My mother was creative in the kitchen.
I'm good at anything that's country - biscuits, gravy, chicken-fried steak. Look at me, for God's sake. I cook what I like to eat.
When I wrote 'Barefoot in Paris,' I wanted to make simple recipes that you could make at home that tasted like French classics.
My cooking is very simple, so I don't really use machines at all. A knife, cutting board, frying pan and strainer are my essentials.
My food is Louisiana, New Orleans-based, well-seasoned, rustic. I think it's pretty unique because of my background being influenced by my mom, Portuguese and French Canadian. There's a lot going on there.
I do love cooking, but our kitchen is nothing fancy or hi-tech.
Mum's home food was comfy, exquisite and she was also capable of the most wonderful gourmet food. She'd mix the rice and dal with stuff and roll these easy-to-pick-up extra-softened little balls of rice.
I like simple home-cooked food.
At home, my food is just sort of comfort food. It's not super fancy, but it's certainly tasty.
I don't come from any great culinary tradition - I'm from London!
At home I serve the kind of food I know the story behind.
I am a foodie, but I prefer to be at home and enjoy home-cooked food.
I'm a professional cook. I've worked with other cooks from all over the world, but my family is not that way - they're always lived within 25 miles of my hometown!
Some of the best dishes I can remember are from my childhood. Sometimes, whenever I want to feel like a kid again, I just whip them up for the family.
My dad makes food with very few delicate flavours.
I'm a terrible sort of non-fussy eater, really. I don't like posh food very much, and the more ingredients something's got in it, the less I tend to like it.
