Marco Pierre White
My mind might be conservative, but at heart, I was always a socialist.
Rudeness is not having fun, and if it is, it's at the expense of another person.
A lot of people say I look like a rock star or a designer punk. But I swear it's the job that has carved my face. It's the hours, the stress, and the pressure. It's not me trying to look like this.
I'm happiest walking through fields, on beaches, and over riverbanks. Nature is my surrogate mother.
There's something rather comforting about putting on an apron.
The food wasn't very good in the first kitchen I ever worked in. But it was very busy, so I learnt to be fast, absorb pressure, use a knife, and say, 'Yes, chef.'
If you really want to know what motivated me as a young man, it was a fear of death.
I'm naturally an introvert.
You cannot criticize a man for going to work. You really cannot.
My grandfather, father, and uncle were chefs, and my other uncle was a butcher.
I think, in life, the more you force things, they break. You just let things happen.
I came from the most humble side of society, and I know what it's like to be poor, really poor, and I was brought up in the '60s and '70s very poor, and I'm very happy flying the flag for the working man.
I'm a great fan of farmed products, as long as it's done properly, because it allows people to be able to afford them. If it wasn't for farmed products, a lot of people wouldn't eat so well.
Oh, I love ladies in hats! One rule of restaurants: never take a hat from a lady; wait for her to offer you the hat because she might not want to take it off - she might not have had time to do her hair properly.
A cookery book should be there for inspiration. Recipes should be a guideline, and they shouldn't be cast in stone.
When you work for someone, you never realise how much you are learning. It is only when you leave and you reflect back on life.
My favourite dessert is tarte Tatin.
As far as I am concerned, ambition is the most dangerous occupation in the world. I have never been ambitious, or if I have, it's only been by default.
Just because something is English does not necessarily mean it is good. We make the best cheddar; we make great pasties. But we can't make very good brie or baguettes - and the French can't make pork pies.
My favourite dinner is a cup of tea and a ham sandwich with English mustard.
I came from a hard, working-class world which, since my mother's death, had been dominated by men. I hadn't been encouraged to talk about the burden of grief, and because I was severely underdeveloped when it came to sharing my emotions, I mustn't have been the most communicative husband.
I never had a drink at all till I was 38. I'm just not a drinker. I go days without drinking.
I met my first wife at the fishmonger's in the summer of 1987, some six months after opening Harveys.
Oliver Reed was a great man who did things his own way. He used to come into Harveys, my restaurant in Wandsworth, and sit on the floor to have a drink before going to the table.
Perhaps I created the monster Ramsay, who ended up as a TV personality screaming at celebrities on 'Hell's Kitchen,' doing to them what I had done to him.
I was brought up a working-class Tory. I believe, to be a true socialist, you have to be a capitalist first. In my heart, I'm a socialist; in my mind, I'm a capitalist.
In 1990 at Harveys, when I was 28 years old, I became the youngest chef to win two Michelin stars. It was a huge achievement.
Once you accept and understand yourself, you do things for the right reasons, not the wrong ones, rather than being fuelled by your insecurities.
Life is an emotional rollercoaster. It really is.
I discovered that the world of the finest restaurants was something akin to the world of the Mafia.
Females make better cooks than men. Females have a better palate. They have a better sense of smell. They never take shortcuts; this is why they're very good in kitchens. The weakness in what they do is they are not as physically strong as men, so they're never really given the opportunity.
I am a believer that if you bring children into this world, then you have a responsibility to do your best and support and guide them until the day you die.
I don't need Michelin, and they don't need me.
I am not the sort of person who gives up.
Nine out of 10 English chefs have their names on their chests. Who do they think they are? They're dreamers. They're jokes.
Cuisine Nouvelle was just a concept, and one which, crucially, the English managed to get wrong. I mean, if you run a restaurant, you've got to feed people, not make pretty little pictures on plates to make up for your lack of ability.
Can you imagine, I lost my mother at age six? My childhood ended then.
I like a nice cross section of society in my restaurants - the stars, the toffs, the working guy.
My mother's death was the defining moment of my life.
If I think back to the eighties, my methods weren't conventional, but they got results.
The only time I am seen in public is when I go to work. When I go home to England, I never leave my home.
The reason I do television is because we all have to work and earn a living, as I have four children. It's also a platform for me to share my knowledge and inspire the young.
I think Singapore is one of the great cities of the world.
I love gardens!
I think what you got to do is to create an environment which people wish to sit in. You have to create a menu which is interesting to people. You have to create food which is delicious and affordable. I think that's what's important.
Remember, restaurateurs are only shopkeepers; that's all we are. It's no different from the supermarket down the road.
I don't like London. I'm not happy here. I don't even own a flat here.
You'll never see me at award ceremonies.
The day I stopped fearing my father was the day I could enjoy him.