Iain Hewitson
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Iain Hewitson, self styled as "Huey", is a New Zealand born chef who moved to Australia in 1972. He has a history as restaurateur in Melbourne, but is best known for his tv envolvement with Network Ten.
The slightly obese Hewitson brands himself by always wearing a conspicous pair of braces, a fashion statement on this scale originally introduced to tv by CNN interviewer Larry King. Hewitson is particularly proud that he has been able to purchase a 1960s-70s red Ford Mustang with the personalized registration plate 'HUEY'. It features prominently in the opening sequence of his Channel Ten afternoon cooking show Huey's Cooking Adventures, which first aired in 1997.
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[edit] TV Career
When Channel Ten introduced early 1992 the lifestyle show Healthy, Wealthy and Wise it was considered groundbreaking. Iain Hewitson belonged to the original line-up, fil(l)ing the cooking segment. He impressed there not only with his colourful braces, but also with his unpreciseness what the required measurements of the ingredients for his dishes were. A "dollop" or a "good dollop" was about as precise as it got. This kind of thinking was then a still reasonable new concept. Hewitson remained with the show until it was laid to rest just before the end of the decade.
For him this did not mean the end of the road. And out of the bunch of contributors to this programme, he ended up as the - in terms of tv career - most successful one, well ahead of crafts diva Tonia Todman.
Ensuing programmes with his participation - then as the sole main character - were
- Huey’s TV Dinner and
- Never Trust a Skinny Cook
For years he also appeared appeared on the end of the fishing shows of Rex Hunt, always preparing a quick fish recipe in the open air.
Since 1997 he is the host of Huey's Cooking Adventures featuring weekday afternoons on Channel Ten. It dominates the ratings in the 3:30 to 4:00 timeslot. It is also rebroadcast on the pay-tv Lifestyle Food-channel.
Hewitson seems to have made a method of being chronically disorganised. Hardly a show goes by in which he does not encounter problems based on ill preparation. His deviation from recipes, which on many occasions make them distinctively different from the original ones, are legend. It is not always certain if these deviations are intentional or based on organisational issues.
However, his affable personality seemingly allows him to transform these regular mishaps of varying degrees into triumphs of improvisation. To boot, his never visible assistant Mr Moon, never described in more detail and thusly mentioned in the programmes credits, is attributed quite often the blame.
[edit] Advertising and Marketing
Further to that, Hewitson made many television advertisements for the supermarket chains Bi-Lo and Safeway. His envolvement with Jenny Craig in 2006 as advertising posterboy for weight loss programmes remained shortlived.
Efforts have been undertaken to market "Iain Hewitson" branded midpriced cooking tools and literature, the latter having being more successful.
Of course many products are being given significant camera presence, including close-ups, in the course of his shows, and his official web site is one of the very few culinary web sites that charge a membership fee to view recipes.
[edit] Restaurants
Hewitson previously co-owned the St Kilda, Melbourne, bistro type restaurant Tolarno, which has since gone out of business. Before that he was associated with varying success with The Lemon Tree, Clichy (Fleurie), Champagne Charlie’s Alphington House, The Last Aussie Fishcafe and Memories of the Mediterranean.
Since, he lends his name to support the restaurant Barney Allen's, also located in St Kilda, Melbourne, which opened in December 2006 and of which he is not a proprietor.
[edit] Family
Hewitson is married to Ruth with whom he has produced daughter Charlotte.
His brother Don has operated since approximately 1975 a number of wine bars and restaurants in London and is considered to some stage instrumental in Iain Hewitson's career choice.
[edit] External links
- Huey's Cooking Adventures - homepage on the Channel Ten site.
- Huey's Cooking Club serves quasi as Hewitson's official website. "Huey" attempts there to charge his audience a relatively steep membership fee for access to his recipes, which is a less usual practice.
