#MCCOTInterview {40}
Barrie Henderson, the Scottish vegetarian chef who is writing the new chapter of the Henderson's family business
In 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, everywhere on the planet, after being closed during lockdowns for months, thousands of restaurants had to close their doors for good. It even happened to the best, as one of Edinburgh’s longest running restaurants, and the UKs longest running vegetarian restaurant, opened on Hanover Street in 1962 by later local pioneer of the vegetarian cuisine, Janet Henderson. Fortunately and unexpectedly, the successful family business which was for decades a prominent address in town, is back on track. In October 2021, Chef Barrie Henderson, her grandson, opened his own place located near Bruntsfield Links in Tollcross, and called Hendersons-Eat Better Live Better. Meet the owner of a one-of-kind place to absolutely drop by for lunch or dinner if you are visiting Edinburgh. A committed chef whose purpose is to preserve Henderson's ethos but also to impose his own contemporary and avant-garde culinary style. A member of the third generation, proud to be an Henderson but not forgetting, he is first Barrie. A great ambassador of Slow and Vegetarian food who wants to pass on the family tradition and keep showing the world the importance of eating better for ourselves and our beloved planet. To live better and longer. As her granny, who was an inspirational trailblazer, started to do in the 1960s. An easy-going, humble, generous and talented human being who is enjoying starting new, supported by a team of skilled and passionate fellows and creating simple, healthy and tasty dishes. An happy soon-to-be 40-year-old man, father of a son named Baxter, ready to push his limits to succeed in this new exciting and challenging professional and human adventure. Break a leg!
By Hélène Battaglia
Who are you?
My name is Barrie Henderson and I own Hendersons – Eat Better Live Better in Edinburgh. Hendersons was originally started in 1962 by my grandmother, and we are committed to making the most delicious vegetarian foods possible using the best ingredients.
You worked in the business family since you were 14 years old. What exactly did you learn from this privileged background?
I learnt a lot from my father, as well as my uncles and aunts that worked in the business, and from the chefs that I grew up with including the former Head Chef Barry Baker. I learnt how to work hard and push yourself.
You spent two years abroad from 2010 to 2012. What does this professional experience bring to you?
Working in Europe was beneficial just to see different ways of doing things, experience different cultures and practices. But also just to relieve the itch to spend time in a different place, if I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t be as happy as I am in Edinburgh now.
What does it exactly mean growing in the Henderson’s family, pioneers of the vegetarian cuisine?
I don’t know any different really, but we were always cooking from scratch and I learnt how to cook from a very young age. My family on my mum’s side, as well as my Dad’s, are also massively into food and my Mum was a food stylist when I was growing up as well.
As many restaurants worldwide after the lockdown of 2020, the family restaurant which has become an institution in Edinburgh, never reopened. Why did your family make this sad decision?
It was very difficult for the family, I disagreed with some of the decisions made by the generation that was in charge at that time. They didn’t see that things would come back to normal and overcoming the lockdown was one hurdle too many. It was a massive shame to close, but it was a very difficult situation that no one had experienced before.
Was it in your plans since ever to take over after your father and uncle would retirement?
I always hoped I could; I enjoyed working in the business a lot and I would have done anything for it, but family businesses are a complicated area. As with everything in life, things are unpredictable, and the only constant is change.
In October 2021, you opened your vegetarian and vegan restaurant HENDERSONS. Why did you decide to find a new location and move near Bruntsfield Links in Tollcross, Edinburgh?
It was a long and difficult time in the pandemic, and it was several months before I even thought about reopening. Then when I started looking, this site came up quite quickly and we knew it was right for us for so many reasons. It was nice to have a fresh start in the lovely neighbourhood of Bruntsfield / Tollcross with the Meadows basically on our doorstep. The kitchen and restaurant was a good size with lovely big windows at the front and lots of quirky features already there. It was a great canvas to start from.
How difficult and challenging, as the third generation of Henderson, is it to follow in the footsteps of a pioneer and trailblazer as your grandmother?
It is just what I’ve always been doing so I wouldn’t say it is any more difficult because of this. Times change, the race is long and in the end it’s only with yourself.
