Marco Pierre White: You Ask The Questions

(Such as: why bother with fancy food when there's nothing better than Yorkshire pudding and gravy? And why aren't you a TV chef?)

Marco Pierre White was born in Leeds in 1961. His father, Frank, was a chef; his Italian mother, Maria Rosa, died when he was seven. At 16 he was apprenticed as a chef at the Hotel St George in Harrogate. In 1986 he opened his first restaurant, Harvey's, in Wandsworth, south-west London, where his sous-chef was Gordon Ramsay. In 1996, while working at his eponymous restaurant in London's Hyde Park Hotel, he became the youngest chef ever to be awarded three Michelin stars - which he returned in 1999 when he stopped cooking. He is married to Mati. They have two sons (one also called Marco) and a daughter. He is now a writer and restaurateur, overseeing various establishments. He lists his hobbies as "work, shooting, fishing and litigation".

How good was the food on the council estate where you grew up? Would you ever open a restaurant there?
Tom Rigby, Southampton

I was very fortunate because I had an Italian mum and my father was a chef. Being brought up working class, everything we ate was fresh. Tinned food was the privilege of the middle classes; we weren't rich enough to buy it. My mother was a fabulous cook. She cooked Italian food - we had lots of soups, and she would also make fresh pasta. So I was brought up with good food. I would never open a restaurant where I grew up. I have no desire to go back to Leeds.

How do you now regard those early days at Harvey's when you used to scare your customers (including me)?
Mike Godliman, Twickenham

If you were that scared, why did you go in the first place? You must be terribly fragile. It's all about exciting people. I should think you were excited rather than scared.

What was the first thing you did after discovering that you were the youngest chef in the world to be given three Michelin stars? How long was it before their lustre faded?
Laura Howard, London

It was very emotional to be given three stars. I had chased that for many years. But now I look at them for what they are. What value do three Michelin stars have, if the people who gave them to you have less knowledge than you? They have no value. Once I had realised that, I had three choices. One: continue to be a prisoner of my world, cooking six days a week, being there for every service and charging high prices. Two: live a lie and pretend to be in my kitchen. Most three-star chefs are not in their kitchen. Three: hand my stars back and have my freedom. I chose the third option.

If you want to share your gift for creating wonderful food with the world, why don't you become a TV chef?
Holly Learner, by e-mail

I can't imagine anything worse. All you do is devalue your currency and take away the mystery. You are no longer an enigma. And, to be quite honest, if you're making TV programmes, who is doing the cooking? Not you. I have always believed that if you are going to charge high prices, you have to be behind your stove. People are paying to buy a piece of you. It's not just a plate of food.

Were there any cooking disasters early on in your career or were you brilliant from the first?
Gary Dickens, London

Like everyone, I made lots of mistakes - from overcooking vegetables to overcooking meat to overcooking terrine, to splitting hollandaise sauce to splitting crème anglaise. The point is that you have to make the mistakes to understand the scientific side of food. Cooking is a science, not an art. It's all about temperatures. If you're making a hollandaise sauce and you overcook it, it will curdle.

Your mother died when you were very young. How much influence has she, and her memory, had over your life?
Sandra McKay, Gloucester

Lots. We're taught lots of lessons by our parents, but we don't necessarily take them on board until we are older. When you are young, you want to go and discover the world for yourself. I've gone through my teens, my twenties and my thirties and now I don't feel that I have anything to prove any more. Instead, I have things to share. You should always question yourself. I always ask myself, what would my mother expect of me? I ask myself that all the time.

As a fellow Yorkshireman, I would like to know what's the point of all your fancy food, when there's nothing better than Yorkshire pudding and gravy?
Derek Phillips, Shoreham

I like Yorkshire pudding and gravy. I like all food if it's done well. What I don't like is cheap, nasty food. There's no reason for anybody in this world to eat badly. We can all go to the market and buy good, honest, fresh food and prepare it well. People choose to eat badly through idleness.

Which is the best restaurant in the world?
Jackie Lumsden, London

You have to ask yourself why you go out. I go out because I want to be with the people I love, and I want to sit in an environment in which I feel comfortable. If you have those two, and you have good, honest food, that's got to be the best restaurant in the world for you, hasn't it? Harry's Bar in Venice is my favourite. Every time I go to Italy, I'm with the people I love - my wife, children and my relatives in Italy. I love the understatedness of Harry's Bar. You might have ravioli with asparagus, or fettuccine alla crema. It's very simple and very Italian.

Do you have dreams of starting a family restaurant empire? Are your children showing any signs of being good in the kitchen?
George Bellamy, by e-mail

No. I wouldn't want to encourage my children to be chefs. I don't want to live my life through them. But they do enjoy working in the kitchen. They tend to go into the kitchen on a Sunday morning at The Belvedere. They make their pancakes and cakes. It's good. It teaches them to work and to be tidy and clean.

Have you ever lost a court case?
Harry Grant, Brighton

No.

I'm cooking a meal for my boyfriend for the first time next week. What menu would you suggest?
Fiona Dale, Glasgow

You should never try to impress. The harder you try with the food, the less time you will spend with him. You'll be fretting and running back to the kitchen all the time. Just cook something simple - a roast-chicken salad, served with a bottle of white wine.

Are you a genius? Or are you simply very determined?
Sarah Tilley, Birmingham

Neither. I do what I do because I enjoy it. It's just an affair. Affairs don't last for ever. I had a long love affair with the kitchen. I still have a love affair with food, but not in the same sense. Relationships develop, don't they? Why did I get those three Michelin stars so young? Well, I think many people misunderstood the meaning of nouvelle cuisine. They were asking people to eat with their eyes. What I want people to do is eat with their mouth - let their tongue be the judge.

Marco Pierre White has just opened Drones club in Mayfair, central London (020-7491 0576)