Passionfruit is my favourite food. More than noodles. More than crispy duck. More than any charcuterie, any fresh pasta, more than even hummus; I love passionfruit! It's so tangy, so sweet, so beautifully vibrant in colour. But it goes beyond that for me. In my head, this simple, pulpy fruit represents the exotic, adventure, and the unknown.

At the age of nineteen, a whirlwind of unexpected events led me to spend a few months in Israel. I had never traveled outside of the US or Canada before, and, I really had no idea what to expect from this new country. The flight was long and uncomfortable, but I passed my time with a book, and eventually went to sleep. When I awoke, the flight attendants wheeled over a cart, and gave me coffee, hot towels, and microwaved bagels with hummus and egg. I filled out my customs card, ate my breakfast, and soon enough, we were touching down in Tel Aviv. I pressed my nose against the window like a child, watching my first glimpse of foreign land get closer and closer.

I sat in the airport, ate a falafel, and waited to be picked up by my cousin Alan, a man I'd never met. When he picked me up, the sky was blue with twilight, and I couldn't believe, in January, how warm the air still was. We drove into the Negev desert, and he spoke of Israel and it's culture.  "There is an old joke," I remember him saying, "That the shortest amount of time you'll ever have to wait for anything in Israel is between a traffic light going green and somebody tooting their horn."

Maybe an hour into our drive, Alan pulled into the dusty parking lot of a small kibbutz. They had a wonderful produce market, he told me, where everything sold was grown right there. The shop was brightly lit and casual, with a curly haired young woman in purple linen pants perched on a stool by the register. 

"Pick out something you haven't seen before, and we'll buy it." Alan instructed me. 

I wandered the crates of fruit and vegetables until I saw a box full of little blackish purple orbs. They were about the size of eggs, maybe a little smaller, and quite wrinkly. I sniffed one and was surprised by it's punchy, sweet aroma.  Alan informed me that they were passionfruit, which I'd heard of but never tried. We bought a kilo, said toda, stepped back into the still, inky night, and headed back to Alan's for dinner. 

That evening, I sat with Alan and his wife around their kitchen table, drinking cherry tea and eating passionfruit with a spoon. This exotic new fruit gave me such a sense of wonder; I didn't know fruit could even taste like that! There, in that lovely little house in southern Israel, it occurred to me for the first time just how much of the world there was for me- for anybody- to see. Travel is such a significant part of who I am, and that night, the night my cousin Alan split a passionfruit open for me to taste, the world opened itself up to me for my first time. 

On another note, I do apologise for the incredibly long wait between posts; I moved, my mother moved, and I started a new job. I've been spread pretty thin. But I'm back on track, and will post a new interview tomorrow.

Passionfruit Curd Cake

This was a rainy day activity for me. It has been freezing here in Boston. This cake was nice with a big cup of tea while I stayed inside and watched Mad Men....

The passionfruit curd I made was the exact same recipe I posted last year.

For the cake:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 tbsp passionfruit pulp or puree

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup passionfruit curd, to finish

For the passionfruit curd:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups passionfruit pulp or puree 

4 eggs, whisked thoroughly

Make the curd:

1. Boil a pot of water for a double boiler. Place a large, heat-proof bowl over the boiling water and reduce heat slightly. Melt butter and eggs together.

2. Meanwhile, beat together passionfruit and egg. When the butter and sugar is completely melted, add passionfruit mixture, and cook, stirring constantly.  

3. When the curd has thickened and can coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat and transfer to a sterilised jar.

Make the cake: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one by one, beating thoroughly. Add passionfruit pulp and incorporate.

2. Sift together flour and baking powder. Combine wet and dry ingredients and beat until smooth.

3. Spread batter evenly into a prepared pan. Pour over passionfruit and use a spatula to spread over the batter. "Swirl" the curd into the batter a bit.

4. Pop into the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Top with powdered sugar and serve with passionfruit curd.

My chat with Boris got me thinking about my own visit to Belgium. 

I spent a week in Ghent with my lifelong friend and travel buddy, Lisa. We had been overseas for not even two weeks, unaware of the new adventures and life changes that, over the years, would come from our jaunt around Europe. We took a train from Amsterdam; watched the countryside, drew little pictures  of our adventures, ate some hastily purchased bitterballen. 

Then, we were in Belgium. We were set to meet our Couchsurfing host at the train station, so we chatted with a sausage vendor, who sang us an aria from his favourite opera. 

