For as long as I can recall, my life has revolved around food.
As a child I far preferred to sit and watch my mother cooking our family meals than to accept the invitation to be part of the rough and tumble of the soccer games of my school friends.
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As a student, I spent more time in the kitchen than I ever did down at the pub and my humble but creative dinner parties soon became the stuff of undergraduate legend.
As a working adult I climbed the greasy pole to achieve a relative degree of comfort and success in publishing. However, my happiest times were always spent either at home pondering over my collection of cookbooks or scouring my adopted hometown of London to find the latest restaurants.
Now, I have what I and many others consider a dream job. I get to eat for a living and well-known chefs from across the country listen to my opinions of their food as I pass judgment on television shows like Iron Chef America.
It is unsurprising, then, that most of my fondest memories are of terrific meals and that is meals that have marked the signposts to the significant points in my life to date.
What follows are the top 10 meals that changed my life.
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#10: Tacos De Tripa
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Given how abysmal Mexican food is in London, I always thought that it was a cuisine made up of remains from the back of the fridge. However, the tastes and textures of my first taco de tripa, sampled in Guadalajara, changed all that forever. Crunchy deep-fried pig strips, fiery hot salsa and a dripping of lime juice is an almost unbeatable combination for any jaded palate. I urge you to try one, you can thank me later.
#9: Gourmet Filipino Meal
We all have preconceived notions about certain cuisines, and until I dined with polymath Claude Tayag in 2007, I was convinced that Filipino cooking consisted of little more than pork, deep frying and deep fried pork. This writer, artist and gourmand produced a series of dishes at his home in the Pampanga region of the country that managed to transform my opinion of Filipino food from dismissive to hugely respectful. It is still arguably the best meal of my life.
#8: Chicken Tikka Masala
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
There are not many times that a person can say they have eaten a world-famous dish prepared by the man who created it. In 2009, while researching my second book, Eating For Britain, I met with Ali Ahmed Aslam at his restaurant, The Shish Mahal in Glasgow. There he prepared for me a dish of chicken tikka masala, to which he has strong claims to be the inventor. It was as delicious as I imagined and one of my most memorable dining experiences.
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