After Dinner Speakers: Rick Stein, Mark McCormack, David James

When it comes to seafood, Rick Stein OBE is the first TV chef everyone turns to, but with his latest series Food Heroes he showed that he's equally passionate about the best of British produce whatever its provenance. Rick's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow clearly displays his philosophy that "nothing is more joyful or exhilarating than fresh fish simply cooked." But he didn't always harbour ambitions to be an award-winning chef. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, he spent a few years running a discotheque before buying a nightclub in Padstow. Fortunately for us, the venture was not a success and Rick turned to food as a way out. He opened a restaurant which specialised in freshly caught local produce, supplied by the fishermen who had once frequented his club. Rick has run the Seafood Restaurant for 26 years, seeing it grow from a seaside bistro to an award-winning restaurant with an international reputation. Since those early days, the Steins have added a number of guest bedrooms, a Seafood Delicatessen, a gift shop and two smaller restaurants, St Petroc's Bistro and Rick Stein's Café. The latest addition is the Padstow Seafood School overlooking the Camel estuary. He has been honoured for his cookery success with many awards, the most recent being the Glenfiddich Trophy for his outstanding contribution towards widening the understanding and appreciation of excellent food and drink in Britain through his work as a chef, teacher, presenter and author. His many television programmes include Rick Stein's Taste of the Sea, Fruits of the Sea, Seafood Odyssey, Fresh Food, Seafood Lovers' Guide, and most recently Food Heroes. Although a professional chef, Rick bases most of his recipes around simple cooking, appealing to the way "most of us cook". In January 2003, Rick was awarded an OBE for services to Cornish tourism.