FOOD&DRINK EXTRA G The hosts of Christmas past...

INO loves a 10-course Italian feast, while John Whaite takes charge of the sprouts. Reminiscing over Christmases past is a crucial part of the festive season, especially when it comes to making a decision over what you’ll be dishing up this year.

So, we caught up with a few of our favourite chefs to discover their ultimate Christmas foodie memories... MASTERCHEF winner

is American, so his first British Christmas was quite the experience: “So many desserts – trifle, the cake, the Christmas pudding. Then my mother-in-law makes Christmas cookies and rocky road. Mince pies; I didn’t like them at first, I thought they were too sweet, but now I can’t get enough of them.

“And then the roast dinner – the height of British cooking. My father-in-law taught me to make them and they’re amazing.” SEAFOOD aficionado

says: “The first time I had an Australian Christmas, which was salad and prawns outdoors by the pool, was in the early Eighties. My fond memories are always of having have been since she moved to England and started spending them at her mum’s house in Shropshire, although they still rarely have turkey: “We have a brilliant photo of Matt standing in gum boots in about 3ft of snow with a head-torch on, barbecuing steaks in my mum’s garden,” she says. TO avoid rushing about with the turkey, early doors, presenter and Kirstie’s Real Kitchen author Kirstie Allsop has restructured Christmas day: “I like to do the supper at six o’clock, after the Queen’s speech, and basically have an all-day, rolling breakfast while everyone opens their presents. FORMER Bake Off champion says of his traditional Christmas lunches at home:

“Poor mum always waterlogs the Brussels sprouts, no matter how hard I try to say, ‘Please, just fry them’. So I said, ‘This year, I don’t care what’s happening, I will kidnap you if I have to, I’m taking your freedom away from you and I’m making my sticky Lebanese sprouts’.” “HERE, it’s all about having a starter and then having this huge plate, where the turkey goes on top, then it’s pretty much over. In Italy it’s different,” explains

author of Gino’s Italian Coastal Escape. “We do between 10 and 15 different courses. We have fish, because we don’t have turkey. One of the dishes we do is sea bass cooked in a salt crust.

“We do a lot of antipasti, cured hams and cheeses, one or two plates of pasta. There’s plenty for everyone.

“You put everything in the middle of the table and spend four or five hours eating all of the beautiful different kinds of foods.”