Considered one of the finest chefs of his generation, Heston Blumenthal is renowned for his three-Michelin-starred restaurant, the Fat Duck, and for revolutionising the way people approach cooking. He is the author of seven books, including the newly published Is this a Cookbook? (Bloomsbury,£27) that combines recipes with personal stories and hacks. In 2006, he was awarded an OBE for his services to British gastronomy. @thehestonblumenthalteam
The first single I bought was ELO’s Sweet Talkin’ Woman. It was a purple vinyl and I got it from a store on the Edgware Road. I’d never heard of them but loved the colour. I quickly found their album, A New World Record, which came with a cardboard pop up of their signature spaceship.
The book that influenced me the most was Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking. It showed me that browning meat did not seal in the juices. This was one of the cornerstone beliefs of gastronomy at the time and it was the beginning of my ‘question everything’ approach. He and I later became good friends and worked together to write the Statement of New Cookery in The Fat Duck Cookbook.
What's everyone reading?
I’m currently reading How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett. She has a concept called the body budget, which is about how we need to constantly balance both our nutritional and emotional needs. Her ideas mirror many of my own beliefs about emotions and feelings.
The film that comes the closest to capturing the essence of a three-star restaurant environment is Ratatouille. It shows the power of nostalgia when Remy presents the dish to the food critic. Thomas Keller was the consultant for the film. The paradox of a bunch of rats running a three-star kitchen is wonderful.
My best-loved quote is by Heraclitus: ‘No man steps in the same river twice, for the river is never the same and he is never the same man’. It teaches us that everything is changing, us included, and sometimes we need to go back and revisit things we think we knew and look again.
My favourite museum is the Victoria & Albert. Last year I produced a model of my dish Mock Turtle Soup for its Alice in Wonderland show. I also once made a cheese from the bacteria on my skin as part of a food exhibition there. No one got to eat it though, which was probably a good thing!
There is a room in the Mandarin Oriental that I stay in with a view over Hyde Park, where I played as a kid. We took photos for my new book outside the hotel and I was overwhelmed with memories, to the point of tears. I was reminded how far I’d come from the small flat we lived in in Queensway to staying in one of the most luxurious parts of London. That room is very special to me.
Next, I’m travelling to Copenhagen; one of my oldest friends, Garry Dawson, lives there. He was my first head chef at the Fat Duck. I’m looking forward to seeing him.
