At a special – and rather noisy – dinner at Selfridges, we celebrated the female producers who’ve played such a huge role in putting Irish food on the map. We discuss how and why Darina got into cooking. From a teacher telling her that she’d never be able to use cooking in a career to meeting her future husband… who just so happened to be her boss’s son. Darina tells me how…
View PostZest Quest Asia, founded by Cyrus Todiwala – chef patron/owner of Café Spice Namaste and Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen – and his wife Pervin, is designed to encourage the next generation of chefs to bring excellence to Asian cuisine. I find out what the students are cooking in the final as well as find out more about the authenticity of Asian cuisine, including the methods, ingredients and classic elements. Then we…
View PostThe Black Sea has received high praise, just last week it won a special commendation at the prestigious Andre Simon Awards. From Istanbul to Odessa, Caroline and I travel around The Black Sea and discuss the inspiration behind her book. Caroline calls it ‘a travel book with recipes’ so you’ll not only discover recipes – inspired by meals, meetings and literature – you’ll also learn about the people, their stories and culinary…
View PostI joined Ramael Scully, or Scully as he’s known, in the kitchen of his eponymous restaurant in St James’ Market, London.We discuss how his background – he grew up in Malaysia and Sydney with a mixed heritage of Chinese, Indian, Irish and Balinese – influences his flavours in the restaurant.Then it was time for lunch, so he showed me how he feeds his staff with a flavoursome salmon recipe.
View PostIt’s twenty years this Easter since Jamie Oliver first slid down that spiral bannister in The Naked Chef. As he hopped onto his scooter, he introduced a new audience to the idea that food could cook them up a whole load more than what’s on the plate. Food became about taste – as in lifestyle rather than flavour, but did it really get people cooking? Well, yes if you believe…
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