Paying tribute to your granny every day and writing a new chapter of the family business. How sincerely difficult is it to build your own signature as a chef and not only as the grandson of late Janet Henderson?
We have a really good team at Hendersons and we really on everyone to bring creativity and passion into the kitchen. We really care about our customers and take pride in our food. I think we are a fitting tribute to Janet, but we are also forward thinking and cooking in our own style, using the framework that she began.
Do you consider yourself starting from scratch and innovating or passing on culinary traditions of your family?
Its really a combination of both. We are making brand new dishes, as well as using modern techniques to reimagine some of the original concepts, though we are also traditional in ways too. Our Head Chef James Porteous and Sous-Chef Anna Czapiewska come from different backgrounds and we create menus together using all of our experiences.
Which Janet’s original dishes is your favorite one and why?
Janet’s dishes were made of simple readily available, healthy whole food ingredients, used in creative ways. The dish that fits best with this is our haggis that we make every day in our kitchen, it’s made from grated carrots, mushrooms, pinhead oatmeal, lentils onions, spices and black pepper. Simple ingredients but combined cleverly to become a hearty and healthy meal.
What makes your new restaurant unique?
We are not a chain that is just concerned about spreadsheets and profit, we are passionate about providing a place for skilled chefs to enjoy working and being creative, and for all our amazing front of staff to be appreciated and enjoy their work too; they know all about the dishes and really care about the customers as well. This combines to produce a brilliant experience, and we really take pride in this.
Your new claim is ‘Eating better. Living better’. Could you tell us more about the importance of taking care of ourselves and taking the time to cook healthy dishes?
Its definitely no secret that processed foods and lack of nutrition is a problem in todays society, and we are definitely keen to give people a choice of coming somewhere where they can enjoy a meal that has dozens of delicious plant based and vegetarian ingredients, but also tastes delicious and special.
How becoming vegetarian can change one’s life?
It is better for the environment and your health; there is huge amounts of information published on this and it’s different for everyone, but it’s definitely something that we want to help people be able to do. We want to help vegetarians and vegans eat delicious food, but we also want to help omnivores eat more vegetarian food more often. We don’t want to exclude anyone.
You mostly sourced your ingredients locally and choose them organic. Do you also grow an organic vegetables garden?
Yes we have a small garden at the back of the restaurant where we compost some of our food waste. It’s small but we use it to grow edible flowers, herbs and a few other things mainly; we also have a fig tree, it’s not registered organic but we don’t use any chemicals in it, we just enrich the soil with some homemade compost and maybe a little seaweed once a year. Me and my son Baxter have a small garden in Leith as well that we grown in. We have a few apple trees, and we had some great pumpkins last year. I love growing vegetables and we would love to get some land to start growing on a bigger scale - it’s definitely one of the plans for the future.
As most of the vegetarian and vegan people embrace an eco-conscious living, out of the kitchen, which are your sustainable habits to preserve the planet?
It’s simple but just reduce, reuse, recycle. Don’t go for fast fashion or through away culture. Try to repair things as best you can, as people would have done in the past. At some point in the last hundred years people forgot this mindset and it’s huge problem; we need to bring it back.
Could you please give us one simple, quick, and tasty vegetarian receipt to cook at home?
I mean, there’s many, but the simplest dish that I enjoy when I’m just making a quick filling snack is to take some chickpeas, grate some fresh garlic, spring onion, add fresh chopped mint, parsley, lemon juice, maybe a little vinegar, some finely chopped broccoli or any other vegetable, cumin and spices, olive oil. You can also add finely chopped dates or raisins. Let it sit so it absorbs the flavours and they merge.
At 38 years old and new owner, do you consider yourself as a happy man?
Yes I’m happy, I’m very lucky to have good friends and it’s great that we managed to preserve Hendersons ethos for another generation.
What do you think your granny Janet would have said if she could have drop by and enjoyed one of your dishes?
Hopefully she’d be happy, it might be a bit fancier than she was used to, but times change and food has evolved with that. I’m sure she would appreciate it and enjoy the way that we are still staying true to her founding principles.
All the pictures are Courtesy of Mr Barrie Henderson
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