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It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without soup or bread in it.

In theatre, there's no time for a proper meal.

A meal can be an erotic experience in itself.

There aren't many great passages written about food, but I love one by George Millar, who worked for the SOE in the second world war and wrote a book called 'Horned Pigeon.' He had been on the run and hadn't eaten for a week, and his description of the cheese fondue he smells in the peasant kitchen of a house in eastern France is unbelievable.

Novels will remain my meat and potatoes, what sustain me imaginatively.

Of course I didn't pioneer the use of food in fiction: it has been a standard literary device since Chaucer and Rabelais, who used food wonderfully as a metaphor for sensuality.

A gourmet meal without a glass of wine just seems tragic to me somehow.

The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.