Peter Smith obituary | Food
My father, Peter Smith, who has died aged 97, opened a pioneering health food store in the unlikely setting of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, in the late 1950s, at a time when the pursuit of vegetarianism and healthy eating was only a fringe interest.
He ran the store until the mid-1960s before spending several years living and teaching in Japan, then opening another health food outlet in Surrey in the early 1970s, successfully guiding it until the late 1990s, by which time his advocacy of healthy eating had become much more mainstream.
Born in Cottam, on the Nottinghamshire-Lincolnshire border, to Jack and Doris (née Womble), Peter grew up in the lively surroundings of their pub, the Railway Inn in Leverton, where he flourished. As a child he showed a talent for snooker, visiting local venues to take part in charity matches and displaying the confidence that would mark his later life.
After leaving Scunthorpe Technical High School, he completed three years of national service from 1946 to 1949 in the Royal Air Force as an engineer and was posted to Iraq, an experience which sparked a fascination with foreign cultures, food and travel. A vegetarian since a young age, he was also interested in the relationship between food and well-being.
On his return, Peter worked at the Scunthorpe Steelworks as a maintenance engineer until 1957 when he opened the Healthy Food Stores in Scunthorpe, the first business of its type in the town and one of only a handful of such stores in the whole country.
In 1959, he left the company under the leadership of his sister Betty to embark on a five-month “India Vegetarian Expedition”, transforming an old mail truck and traveling it more than 4,000 miles to study regional diets and traditional approaches to health.
Once back he continued to run the Scunthorpe store until it was sold in 1964, after which he moved to Tokyo. He spent seven years there, teaching English at Toyojoshi High School while also studying ikebanathe Japanese art of flower arranging, and exhibits his work. In Japan, he met Mitsuko Takano, a secretary, whom he married in 1969.
Returning to the UK with Mitsuko, in 1974 Peter opened another store, Health Foods, in the village of Cheam, Surrey, and ran it successfully for the next two decades until his retirement in 1997.
He showed little sign of slowing down and continued to travel into his 90s, eventually visiting 72 countries. He was a gentle, optimistic man who found interest and beauty in everyday things, and his life was a testament to open-mindedness, cultural exchange, and the belief that good health – and a good life – begins with curiosity.
He is survived by Mitsuko, their children, Kasumi and me, and their grandchildren Emilia, Maia and Sofia.
