Chef speaks of pride in family after racist abuse

An award-winning chef has responded to racist comments on social media about his background by speaking about his pride in his family.

Adam Purnell is known as the Shropshire Lad online because he was born in the county and champions local ingredients.

When someone left a comment on Facebook questioning his origins and suggesting he only used the title for commercial benefit, Purnell said: "I chirped in and challenged him."

He opened up about his family history, from slavery in America to his father's career in Shropshire and said: "Hopefully this will give people more confidence to challenge it."

Purnell has built up a large online following as a chef specialising in cooking with fire and took on the Shropshire Lad name in 2018.

He said he never encountered racism at school and was a bit shocked when he saw the comments online.

Turning the tables, he explained his grandfather, who was African in origin, had "worked really hard" to become a successful businessman in America and decided to tour the world.

After a brief relationship with his grandmother his father was born, he said, but in the 1950s there was "too much shame around having a black baby" and his father was given up to be raised in a children's home.

Purnell said his father "battled with racism all through his life," but had also "done really well for himself" and came to Shropshire 47 years ago, seeing a better life.

He described his father as a "well known guy in Telford" and said he had worked first in the youth service and then as a psychologist, helping sex abuse survivors, asylum seekers and hospice patients among others.

Since responding to the online abuse, he said he had been "a little bit blown away" by the support he had received.

But he said it was sad that "people seem to think at the moment that it's OK to just say whatever they like on social media".

"It doesn't feel very nice, the whole atmosphere globally at the moment," he added.

He said people were often afraid of confronting racism online and his message was: "Let's just all stand together and just not stand for it. If you hear it, challenge it."

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