Cigarette break saves UK chefs from bombings

Seven British-based chefs miraculously escaped death in last week's Madrid bomb blast, because some of them had stopped to buy cigarettes.

The group were in the Spanish capital as part of a tasting trip organised by food supplier Grivan. They were preparing to board an 8am morning train from Atocha station when the first bombs exploded at 7.39am.

According to Pascal Feraud, executive chef of Spoon+ at London's Sanderson hotel, the chefs were about to go down to the platform that bore the brunt of the explosions when they stopped to buy cigarettes.

"It delayed us by three or four minutes," he said. "That kept us alive.

"We saw people all bloody and burned, and then the police started shouting because there had been more bombs. It was very confusing."

Head chef of the Sheraton Park Tower's One-O-One restaurant, Pascal Proyart, said: "We were 80 yards away. We should be in body bags. We have been very lucky."

The other chefs on the trip were Mark Edwards of Nobu, Philip Corrich of the RAC Club, Pascal Evan of the Bleeding Heart and Antonio Vidal of the Melia White House hotel - all London-based - and Lennox Hastie of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 18 - 24 March 2004