This issue was brought to you in part by…

MATT MORAN Chef and cookbook author

Matt has a passion for the cuisine of his birthplace: Australia. He shares a recipe with us from his new book, Australian Food: Coast & Country, that champions macadamia nuts – endemic to his home nation (p16)…

Mountain, desert, ocean or jungle… which are you? I love travel and adventure, so it’s all of the above! First great travel experience? After working solidly for ten years (from the age of 15), I drove around the west coast of Australia. I loved it, and the landscapes were incredible. Favourite journey? I hope I’m yet to have it! Anywhere that has excitement, great culture and, most of all, good food. Top five places worldwide?

I’m biased but Australia has to be top. New York and Tokyo are also cities I’d return to, and the rest I can’t narrow down – but Hong Kong, India and Italy spring to mind. Passport stamp you’re proudest of? The first one I received when I went to Sri Lanka. Passport stamp you’d most like to have? Either Israel or Iceland. Guilty travel pleasure? When I travel, I like to dine out multiple times a day, so sometimes two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners!

NIKKI ALFORD Skipper of the Bessie Ellen

Despite hailing from a rural background, Nikki found her legs at sea, restoring and skippering the Bessie Ellen, one of Britain’s last working wooden coasting ketches. This month, she sails our editor Phoebe Smith to the UK’S furthest flung isle (p120)

Mountain, desert, ocean or jungle… which are you? Ocean. First great travel experience? Going on the SS Uganda – a cruise programme for schools – when I was 12. We sailed around the Med, stopping at places like Malta, Crete and Split. It made me want to study navigation, but I couldn’t as I wasn’t a boy. Favourite journey? Sailing back home from New Zealand via India – it took six months travelling in a 110-year-old ketch. Top five places worldwide? Aitutaki, Cook Islands; Vietnam; Sri Lanka; Scotland’s west coast and Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. Passport stamp you’re proudest of? Oman – I really had to fight for it as they wouldn’t accept we’d arrived by sail boat! Passport stamp you’d most like to have? Patagonia. Guilty travel pleasure? My duvet. No matter what, I always make room for it!

RICK STEIN Chef and TV presenter

Since starting his cooking career in the fishing port of Cornish Padstow, Rick Stein has become a popular TV presenter, travelling the world in globetrotting gastronomic programmes that have explored the cuisines of Spain, India, the Far East and more. He chats to us about his latest TV food tour, where he tastes his way through California and Mexico, as well as explaining why you shouldn’t write off the UK for your next culinary adventure – see p18

Mountain, desert, ocean or jungle… which are you? Ocean. First great travel experience? Visiting Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Mexico back in 1968. Favourite journey? Exploring Mexico’s Copper Canyon by train, from Los Mochis to Chihuahua. Top five places worldwide? Sydney, Australia; Palermo, Italy; Seville, Spain; Mérida, Mexico; Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Plus, I have to include Cornwall as well! Passport stamp you’re proudest of? Albania. Passport stamp you’d most like to have? Peru. Guilty travel pleasure? Cadbury’s chocolate eclairs.