Our host was a wry young woman with blonde dreadlocks and bright, colourful clothing. We spent many happy evenings with her.  On our first night, we accompanied her to a local taverne, where her friends held an underground "pay what you can" dinner party. We dropped some euros into a jar next to an enormous pot of stew, and sat at a big, crowded table.  We clinked glasses of beer, and tucked into deep bowls of lentil soup as wisps of smoke and the snippets of Flemish floated around us. 
We chatted with many people that night, and though we'd just eaten, we of course we began asking about food. Lisa and I had spent a good portion of our train journey discussing how excited we were to try frieten, which are Belgian style chips, served hot in a paper cone. When we asked our new friends about where to get the best ones, they all agreed on one thing; no matter where we go, we must get speciaalsaus. It was, of course, the first thing we did when we were on our own in the city the next day.

So, what is speciaalsaus? It's a combination of mayonnaise, ketchup, and curry, with a bit of chopped onion. It's easy to make and absolutely delicious on chips. I'm sure this would also be good with sausages, burgers, or pretty much anything fried.
In my interview with Boris, he says he prefers his fries late at night, with "just salt", but  the mention of Belgian frieten evoked such fond memories. The other day, it was really slow in the restaurant where I cook, so I made myself some fries and decided to try and make some sauce.
One taste, and I was transported right back to Ghent, sitting in a little shop with my best friend, giggling over our travels, wondering what was ahead, and dipping hot frites into speciaalsaus.

Belgian Speciaalsaus

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1 1/2 tbsp ketchup

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 of an onion, diced

Combine ingredients.  Enjoy.

I know this isn't much of a recipe, but hopefully it will be of good use to you. 

Lisa. Ghent. Adventure awaits.

"Breakfast is my favourite moment of the day."

Boris Gronemberger, the drummer of Belgian band Girls in Hawaii was such a delight to interview. He even provided his recipe for ham quiche, which I will be posting later this week!

If you'd like to see Boris and his bandmates in action, Girls in Hawaii are playing at a variety of music festivals in Europe over the summer. And definitely give their newest video, Rorschach, a watch.  

There will be recipes inspired by this interview coming soon. Enjoy! 

Patchwork Tablecloth: What are your favourite foods?

Boris Gronemberger: Beside French or Belgian traditional food, I love Italian, Lebanese, Indian and Mexican food.

PT:  What sort of food do you like to cook?

BG: Any kind of pastas but I also like to make quiche.  My favourite is leeks, carrots and ham quiche. I do the pastry myself, using olive oil, flour, water and salt.  

PT: What are your favourite holidays or celebrations? What foods do you associate with them?

BG: Summer holidays are my favourite because of the barbecues. I love salads, grilled meat and vegetables and bananas as desert.

PT: What are your favourite fruits and vegetables?

BG: Pears, apples, strawberries, prunes, leek,  carrot, endives, pumpkins.

PT: What did you eat as a child? 

BG: Mainly pancakes, fish sticks, pastas with tomato sauce, meat, and of course, chocolate.

PT: Imagine your refrigerator. What do you see inside?

BG: I see some seasonal vegetables; for now leeks, carrots, parsnips, parsley. Cheese; Comté, goat cheese. Eggs from the countryside, bacon, tofu, rice milk, yoghurt... 

PT: Are there any foods you dislike? What are they?

BG: Seafood, all of it. I'm definitely not a seafood fan. 

PT: Where do you consider yourself to be "from"? Please tell me a bit about the food in the place where you grew up, the place you live now, and, if you'd like, anywhere else that is important to you.

BG: I usually say that I come from the woods. I'm coming from a small town located in the Ardenne, a region in the south of Belgium.  It's called Bouillon. It has a very nice middle age castle and it's surrounded by the Semois river- famous for its tobacco and its trouts.

The town of Bouillon. Photo by Boris Gronemberger.

I don't really see any specific meal. We love meat as it's mainly a hunting area.  Maybe the most specific thing would be the sauce we use. It's called sauce Ardennaise or 'à l'Ardennaise. 

It's mainly made of cream, butter and slices of bacon and maybe some parsley.You can find any meat, or fish or even mussels à l'Ardennaise. Even Salad. All you need is to put that creamy sauce on top of anything or just some slices of bacon.

