Robin Ellis of Poldark fame gave a recent talk about healthy cooking at Chevalier’s Books in Larchmont Village.
Ellis is mostly known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark in “Poldark”, a popular BBC television series that showed in the 1970s that has now been remade.
The new Poldark series, which is about to start its second season this September 25, stars Aidan Turner. The setting is in Cornwall in the years just after the Revolutionary War, which saw England withdraw from the colonies in defeat.
Conditions in the English countryside are tough enough with the battered post-war economy, but broken hearts, treachery and family intrigue all compound the difficulties Poldark encounters upon his return from America.
Ellis plays the very stern Reverend Halse in the new series. Rev. Halse oversees a trial in which the new Poldark, Aidan Turner, must defend himself against difficult odds.
The Poldark television series are based on a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. But it’s cookbooks, and not historic novels about a swashbuckling soldier turned tin miner, that now occupy much of Ellis’s time.
Ellis was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in the late nineties and decided to champion the cause of healthy eating.
His new cookbook – his third – is called Mediterranean Cooking for Diabetics: Delicious Dishes to Control or Avoid Diabetes.
One doesn’t need to be a diabetic to use or enjoy these cookbooks – the dishes are tasty, wholesome and can be enjoyed by all.
Switching to this diet now can help prevent health issues among currently healthy individuals.
Ellis’s wife, Meredith Wheeler, is a former television news writer and producer. She helped round up the audience that attended the book-signing at Chevalier’s, one of several book signings taking place around the U.S.
Ellis and Wheeler, who now live in France where they grow many of their own vegetables and shop the local farmers’ markets, have family and friends in Los Angeles and several turned out to hear about both the cookbook, the new Poldark series – and tales of Poldark past.
Wheeler took over 250 photos that appear in the new book.
Robert Lloyd, TV critic at the Los Angeles Times, asked Ellis a serious of questions that helped connect the dots regarding how Ellis shifted from TV acting to theater to voiceovers to writing cookbooks.
One member of the audience asked Ellis if the timing of the new Poldark series helped boost cookbook sales.
Ellis said the timing was indeed amazing and that he felt very lucky.
“It’s like I’ve been resurrected, 40 years later.”
When the event was over, Ellis and friends jaywalked across Larchmont Boulevard – it’s a good thing Reverend Halse wasn’t looking – and enjoyed a healthy Mediterranean meal at Le Petit Greek Estiatorio.
