Will Poulter Interview

One of the first things you’ll do after meeting Will Poulter is google ‘Will Poulter height’. Click on the link to CelebrityHeights.com and you’ll be told that he’s a swaggering 6’2” (188 cm). Plunge into his IMDB and you’ll be greeted with an even loftier 6′ 3¼″ (1.91 m). Whatever the correct number is, there’s no arguing that Will Poulter is a large man, built like a mustang (the horse and the car), and it’s easy to see why he was cast as an “artificially created cosmic being whose existence represents a potential pinnacle of human evolution” in Guardians of Galaxy Vol. 3.

Despite all that, Will Poulter’s height might just be the least impressive thing about him. When he’s not busy hoovering up accolades and praise for his role in films and shows like Detroit and Dopesick, Poulter is a staunch advocate for charities including Magic Breakfast, Crisis, The Women’s Association, and Alzheimer’s Research to name but a few. Of which there are many. He’s a mensch. And one who seems to be dedicated to his craft and using his celebrity and platform for good.

Not content with letting himself ride on his acting chops alone, Poulter did various stages at a spate of restaurants (including Black Axe Mangal) in preparation for his role as the Copenhagen-based chef Luca in season two of The Bear. Although he grew up with a deep appreciation for food, it was that experience which helped him better understand the blood, sweat, and tears that go into making restaurants hum. It’s no surprise then that he’s handy on the stoves himself and, in collaboration with Magic Breakfast, Will came into our east London kitchen and knocked out some seriously good Chipotle Mushroom & Egg Breakfast Tacos for a seriously good cause to help raise awareness and funds for Magic Breakfast’s ‘Fuel For Success’ campaign, which intends to highlight the effect that eating a nutritious breakfast has on children and young people’s educational outcomes.

Magic Breakfast provides healthy breakfasts to more than 200,000 young people who arrive at school each day too hungry to learn. The work they’re doing is essential in helping to tackle morning hunger and this year’s ‘Fuel For Success’ campaign is being supported by various restaurant partners by adding a £1 voluntary donation to every customer bill throughout May and June. Just £1 is enough to provide three young people with a healthy and nutritious breakfast before sitting all-important exams this summer.

Anyone interested in supporting the cause can make a ‘Fuel For Success’ campaign donation directly through the Magic Breakfast website, helping the charity move closer to its vision that no child is too hungry to learn. We spoke to Will about his relationship with Magic Breakfast, food, and what the hardest thing about working in a professional kitchen is.

I think I first learned about Magic Breakfast when I was working in a kitchen. Someone else in the team told me about what they do and I thought the work was really impressive. Magic Breakfast has partnered with a number of different restaurants where, generally speaking, a pound from every bill will be donated towards the cause. And that goes towards basically feeding kids who are experiencing food insecurity and going to school hungry and Magic Breakfast feeds a child for 28p a day. Which is amazing. And it's a highly affordable way to be able to support the cause.

I don't personally have any lived experience of food insecurity – or what it is to go to school hungry – and I struggled enough at school as it was with food in my stomach. I can't really imagine how hard it would be to go to school and meet all the various challenges that young people have at school without a nutritional breakfast or something to eat in the morning. In a country such as this, the notion that millions of kids are going to school hungry just feels totally inadequate. It just does not feel right at all.

Through Magic Breakfast’s work, they're able to feed 200,000 kids a day. Obviously, though, there’s still a need for more support and expansion because the number of kids going to school hungry far exceeds that number. It doesn't seem particularly fair to expect kids to feel their best from a physical and mental perspective if they're going to school hungry. Nor can you expect them to fulfil their potential. I think there is a direct correlation between the performance rates and the rate at which people are able to eat something first thing in the day. The kids who have been put in a position where they're unable to go to school satiated do struggle in comparison to kids who are not going to school hungry.

I've always been passionate about food and I think, for the most part, that's because I've been lucky enough to have a kind of relationship with it that hasn't been impeded by hunger or by food insecurity. It's a privilege to be able to kind of have that relationship with food. And I think – as a bare minimum – everyone should be able to have a relationship with food where they're not feeling anxious or insecure regarding their relationship to it and that they can all have a kind of healthy and frequent relationship with food.

I do like to cook a lot. I grew up watching my mum cook a lot. She’s a really good cook and went to cookery school and everything, so I guess I kind of got to learn a little bit from her. Cooking is something that I find to be a really mindful exercise and I think it's a good way of looking after myself physically – but also mentally, too. It’s a nice break from what I do day-to-day.

I like the fact I can get better at it as well. I have a relationship with it where I'm healthily able to control what I’m eating and how I'm looking after myself. It’s kind of an extension of a self-care routine, I suppose. I also enjoy the ability to cook and share it with other people. That's a really meaningful way to engage with it as well – doing something you can share with other people and have them get joy from it.

Exactly.

So, ever since I started doing the work on The Bear, I've actually done a lot more pastry. That was definitely my weakest area before starting the show and now it’s something I really quite enjoy. I love baking for people and making different things – whether that’s cookies or tarts or anything like that. I made a dessert for my mum the other day and I was more nervous cooking for her than I ever was in a restaurant or anything like that because she's the person I learned from first and she's still one of my favourite chefs in the world.

She did, actually! I got the thumbs up from mum, which meant a lot.

I loved it. I've always had a lot of admiration for people who work in the hospitality industry and chefs, in particular. The women and men who work in kitchens work so, so hard and put in so much effort while constantly being overlooked and undervalued. Whole cities have reputations that are built on the backs of people in the hospitality industry, and it’s a shame we don't really think about the humans behind it.

Yeah, exactly. And I think that's what I appreciated about The Bear. I appreciated the opportunity to work in restaurants and to learn how much human effort goes into every plate of food.

I think it's the pace. It’s one thing slowly going about my business in my kitchen at home and cooking a meal at my own pace – which is something I enjoy, and something I won't really change – but you can't move at that pace in a professional kitchen. The speed that people work at is incredible and to maintain the level of consistency and accuracy that they do while moving at that pace is extraordinary.

If I think about it in relation to breakfast, we grew using the leftovers from the night before for breakfast a lot. That was a big thing for us so I actually grew up eating things like spaghetti bolognese on toast and things like that. I think people at school thought it was a little bit strange. Especially if I found myself in a French oral exam and had to, like say what I had for breakfast! Personally, I think it was a great way of using leftovers while keeping breakfast really interesting. I never really had a traditional breakfast like cereal or things like that. And I liked it that way. I think it kind of slightly expanded my horizons a little bit as well.

I'm lucky I haven't really had too much pressure. I never allow myself to do anything that's going to infringe on my mental well-being too much. That's one of the most important things to me.

So, over the months of May and June, Magic Breakfast are running their ‘Fuel For Success’ campaign. Working with partnering restaurants, a voluntary £1 donation will be included on every bill. This will go towards ensuring that no young person sitting exams this summer has to do so on an empty stomach. 28p is all it takes to feed a child a nutritious breakfast – which means £3 feeds a child a breakfast for a fortnight – and you can find out more information by going to the Magic Breakfast website. A small donation would go a really long way.