Now I'm living in Brussels and pretty much ironically I got to know about vegetables here... It's much easier to find vegetarian restaurants here and I was part of a local farming support group. That helped me a lot discovering lots of unknown or forgotten vegetables. 

PT: What is your typical breakfast?

BG: Breakfast is my favourite moment of the day.
I mainly eat toasts and jam but when I have time, I have my two favourites that are extremely opposite:

One;  Eggs, bacon, beans, toast.

Kousmine Budwig Cream.  Photo by Boris Gronemberger.

Two; the Kousmine Budwig Cream. It just helps me feel better sometime. It's like a magic potion! 

When you have this in the morning you can be sure it's gonna stick to your body for half a day. 

PT: What are your favourite beverages?

BG: Japanese green tea; genmaicha. Coffee.

Beer. We have thousands of them in Belgium but for now it's Guldenberg.  Whisky...I like Singleton pretty much.

PT: Which sweets and desserts do you like best?

BG: Chocolate cake is my favourite ever. 

PT: What is your favourite combination of flavours?

BG: I recently went to a Cuban restaurant and had what they called El Nacional. It's made of pork meat, plantains , rice, black beans and a creamy peanut sauce. That was a real kick for me.

PT: What is something interesting that you've eaten during your travels?

BG: Pollo mole in Tucson, Arizona. Chicken breast with beans, rice and spicy chocolate sauce. Simply amazing.

PT: What is the best thing you can remember eating?

BG: This pollo mole in Tucson is probably one of my best. 

PT:  Do you have any food-related family traditions? What are they? 

BG: For my birthday, I used to ask my mother to cook roasted pork topped with a tomato, wine and bacon sauce. Another variation of the Ardennaise sauce but without cream.

PT: Are there certain foods you like to cook or eat during certain seasons? What are they?

BG: I love barbcues but I also like winter courses. Any simmered course is welcome. like blanquette of veal with rice. 

PT: What is your favourite food related smell? 

BG: Toast and coffee in the morning.

PT: What do you like best on pizza?

BG: I like pretty much ham, cheese, tomato, pineapples. We call it the pizza Hawaii.

But there is one place in Brussels where they serve pizza with potatoes and a creamy truffle sauce. That's what I have every time I go there.

PT: You're throwing a party. What are you serving?

BG: Some cheese, crisps and guacamole, dried sausages. White pudding and some raw vegetable; carrots, zucchinis.

PT: It's 2 am and you're making your way home after a big night out. What are you eating?

BG: If i'm on my way home, I'll definitely go for some fries... only with salt.
But if I'm home, I might make myself a big sandwich with ham and cheese. 

PT:  Please tell me about a memory- any memory- that somehow relates to food.

BG: It was in Beiruit. I was on tour and we had dinner in a small restaurant where two guys were playing traditional music and there were only local people, no tourists.

After a while, everybody was singing and smoking narghile, men and women together.
It was just after the civil war and everybody was laughing. Such a wonderful experience and the food was excellent.
Lebanese food is one of the finest in the Mediterranean Sea and also one of my favourite. 

"I can cook curry! Curry rice...and I can make very easy cake... Noodles, noodle soup..."

Ming

Curry rice

This sweet and spicy "curry rice" is from Japan, but has become popular in Taiwan as well. I used a recipe from a blog called Taiwanxifu, with only a few changes made. It was a different way of preparing curry than I'd made before; by making a tomato and curry based roux and thickening it with chicken stock.

This is such a delicious dish, and it goes a long way!

1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 large clove garlic, chopped
4-5 cups chicken stock
4 tbsp flour
2 tbsp Japanese curry powder
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and in chunks

3 small potatoes, in cubes

1 lb chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 red apple, peeled and grated

1 tbsp soy sauce (or sweet soy)

Rice, to serve

1. In a large, heavy bottomed pan, heat a knob of butter with a good splash of oil. Add the ginger and garlic and cook briefly, until aromatic.  Meanwhile, bring a pot of your  chicken stock to boil.

2. Add flour and cook for a bit, stirring frequently. Once it's gotten a bit of colour, add curry and tomato paste. Heat through.

3. Add a small amount of hot stock and stir to incorporate. Ladle by ladle, add hot stock to the pot, stirring constantly. 

4. Add remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for about a half hour, stirring occasionally.

5. Serve with rice.

"i eat at my market."

