'I run live-fire chef demos but I'm still learning'

A chef who quit his job as a youth worker and now delivers classes in the art of cooking with fire, expects friends from his world to work to join him at a festival next month.

Adam Purnell, one of those behind fire, food and music event Embers Fire Festival in Ironbridge, started the Shropshire Lad YouTube channel in 2017 showcasing his outdoor cooking adventures.

The "live fire chef" now demonstrates on cookery stages across the UK, but says he is "always learning".

Purnell said his friends from the fire cooking community would attend the festival at Dale End Park in Ironbridge on 2 and 3 May to either deliver demonstrations or to serve food as vendors.

Speaking at one of his fire cooking classes, he explained: "It looks like wildfires are going on, but we need to establish embers.

"Embers are the core of your fire and the most important part of fire cooking is to have a good base of embers.

"So if you're cooking with wood, we have to make sure that we cook it down, enough of it down, so that... then once you've got that bed of embers from the initial fire, you just add a log here and there and it'll just keep ticking over."

What began as sharing his passion using quality local ingredients in Shropshire's food scene became a profession.

That was in 2022, when Purnell left his career as a youth and community worker, five years after the YouTube channel.

The chef and the Embers Cafe team, in Coalbrookdale, are celebrating a third year of trading by organising the festival in May, in partnership with Telford & Wrekin Council.

Purnell pointed out he hosted "a lot of stages and things and have other chefs come on" and each time "I learn from every single chef".

"I've learnt so much over the years and go away from Shropshire a lot and work and see there's a lot of stuff [that's] been happening down south," he says.

"It's creeping north now. There's lots, lots more going on and I like to see all this stuff."

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.