Growing up in New Zealand my family grew a lot of our own food and I was aware of where our food came from. My mother is also one of the best cooks I know, while Dad was a food purist known to go miles out of his way just to pick up the best gooseberries.

I’ve traveled a fair bit and enjoy food from all around the world. But I have one passion, food of the soul. I mean food that has both a cultural and sensorial experience, the way Filo has to Greeks, Bouillabaisse to those from Marseilles and Barbecue to Southerners. I love southern food, I love the way original cultures used everything the earth had to offer them in both an ingenious and tasty way. I’d love to try cured black bear hams or groundhog pie. Unfortunately I think all of these are being lost in the commercialization of our bellies. People now turn up their noses at anything that resembles real food. They don’t wish to see what a whole fish really looks like even if they are about to consume it. I’m sorry cans don’t grow in fields and meat doesn’t come in round patty shapes. I want to revel in the bounty of nature, after all that is why I work with it. I nearly cry when I hear of all the fish filled with mercury.

I would love for people not to be afraid to try new things. Just because you have had crab cakes before and liked them doesn’t mean you wont enjoy the grouper escabeche. There are also many different elements to make up a truly great piece of food. Take raw oysters as an example, the fresh smell of the sea, the saltiness, the sharpness of the mignonette and the sensual texture. Simple beauty in itself. I’d love to see more examples of a more frugal style of cooking involving all the senses. A good plate doesn’t have to have meat, vegetables, starch and sauce.

That also doesn’t mean a lack of technique. I believe there is also too much of a reliance on top ingredients. How about using a lesser cut and doing more work with it to produce a great dish. Lets say you have a whole pig to spit-roast why not take the head off and braise it to make a pork, leek and apricot terrine and use the feet to make a great gelatinous stock to set it. That requires more work than grilling a steak but why waste some of the most flavorful parts. If you can't stomach it, become a vegetarian. In the same way, I believe animals should be raised and treated with the utmost respect. In our headlong dash for cheaper food we have forgotten quality as we ever raise animals faster, with more antibiotics and less space to roam. A happy animal is both a healthy and a tasty one.

I want to see more vegetables grown naturally and picked by hand when the time is right. If that tomato at the supermarket looks like a pink baseball and it's December, don’t buy it! It will taste like a pink baseball too. With that in mind here are two comforting recipes. Both should make you feel good inside when eating.