Food
and cooking articles and information:
Chef Valentina Harris of Celebrity Chefs UK
Celebrity
Chef Valentina Harris is the noted authority on Italian
food and food culture and a member of the International
Association of Culinary Professionals. Descending from
the important Renaissance Sforza family, Valentina is
bright, passionate, accessible and appeals to people
far beyond her chosen subject. Valentina has a cookery
school in Italy and also in the south of France where
guests combine a truly wonderful holiday with an exciting
hands-on cookery and wine experience . . . more
info
 Q:
Whom do you most admire for their achievements?
A:
Elizabeth David
Q:
Who is your favourite chef?
A:
Michael Moore
Q:
With whom would you most like to have dinner?
A:
Gerard Depardieu
Q:
What would be your desert island disk?
A:
Anything by Del Amitri
Q:
What is your favourite British food?
A:
Proper roast pheasant with all the trimmings
Q:
What is your favourite Italian food?
A:
Pasta, Risotto or proper pizza in Naples
Q:
What is your favourite French food?
A:
Good Bistro cooking or anything Laurent Lebeau cooks
or anything enjoyed with Gerard Depardieu
Q:
What is your favourite World food?
A:
Good Thai
Q:
What do you like most about your job?
A:
Making people happy
Q:
How would you describe eating in the UK to someone who's
never visited it?
A:
Varied, but often expensive if you want to eat really
well
Q:
Do you think food in the UK has changed for the better
since the days of Duck with Orange and huge helpings
of Black Forest Gateau?
A:
Oh yes!
Q:
What's the best thing about eating in the UK?
A:
The raw materials are really good and mostly respected
and cooked / prepared with care - and it is so varied.
Q:
And the worst?
A:
Often just out of most people's price range if they
want to eat really well.
Q:
At what sort of place do you regularly go to eat?
A:
Apart from my own restaurant, locally in either
a good British, French or Italian.
Q:
Would you like to live and work somewhere other than
the UK and if so where and why?
A:
Somewhere hot and sunny as it makes me feel happy
to live in that sort of environment. South Africa or
Italy.
Q:
What's your favourite food?
A:
Salads, good bread, really juicy steaks, cheese,
fruit . . .
Q:
When did you first get involved in cooking?
A:
When I was three. I opened my first restaurant in
the garden at home when I was eight.
Q:
What sort of people have you cooked for during your
career. Most memorable or most forgettable?
A:
Most memorable are all the people who genuinely
understand the pleasures and joy of enjoying good food.
Forgettable are all those who simply eat to live.
Q:
Do you ever have regrets that you chose to become a
chef?
A:
Sometimes, when my feet and back really hurt!
Q:
What do you think you would have been if you had not
become a chef?
A:
I would probably have concentrated on writing instead,
or maybe pursued my rock and roll career, or been a
vet . . .
Q:
What would be your advice to someone who is thinking
of training to be a chef?
A:
Look after your feet and back from the very start.
Q:
The career of one famous chef only came about because
his professional football career came to an early close
through injury, and one chef's plans to open a restaurant
never happened when he became football manager of Aberdeen
and later Manchester United. Has fate ever played a
part in your career?
A:
Always.
To
find out more about Valentina
Harris
visit www.celebritychefsuk.com
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