An Aberdeen food writer made her Netflix debut on the newest series of ‘Somebody Feed Phil’.
Julia Bryce, formerly the food and drink editor at The Press & Journal, brought her knowledge of Scotland’s food scene to the show which is hosted by Philip Rosenthal.
The programme – now in its seventh series – sees host Philip, famously the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, go on food tours of locations around the world.
Episode eight of the latest series follows Philip touring locations throughout Scotland, visiting Glasgow, Edinburgh and Skye.
Having watched every episode of the show, Julia said it was a “surreal” experience meeting Philip.
She said: “I thought I was going to get to meet him in-person, have a chat and build a rapport and then go sit down and have dinner.
“And they said, ‘no, no, Phil’s arriving in a car, we are rolling. Action.
“In my head I had planned all the cool things I would say to him. It was quite surreal to be honest.
“Phil’s team were so lovely, I was convinced I was awful and had said all the wrong things, but upon reflection I think I was just overthinking things.”
As well as making her on-screen debut, Julia helped pick some of the location’s the show visited throughout the episode.
Food writer helped ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ see Scotland’s diverse food scene
The crew behind ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ initially reached out to Julia for some suggestions of which restaurants they should visit.
She said: “I think sometimes when it comes to TV they can focus so much on what that stereotypical Scotland is, or the kind of safe businesses to go to.
“I was really conscious of the businesses I was picking that they actually reflect the multicultural Scotland and the Scotland that I know when it comes to food.
“To see Scotland reflected in the way that it has been on that show is incredible – it’s such a melting pot of cuisine, culture and heritage, we’ve got so much history with food as well.
“I don’t think it’s celebrate enough in Scotland, to be honest. I just think we have such an outstanding larder and so much here, we really need to scream and shout about it.”
Having got a taste for life in front of the camera, Julia hopes this won’t be the last time she appears on television screens.
She laughed: “I would absolutely love to have a Somebody Feed Julia, if there’s an opportunity.”
The Scotland episode from series seven of ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ is available to stream on Netflix.
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