The Places You Will Go

Reading Room

This week's Reading Room will put a smile on the faces of anyone who loves to eat and cook. Cut out the coupon (available only in the newspaper) to enjoy 25% discount, on the featured books, at Kinokuniya Bookstore.

Floyd in Singapore

I was in Singapore from 9th to 11th April to interview Keith Floyd who was in town for the 2007 Gourmet Summit.

Before Nigella, Jamie and Bourdain, there was Floyd. I used to enjoy his TV shows (in the 90s) and still watch him from time to time on Discovery Travel and Living. What I didn't realise was that some of the episodes aired now, were actually made several years ago. And so, I wasn't quite prepared for Floyd to look quite so weathered.

He's a very funny, interesting and charming interviewee and when he hosted his dinner, Uncorking Keith Floyd, he was hilariously, entertainingly irreverent, downing glass after glass of wine, breaking for "a fag, not a faggot" and calling all TV directors and producers prats and wamkers.

His latest book is A Splash and a Dash: Cooking with Keith Floyd, which celebrates a joyful, intuitive approach to cooking, sans measuring jug and weighing scales ... something he learnt from his mother. The book is dedicated to his parents.