Plant-based Health Professionals To Join TV Cooking Show

Rylan Clark-Neal is back in the kitchen, hosting Ready Steady Cook this Friday afternoon, on BBC One.

Today, he will be joined by two vegan health professionals, Dr Sunni Patel MBA, clinician-scientist, and Dr Hayley Tait, a plant-based NHS GP based in Liverpool. They are also members of Plant Based Health Professionals UK.

Sunni and Hayley will each be paired with a chef, and will go head to head in the Ready Steady Cook kitchen., Sunni and Hayley both share a passion for vegan food and had great fun fighting it out in the kitchen.”

This episode is a celebration of health and healthcare professionals, and the role of nutrition, and will showcase plant-based recipes, made on a limited budget in 10-20 minutes – perfect for viewers to try at home. There will be plenty of surprises in store for the contestants, with format twists that will put them under pressure. And, in true Ready Steady tradition, the show’s winner will be decided by a vote with the iconic red tomato and green pepper voting cards.

Dr Sunni Patel will use the platform to speak out about gut health, and how a plant-based diet has helped manage his symptoms of Crohn’s disease. 

He says: “It was empowering to be able to talk to Rylan and the chefs, who were interested in gut health – especially as Rylan is an ambassador for Crohn’s and Colitis U.K. as his mother has Crohn’s Disease. It was also great to be able to talk about my own experience with Crohn’s, and to advocate for gut health and plant-based eating as a person of colour with a chronic illness. I got to create some amazing dishes that were cheap, quick and nourishing, and which also promoted the power of food. The rest? Viewers will have to tune in to see the fun and the making of the dishes, as well as to find out who won.”

“It was great to meet Sunni in person as we had only been instabuddies up until then. It was such a fast paced exciting day, with the opportunity for the fabulous chefs to showcase our plant based ingredients. Without giving anything away they certainly rose to the challenge with flavour infused finesse. Rylan was a warm, welcoming and funny host happily chatting about my plant based cookbook, Health on the Hob, and making sure my daughter got a mention too. It was an amazing experience from start to finish with the whole team really brightening up these Covid times.” - Hayley Tait concludes