Co Down cook Suzie Lee is making a return to our TV screens

Suzie, who rose to fame after winning Best Home Cook in 2020, says she enjoyed every minute working on the series, which is presented by another homegrown star, Colin Murray, alongside Edith Bowman, and local presenter Ryan Hand.

“It was a lot of fun to be part of and I was so delighted to be asked to be one of the presenters. It was just so different to what I normally do, which is cooking.”

The programme explores what we eat, where it comes from, when it is produced, who produces it and why it matters.

“I am very passionate about local produce, so I was very happy to be part of it. I describe the show to people as the food version of Countryfile.”

Over the five episodes the series visits the vibrant Belfast Mela, the bustling St George’s Market and showcases local food stories throughout Northern Ireland.

From cider making in Armagh and eels in Toomebridge, to vegan burgers and Northern Ireland’s first ever zero waste and sustainable hot food bar, we join Suzie on a mouth-watering journey of discovery while also learning top tips including how to get the best produce at the best price.

“We had a great day filming at Long Meadow Cider in Armagh.

"It’s just one family looking after so many orchards to produce their artisan cider and apple juice and apple cider vinegar.”

She also got to sample eels in Toomebridge.

"It’s a hard graft – the hours that you are trawling Lough Neagh to get this product that is such a delicacy.

"The people surrounding the Lough eat it daily – and it is delicious.

"Cooking it a certain way, as they do, pan frying it in butter is great, because that is how you should taste it traditionally on a bit of buttered wheaten.

"That, along with the black bacon from Enniskillen, was great.

"To see a process that is not commercialised and to see that it does take a little bit of graft, in the sense that you are curing the bacon, but the result is that the shrinkage is minimal compared to supermarket products."

Suzie also visits Scopers in Dundrum, run by Great British Menu chef Paul Cunningham, which prides itself on being Northern Ireland’s first ever zero waste and sustainable hot food bar.

"Paul is just so knowledgeable and just so passionate. He makes soy sauce out of mushrooms, which is just fabulous.

"It’s people like him who deserve recognition because we are living in a standard of living crisis with everything being inflated and if we can reduce waste, which I am very passionate about, why not...why not tap into someone so knowledgeable like that and go and support takeaway restaurants like his.”

Takeaway restaurants are something Suzie is in familiar territory with, having grown up in the business – her family set up the Man Lee Takeaway in Lisburn in 1980.

Suzie was taught to cook by her mum Celia, who sadly passed away when she was just 16.

She earned pocket money by doing jobs such as chopping onions and de-boning chicken.

After her mother died, Suzie’s confidence in the kitchen grew - largely because she was forced to take on the cooking role, feeding her 15-year-old brother and seven-year-old cousin.

“When my mum passed away, I pretty much took on the role of mum, so I had to properly cook.”

She remembers the December before her mother died, when her mum refused to cook the Christmas meal - leaving it down to her.

“So I took on that challenge at the age of 16, the Christmas before she passed away. I cooked over 40 of my family members Christmas dinner - so it was a baptism of fire, but she obviously believed in me that I could do it.

“I think it was one of those things where she was prepping me for the future, strange as it sounds, because within two months she passed away very suddenly.”

So did her festive meal get the seal of approval? “She just nodded, ” Suzie says.

“In Chinese culture, praise is not a thing… But I got a nod, which meant a lot - that is praise in itself.”

Suzie then started exploring all kinds of different cuisines (many of which she would go on to showcase on Best Home Cook).

Things really exploded for Suzie since winning that programme in 2020 - she’s presented two cooking shows on BBC NI and has released her debut cookbook - Simply Chinese.

She describes winning Best Home Cook as “life-changing”, saying it has “opened so many doors”.

"I’ve just been commissioned to do two further books, so it’s very much a trilogy of Chinese cooking.

"There’s a push for the next one to be out for next January in time for Chinese new year and then the following book will be for Chinese new year 2025.”

As well as writing and presenting, she is still working at her accountancy business and is mum to two young children, Zander, 8, and Odelia, 5, but seems unfazed by the demands on her time.

"Everyone’s lives are busy, everyone is juggling a life of work and everything, mine is just more broadcast.”

Sadly, Suzie didn’t get to meet Colin Murray and Edith Bowen during the filming of Food Fest Northern Ireland, but she’s hoping there could be further episodes in the future and she’ll get to meet the pair.

And it seems she has also got the presenting bug.

"I would love to present a show. I never thought that I would say that, but when I was doing those episodes I really enjoyed it. Yes, there’s a script, but I was also allowed to freely ask questions in my own words.

"For some unknown reason, I somehow find it comfortable being in front of TV cameras, I just really enjoy it."

So, if she could present any show, what would it be?

"There’s so many, but I think it would be a version of Best Home Cook, which is not just about one style of cooking or baking.

"I would love to be in a show where people learn to be inventive, like Ready, Steady, Cook – actually, that’s what I would like to do! I would like to be part of that, not just presenting, but to be a part of it because I love a challenge and I love a competition.

"I’m very competitive. It’s in my nature. I’m still playing hockey. I still sing in my choir. I just love being a busy body. I’m happy to admit that and everybody knows that.

"So, for me if it’s something like Ready, Steady, Cook, that’s really interactive –I’d be in my element."

Something which Suzie is passionate about is trying to ensure people know the origins of their food.

"I think people forget where food actually comes from, like people asking ‘where does chicken come from?’ and kids not being able to answer that, or that bacon is actually from a pig. That is scary for me because you realise that food knowledge in adults is diminishing, which then is being passed on to our children, which then is going to disappear. At schools that skill of cooking and learning about the basics of food seems to be gone.”

To put her concerns into practice, Suzie is offering food education courses at Lisburn Food Bank over the next five weeks.

"People just need support, so I’ll be showing them how to do a slow cooker meal, a one-tray meal and a one-pot meal. Just giving the people basics, like what they can do with a tin of beans.”

*Food Fest Northern Ireland starts on BBC One Northern Ireland on February 6, 8.30pm and the series will also be available on BBC iPlayer.