I'm Steve, better known as Salami Steve. I cure meat, cook it, teach it and write about it from Topsham in Devon.
I got here the long way round. I spent more than twenty years in a suit and tie as "Spreadsheet Steve", making money for other people, and ended up working in Qatar before coming home to Devon. Through all of it I was a hunter, a cook and an outdoors person, and in the end that side won.
In 2013 I started Good Game as a small salumeria in my converted garage, curing game meats and free range pork. It grew into a factory making organic, nitrate free charcuterie, and at one point we were one of the biggest charcuterie producers in the UK. During Covid I broke the factory up and went back to small team artisan production, which is where my heart has always been.
I've also spent a decade in restaurants. In 2016 I opened the Pig and Pallet, a BBQ joint that became a destination and was featured on BBC television. Today I run South West Pizza in Topsham, and in 2025 I opened Mesita, a tapas restaurant, with my brother. It's inspired by our endless trips to the Basque Country and Spain.
My first book, Different Decades Same Adventure - Come on Then, comes out on 2nd November. It's a travel memoir about the years my wife Trina and I spent wandering the world together. It covers the places, the kitchens and the food that shaped how I cook, told and with plenty of mischief. It's the first part of a longer story, and more will follow.
https://link.amazon/B0692qJZK
I teach charcuterie at River Cottage and The School of Artisan Food. Through Salami Steve Limited I advise butchers, farms and producers on setting up and running their businesses. As Salami Steve I write and film about curing, butchery, provenance and the honest story of where our meat comes from.
I'd like to join the Guild to learn from people who write about food for a living, and to keep telling the story of British charcuterie properly.
