Ray McVinnie
The former MasterChef judge and chef is inspired by gastronomy – the history, sociology and anthropology of food. “Food is culture, so everything to do with food has a story,” he says. “I like being part of the centuries-old cooking continuum.”
How would you describe your diet? Traditional, in the sense that I avoid food with additives and eat mostly home-cooked food. I avoid snacking and drink only tea, coffee, water, milk and quite a bit of wine. Wine is annoying because all of it, including organic wine, contains sulphites. But life is full of trade-offs.
Do you follow a special diet? As there’s bowel cancer in my family, my doctor advised me to avoid red meat and any processed meat with additives – except salt. I love a little traditional prosciutto and additive-free bacon. So, I’m what author Michael Pollan calls a “flexitarian”; I’ll eat meat if it’s there, but I don’t go looking for it. We eat lots of vegetables and as I’ve got older, I prefer the lightness of a predominantly vegetarian diet. What do you think of people who follow the paleo diet? They make me laugh. The paleo diet is simply a means of restricting calories, which is the only way to lose weight if that’s what you’re interested in doing. At our friend’s place in Italy, no matter who is there, this is never a topic of conversation because they eat mostly traditional food. The kids eat what the adults eat, and nobody worries about anything except the quality of the ingredients and the cooking. It’s the same in all old cultures.
What’s your typical breakfast? Today, I had coffee and two slices of wholewheat toast with Vegemite. It’s hard to break the habits of a lifetime.
What about lunch? A chicken, lettuce and tomato sandwich on wholewheat bread, and a coffee. What’s a typical evening meal for you and who cooks it? Grilled fish, salad or vegetables and rice. My partner and I both cook, so it depends on who feels like it. She’s a great cook; she’s especially good at Asian soups and pastry. What ingredient can’t you live without? Salt. It’s the most basic seasoning and judiciously seasoned food always tastes better than unseasoned. What nutrition advice have you found most annoying? People’s beliefs in fad diets. Also, the desperation to be skinny, which is cultural. In poor countries you often need to be plump to look successful and more intelligent.