
“I just fell in love with cooking over a flame,” he said. “I loved the primitive feel of it. I’m not trained in any way, I taught myself, but I learnt by making mistakes and refining my skills over and over again. I have cooked over the fire so many times now, it has just become an instinct. You can adapt to variable surroundings, come rain or shine – no two kitchens are the same, but it keeps the cooking fresh and exciting. And food will always taste nicer when smoke and flame are involved.”
And as his cooking skills developed, so did his dishes and his following on social media. While Chris was busy cooking over the fire, his friend Aneurin Thomas would be behind the camera, filming the process. Soon, the young chef caught the attention of the media and S4C commissioned his first cooking show – Bwyd Epic Chris, back in 2018.
Meanwhile, his friend Aneurin became a TV producer and director for Caernarfon-based production company, Cwmni Da, and the two friends have now produced 10 series together. By now, Chris is fondly known as Chris ‘Flamebaster’ Roberts on our screens, often remarking that his food is “next level”, and he has undoubtedly inspired a younger audience to take a keen interest in cooking.
Chris cooking lamb over a fire at Caernarfon Food Festival back in 2019 -Credit:Arwyn Roberts
His culinary career has seen him cook in Scandinavia, New York and Spain alongside renowned chefs such as Anglesey-born chef Tom Parry who runs the highly successful Brat restaurant in London, Swedish chef Niklas Ekstedt and American chef Rosio Sanchez. He has also cooked for various celebrities such as rugby star Alun Wyn Jones, singer Cerys Matthews and Hollywood actor Matthew Rhys.
And his Instagram page is more alive than ever, having garnered around 30k followers. In January 2021, food critic Jay Rayner praised the young chef by saying on X, formerly known as Twitter: “My top displacement activity this morning: watching a big beardy Welshman called Chris Roberts AKA [Flamebaster], making steak sandwiches on a Welsh hillside, in Welsh. I don’t understand a word, but I also understand everything.”
And in the following year, in 2022, the chef was awarded not one but two BAFTA Cymru awards for his cooking show and presenting. “There have been so many highlights that it’s actually quite hard to choose one that is the best,” Chris explained.
“There have been so many chefs, so many of my heroes, that I have had the privilege to cook with. And off the telly, being able to establish different pop-ups in places such as Scandinavia or Spain and showcasing my food over there.”
But through it all, Chris hopes he can bring something extra to the table, which his love for Welsh produce. “We need to celebrate our Welsh produce more,” he said. “Not just eat or cook with it, really celebrate it and shout about it. I don’t even see myself as a presenter of shows, I see myself as a promoter or an advocate for these delicious food. Even if I wasn’t filming, I think I’d still be going around hankering on about our produce.
“The farmers, the butchers, the fishmongers, the people that grow fruit and vegetables – these are my rockstars, these are my superheroes. I’m here to celebrate them more than anything. And ensuring that people know about all the hard work that goes into producing this food.”
In his new programme, Chris Cooks Cymru, the chef is taking his fiery passion all over Wales, including his hometown Caernarfon, Caerphilly, Conwy, Swansea, Rhyl and Brecon. The BBC programme is Chris’ first programme in the English language.
When asked what people could expect from the show, he said: “It’s been a journey. I’m a chef from Wales, but I haven’t really cooked all over Wales, except for my own square mile in Caernarfon. I haven’t cooked that much down south, so I really wanted to go down to parts I had never been to before – Swansea and Caerphilly, for example.
“But I also wanted to explore somewhere a bit closer to home such as Caernarfon or Rhyl, and showcasing what we’ve got here as well. It’s a little journey around Wales, while meeting really cool producers and really cool chefs along the way. My cooking will entail some old-school dishes, but stuff that are pretty innovative as well. And of course, cooking over fire with some amazing backdrops.”
Ultimately, Chris hopes to show something that has been at the forefront of his cooking from day one – bringing people together. “That is the most important thing,” he added. “Especially when you are cooking over a fire. Fire doesn’t judge you, or care who you are or your social class, it’s like a magnet that just draws people in. And that delicious food you cook over a fire, it brings even more people together, brings the best in people and our society. Whether it’s on a small or big scale, fire and food just brings people together.”
You can watch Chris Cooks Cymru on BBC One Wales at 7.30pm, or watch all episodes on BBC iPlayer here.