© Jcwait | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

Ming
Tapei, Taiwan

I met Ming while picking grapes on a small vineyard in Australia's lovely Barossa Valley. She was one of the 4 other young backpackers volunteering on the farm, and I liked her immediately. 
After two days of rain preventing us from picking, we spent this particular night amongst the vines until the sun went down. 
A caravan filled with French backpackers had shown up that morning, asking to work for the day in exchange for a few bottles of the vineyard's wine. Our host, Sabine, agreed, and as the day got longer, she offered them to stay the night and to have some dinner with us.
Ming and I prepared dinner for everybody that night. I believe it was sausages with tomatoes. While we sat in the kitchen together, tired but accomplished, I spoke to her about food.

Patchwork Tablecloth: What are your favourite foods?

Ming: Seafood. But a lot. I eat everything. Seafood is my best one and I like rice. Curry. Desserts! Cookies, chocolate, all fruit.

PT: Do you like to cook at all? What sort of things do you make? 

M: I can cook curry! Curry rice… and I can make very easy cake. Noodles, noodle soup.

PT: What are your favourite holidays or festivals? Do you eat anything special for them?

M: Usually Christmas, but only I celebrate with friends. Chinese New Year;  you cook some traditional food. A child will have a red envelope. Everyone comes back and we will have some gamble; mahjong. It’s traditional. Rice cakes. Fish. A lot of vegetables. And dumplings! Eating dumplings bring a lot of money for the new year. And fish, we will cook fish, but we will not finish the whole fish. You don’t eat the head and tail so you make a lot of money in the year. If you finish it, it means you will have nothing. You must leave the head and tail.

There are three important festivals. Rice dumplings for Dragon Boat Festival; triangle shaped, use a leaf to make it. We put some sticky rice and some mushrooms, egg, meat, and we make and boil it. In Dragon Boat Festival, we will have activities.  Boat on a river and a game; different boats, one flag in a river and all boats race to grab flag. All family will get together. 5 May on lunar calander. 
The other one is 15 August; Mid-Autumn Festival. We will eat mung cake! And pomelo. And barbecue. Every family barbecues. And we will sit outside and see the moon. Family will get together. 
These three are the most important in Taiwan.

PT: What's your favourite vegetable?

M: I think cabbage.

PT: Fruit?

M: Cherry.

PT: What did you eat when you were a little girl? 

M: All fruit and cookies, chocolate, yoghurt. Pudding. Ice cream. Chocolate.

PT: What do you keep in your fridge?

M: Fruit, vegetables, seafood. Milk and yogurt.

PT: Do you dislike any foods?

M: I like everything! 

PT: What is the food like in Taiwan? What do you associate with home?

M: Night markets. Stinky tofu! The smell is not good but it tastes really good. Blood rice cake. Oyster pancake. We will put egg, oyster and some vegetables and put some flour and some sweet sauce or spicy sauce. Very delicious; traditional food in Taiwan. Offal; stomach, heart.

PT: What do you eat for breakfast?

M: Oats. And sandwich. But I usually eat oats at home first and then when I go to the office, on the way, I will buy a sandwich. Tuna.

PT: How about lunch?

M: I always eat lunch box. And sometimes it’s dumpling, sometimes its noodle soup.

PT: What's a typical dinner?

M: Sometimes I eat at home…my mom will cook rice and some vegetables or fried fish….I think similar to lunch. Sometimes I eat outside; noodle soup and lunch box. Snacks. I eat at my market. Or hot pot! 

PT: What do you like to drink?

M: I like water. I don’t like too sweet beverage. Tea; green tea, no sugar!

PT: What's your favourite dessert?

M: Red bean soup.

PT: It's 2 am and you're drunkenly heading home. What are you eating?

M: I eat fried chips! And some fried…we also eat fried…stewed seafood or shrimp and we will drink beer.

PT: What is the most important thing for a person to have in a kitchen?

M: I think a pot.

PT: If you were making dinner for just yourself, what would make?

M: I think just noodle soup for myself…its easy!

PT: What's your favourite combination of flavours? 

M: Avocado with honey! It’s the best one! And you put in the toaster. It’s very very delicious. I like it. It really tastes good. 

PT: What's your favourite ingredient?

M: Seafood!

PT: What is the best thing you've ever eaten?

M: Butter, cheese, lobster. In Taiwan. In a steak restaurant. I think it’s your country’s food.

PT: Do you have any family traditions or recipes?

M: At home, my mother cooks very simple food. Just stews, some vegetables and fried eggs. Fried rice. Chicken soup.

