I love coming home to Melbourne. The first thing I do is have a coffee. It's just so much better here than anywhere else. It's better than in Italy and I travel a lot. I crave it.

Cooking is a caring and nurturing act. It's kind of the ultimate gift for someone, to cook for them. It creates all this beautiful stuff, conversation, appreciation, romance. All the most important things in life you do around a dinner table.

I grow my own vegetables and herbs. I like being able to tell people that the lunch I'm serving started out as a seed in my yard.

There are probably close to a million people in the hospitality industry here in the United States, and there are probably only a few hundred opportunities in the food media industry.

I always think if you have to cook once, it should feed you twice. If you're going to make a big chicken and vegetable soup for lunch on Monday, you stick it in the refrigerator and it's also for Wednesday's dinner.

Ive changed for the better. Im much more selfless and humble and youre reminded about what lifes really about. You love your kid so much that you just want to be a brilliant role model for them. It cleans up your act a bit.

It is great to add some glamour to the food industry, like television shows have done for the food world and inspiring people to work in the industry. The flip side of that is unfortunately people think that after they get their qualifications, they get their invitation to compete on 'Top Chef.