100 Favourites

Inspired by the latest issue of Saveur I've decided to write about my 100 favourite food-related things. So here goes...

1. Eating in France

I've never had a bad meal in France. I've had inedible paella in Spain, atrocious pasta in Italy, terrible tortillas in Mexico and of course unspeakably bad food in Canada and the US - but never a bad meal in France!
In fact, my love of food (and wine) developed from a visit to France in 1982. I has been to Paris in my early 20's but 1982 was the first time I had been to the South of France. My wife and I and our 4 year old daughter went to visit my mother, who had surprisingly moved to a small village on the banks of the Herault a year after my father died and left her a widow at 40.
The food was amazing! From a small basket of freshly picked green beans given to us as a gift by a neighbour to a six course meal in a small village restaurant it was all fabulous. Those two weeks opened my mind to the possibilities and the joy of food.