PT: What do you eat in the winter?

M: Hot pot. 

PT: Autumn?

M: Sesame oil noodles.

PT: Summer?

M: Sushi. Mung bean soup. Bamboo shoots with mayonnaise- after being in fridge. Like a salad. Only in summer.

PT: What is your favourite food smell?

M: Baked cheese. Garlic and ginger. Kimchi.

PT: You walk into the party and are delighted to see this on the table:

M: Dessert! Cheesecake…chocolate cake…pudding…ice cream.

PT: What do you like to eat on your pizza?

M: Seafood.

PT: Finally, please share a food-related memory with me.

M: I made cookies; chocolate cookies and coffee cookies. The first time I make coffee cookie and I put too much coffee and everyone eats just maybe two or three piece and they can’t sleep at night! It’s too strong! So everyone can’t sleep! But it smelled really good...but too much coffee.

"Then there are the things I rarely ever say no to: spicy pasta; fresh seafood; moules marinières; fresh bread and olives; French black pudding and apple; roast lamb with garlic and rosemary; grilled goat’s cheese salad." 

Joanne Harris

Food styling and photographs by Annalise Muller

 When I travel long-term, I try to spend a bit of time helpx-ing wherever I go. It allows me to spend time in the countryside, learn new skills, and meet amazing people. 

While in France a few years back, I spent a couple of weeks in the Pyrenees, helping an English couple renovate an old bergerie into a bed and breakfast. They were such a cool couple, and my time with them was so enjoyable and educational! If you are thinking of a trip to France in the future, I recommend staying at their B&B. I can only imagine how lovely the final product is, and they are truly magnificent hosts.

The bergerie was located just outside of a tiny village called Galey.

I tried black pudding on the bergerie, served crumbled and hot with apples and cabbages fresh from their garden. It was perfect. I was hooked. 

When I saw black pudding mentioned with apples again, I knew one thing I'd be cooking this week. I also included rhubarb, because it's tangy and cuts through the richness of the pudding, but also because it's finally spring and I freaked out when I saw it at the market.

Black pudding with apples, rhubarb, and spiced cabbage

1/2 a red cabbage, chopped or shredded

1/8 teaspoon ground clove

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup red wine

1 tsp lemon juice

2 eating apples, peeled and thickly sliced
1 stalk rhubarb, sliced

1 tsp sugar

8 oz boudin, or black pudding, sliced

1. In a large pan, heat some oil or butter. Add cabbage and cook for a couple of minutes.

2. Add wine and spices. Stir and cook until liquid has evaporated. Stir through lemon juice, and remove from heat.

3. In another, medium pan, heat a large knob of butter with a bit of oil. Add apples, rhubarb and sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent any burning, until apples are soft but not mushy.

4. Meanwhile, heat a fair amount of oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Cook the black pudding on both sides, in batches if you need. Transfer to a lined plate to drain.

5. Serve all three together, perhaps with a bit of bread.

"Right now, I'm craving spicy chickpea curry...."

Food styling and photography: Annalise Muller

I was excited to try this dish out, because I have relatively little experience with cooking curries. I've made some kormas and laksas from shop-bought pastes, that's really it. 

 Upon a bit of research on chickpea curries, I came up with chana masala, a tomato based dry curry (meaning most of the liquid has evaporated, not that it's dry like a cracker). 

This dish did involve a trip to my favourite Indian market, where I bought amchoor (dried, powdered green mango) powder for the dish. It adds a sour, bright flavour to the dish. If you can't find it, use more citrus instead!

I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe for chana masala, which was adapted from one of Madhur Jaffrey's recipes.  I made a few  slight changes, but nothing major. 

I am always wary of giving measurements of chile peppers, since people buy all sorts of them. I used a green Jwala chili, which is common in Indian cooking and quite hot. I only used half. You may want more. 
I would recommend serving this with yoghurt or a raita of some sort. 

Chana Masala

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 onions, chopped finely
1 large clove garlic, chopped finely
1 thumb sized knob of ginger, grated
1/2 hot chile pepper, chopped (can less or more to your taste)
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 tbsp amchoor powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
4 cups cooked chickpeas
The juice of half a lemon or lime.


