‘Why do we glorify food so much?’
What did your mother make you? The best Sunday roast dinner on the planet.
What is the meal you will always remember? Four Star Pizza on my 13th birthday. It was the first time I’d ever been allowed to order a takeaway.
What was your defining food experience? Not having a gluttonous death-row meal before undergoing gastric-bypass surgery — the beginning of healing my tumultuous relationship with food.
What is your comfort food? Food and I got a divorce. Food is just fuel and nourishment for me now, it’s not my comfort any more.
What is your hangover cure? Water, water, water, and a Dioralyte.
What do you drink? Vodka and soda water with a squeeze of fresh lime.
If you could only eat three things for the rest of your life, what would they be? Avocados; eggs; and smoked salmon.
You can go anywhere and have anything to eat with any one person. Where, what and who? New York with the late, great Rik Mayall, to a swanky lobster restaurant.
What’s your favourite restaurant in Ireland? Marcel’s on Merrion Row in Dublin. And abroad? Cafe Yumm in Oregon.
What’s your sweet treat? This is as sweet as I get — Glenisk Greek-style natural yoghurt with berries and cinnamon.
What do you refuse to eat? Sugar. It’s the devil.
Worst meal ever? Pureed chicken and carrots in hospital after my surgery. I hadn’t eaten for three days, yet I was repulsed by the sight of the food. I knew then the gastric bypass for my morbid obesity had begun to work.
What is your guilty pleasure? Peanut butter.
Are you careful about what you eat? Very careful. I prep all my food, so I only have to do the dishes twice a week. Winning at life!
Are there any foods you have had to cut out or cut down on that you miss? I genuinely don’t miss any of them since I’ve healed my relationship with food. It’s only food, why do we glorify it so much?
Jules Coll’s book Flabyrinth: My Escape From Maximum Insecurity Prison will be published by Gill Books on September 2. See julescoll.com
In conversation with Sophie White Photo by Ronan Melia