People often ask me how I got into cooking. In fact, it nearly always comes up if I’m in any sort of ‘question and answer’ situation. I don’t mind at all; I have a fairly well-versed response that seems to satisfy the most inquisitive of enquiries.

I’m sure most professionals get asked this about their respective careers at various points in their lives. I just wonder if I get asked more frequently. Perhaps there is something about me that makes it seem like I’m a particularly unlikely candidate for the job, perhaps cooking seems like an unusual career choice for anyone starting out in the world of work, or maybe people want to know because cooking is something we all do, to a greater or lesser degree, every day, in contrast to most professions. By that I mean, we don’t have to fit in a bit of home dentistry, pore over accounts or install pipework on a daily basis, at least not in the same way that we have to cook. I think most people ask me this question because, perhaps, they could have seen themselves being a chef at one point, or liked the idea that they could have been. Whatever the reason, I can nearly always guarantee the people asking are genuinely enthused by cooking and everything it represents. They want to know because they love food.