1.  In a large, heavy bottomed pan, heat a bit of oil. Add onions, garlic, ginger and chile pepper and cook for about five minutes, until fragrant.
2. Add all the dry spices, lower the heat as not to burn, and stir to incorporate with the onion mixture. Sautee over low heat for a couple of minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, water and chickpeas. Stir to incorporate. Simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes, until most liquid has evaporated.
4. Stir through citrus juice and season with salt.
5. Serve hot with rice or a fluffy flatbread such as naan.

Twenty food questions with Joanne Harris....

Photo credit: Takazumi Uemura

Joanne Harris is a magnificent fiction writer. Half British, half French, she is perhaps most famous for 1999 bestseller Chocolat. All of Ms. Harris' novels are engrossing, evocative, and stay with you long after you've finished the last page. 

I was especially interested to hear how Ms. Harris would respond to my questions as her novels are often very focused around food and the senses.  
Her answers are, just as in her books; atmospheric and detailed,  leaving  you wanting to eat everything she's described.

Patchwork Tablecloth: What are your favourite foods?

Joanne Harris: It depends on the season. Right now I’m craving: spicy chickpea curry; chilli macaroni and cheese; hot Thai noodles; green papaya salad; olive bread. Then there are the things I rarely ever say no to: spicy pasta; fresh seafood; moules marinières; fresh bread and olives; French black pudding and apple; roast lamb with garlic and rosemary; grilled goat’s cheese salad.

PT: What sort of food do you like to cook?

JH: Food that doesn’t take a long time to prepare. Spicy salads; pasta with roast vegetables and garlic; soups and stews; rosemary garlic bread; grilled vegetable couscous; chilli nachos with cheese. My husband and daughter are both vegetarians, so I generally cook vegetarian food, although sometimes when I eat out, I go back to the dishes of my childhood.

PT: What are your favourite holidays or celebrations? What foods do you associate with them?

JH: My daughter associates Christmas with Mexican food, so I often cook fajitas, nachos and vegetarian chilli for her. We have cheese poppas to start with (shaped like Christmas crackers), and sometimes we make a rich, chilli-bean soup. I’m not a fan of the traditional Christmas dinner, except for the pudding, which I like (especially with chilli and dark chocolate grated over the top).

PT: What are your favourite fruits and vegetables?

JH: Sweet potatoes; spinach; chickpeas; avocadoes; purple-sprouting broccoli; pineapple; plums; mango; strawberries; Jerusalem artichokes; flageolet beans; tomatoes; chestnuts;haricot beans; sweetcorn; mushrooms.

PT: What did you eat as a child?

JH: I was a fussy eater. I wouldn’t eat anything that wasn’t immediately recognizable; so mostly I ate bread; uncooked fruits; fish without sauce; meat with no gravy; puddings with no cream or custard. I hated school dinners – I hardly ever ate anything at school. I remember the dinner ladies trying to persuade me to eat at least the puddings, but they were all drowned in custard, which I hated. 

PT: Imagine your refrigerator. What do you see inside?

JH: Milk; spring greens; tomatoes; goat’s cheese; grated Cheddar; low-fat mozzarella;hummous; jars of red pickled chillies; Indian hot lime pickle; Greek olives; sunblush tomatoes; free-range eggs; avocadoes; couscous salad.

PT: Are there any foods you dislike? What are they?

JH: I’m still not a fan of gravy, custard, cream, butter or mayonnaise. 

PT: Where do you consider yourself to be "from"? Please tell me a bit about the food in the place where you grew up, the place you live now, and, ifyou'd like, anywhere else that is important to you.

JH: I was born in Yorkshire of a French mother, and so I have two very different culinary traditions. From my English grandmother I learnt about traditional baking; pies; tarts; cakes and puddings (although I never learnt to like custard or English-style gravy). From my French family I learnt about fresh seafood; rare steaks; terrines; sauces; fresh vegetables in season (and cooked only for the barest minimum of time); herbs; dressings; spices. When I was a child, English food was often very bland; the vegetables cooked to a slush; the meat overcooked and drowned in gravy. I remember how difficult it was to find fish that hadn’t been frozen, battered or breadcrumbed to within an inch of its life. Even such everyday things as pasta were quite difficult to find in Yorkshire. I remember a lot of boil-in-the bag fish (which I hated); mashed potatoes and carrots. Salad was mostly green lettuce leaves and sliced ham. Now things are very different; Britain has undergone a kind of culinary renaissance, and there are many different food traditions to explore and enjoy. 

PT: What is your typical breakfast?

