To me, food is as much about the moment, the occasion, the location and the company as it is about the taste.
It was quite a challenge to make people eat crab ice cream.
You think about some of the most memorable meals you've ever had; the food will be good but it will often be about locating a mental memory and taste is inexorably linked to all the other senses and memory, so ultimately it is all about taste.
There are so many issues in our oceans - like the near extinction of blue fin tuna - that should be taken more seriously worldwide.
I was born in the '60s and grew up in the '70s - not exactly the best decade for food in British history. It was horrendous. It was a time when, as a nation, we excelled in art and music and acting and photography and fashion - all creative skills... all apart from cooking.
You need to do the work to bring the money in, but not compromise standards.
We were saving, saving, saving then going to France and blowing the money eating. She was a nurse and had never experienced fine dining but she loved it, too. Our mates thought it absurd.
I would try doing a dish 30 different ways.
I write and chop with my left hand and do everything else, including eating with a knife, with my right.
I was determined that if I failed it wouldn't be due to lack of effort.
What gets me excited is the original principle.
No, when I worked as an accountant I was falling asleep waiting for 5 o'clock.