JH: Something substantial, generally. Porridge, with honey and dried fruit; or scrambled eggs with chilli and sourdough bread; or fresh pineapple and cinnamon muffins; or spiced hot chocolate and hot cross buns; or kedgeree with mango pickle. I like breakfast better than lunch, which I often skip when I’m working.

PT: What are your favourite beverages?

JH: In the morning; breakfast tea. With meals, red wine (or sometimes, champagne). Fresh juices, occasionally: I particularly like red berry juices like cherry, grape and blackcurrant. 
Guilty pleasures; diet Coke, chai latte and passionfruit bubble tea. I once went to a meal at Windsor Castle where they served a ’74 Margaux: it was undoubtedly the best thing I’ve ever drunk (and I doubt I’ll ever get to taste one again). When I was a child we always drank Sauternes at family celebrations. I still love it. My mother used to say that if we ever got super-rich, we’d drink Château d’Yquem instead. Last year, I bought her a bottle. We both tasted it for the first time. It was very expensive, but totally worth it...

PT: Which sweets and desserts do you like best?

JH: I’m not as sweet-toothed as people expect me to be. I often don’t bother with desserts, although it’s rare for me to turn down a cheeseboard. I don’t really like chocolate desserts, either, although I’m fond of a nice crème caramel, a tarte Tatin or a lemon tart. I tend to eat sweets between meals if I have them at all; my local café does a mean Eccles cake, fresh-baked and hot, served with a wedge of Cheddar.

PT: What is your favourite combination of flavours?

JH: I like chillies in most things, including in sweets – chilli hot chocolate is a favourite – and I love the combination of cardamom and hot milk in chai latte, tea or rice puddings.

PT: What is something interesting that you've eaten during your travels?

JH: When I was in the Congo with Médecins Sans Frontières, I ate a lot of chilli-fried bananas, which I love; and lots of chickens that had been living wild in the jungle. They were tough and rangy, but they were the best chickens I’d ever tasted. In years of eating farmed fowl, I’d forgotten what chicken was really supposed to taste like. I also ate wild crocodile – interesting and semi-familiar, a little like fishy pork – which was great, except for nearly breaking a tooth on the machine-gun bullet that had killed it...

PT: What is the best thing you can remember eating?

JH: Reef fish in Mauritius, caught twenty minutes beforehand, grilled and served whole, with green coconut and palm-heart salad, flaked salt and fresh limes.

PT: Do you have any food-related family traditions? What are they?

JH: Pancakes, rather than birthday cakes, at most family celebrations. The recipe belongs to my great-grandmother, who prided herself on making them her own special way (and who 
never allowed anyone ever to touch her pancake-pan, not even to wash it)...

PT: Are there certain foods you like to cook or eat during certain seasons? What are they?

JH: I like to eat food as it comes naturally into season. I’m not a fan of flying out strawberries from Israel, or tomatoes from Africa in December. Right now I’m enjoying the first rhubarb, which grows in my garden. Later there will be other fruit; strawberries, raspberries, cherries, gooseberries and currants, with which I will make pies and jam. I love it when the new potatoes, or the first asparagus, or the purple sprouting broccoli come into season; they’re good enough to eat on their own, just with butter and salt. In winter I find myself making a lot of dishes based on root vegetables - carrots; yams; parsnips; potatoes - which keep nicely in my cellar.

PT: What is your favourite food related smell?

JH: Baking bread.

PT: What do you like best on pizza?

JH: Anchovies, green chillies and olives. 

PT: You're throwing a party. What are you serving?

JH: Individual spicy soufflés; cardamom rice with hot chickpea dhal; chilli paneer with toasted almonds; seeded nan bread; green papaya salad; flame-grilled fresh pineapple; sticky caramel sauce. 

PT: Please tell me about a memory- any memory- that somehow relates to food.

JH: So many of my memories relate in some way to food. Meeting Ray Bradbury for the first time, and having him show me how to make a rootbeer float. Cooking cherry pie with Juliette Binoche at my house (my 5-year-old daughter thought her name was Juliette Brioche). 

Aged seven, eating moules marinières for the first time. I’d never eaten mussels before, and I wasn’t particularly eager to try them. They looked evil, not like food at all. My parents and I were at a restaurant in France, and they’d both ordered the moules for themselves, and chicken and chips (the default position) for me. Somehow my mother managed to get me to try what she was eating. I liked it so much that I finished her portion, then started on my Dad’s plate...