Expat Australian chef Skye Gyngell runs highly lauded restaurant Petersham Nurseries and has just published A Year in My Kitchen. marmaLADYa.com unearths her food passion and philosophy

How did you get so into food?
I always loved cooking at home with mum. We were a macrobiotic family, so very food and health conscious. We made a lot of things at home, like yoghurt and porridge. When I left school, I actually did a law degree at Sydney Uni. While studying, I found a job as a kitchen porter in a restaurant. I loved working in a kitchen so much that at the end of my first year of law I begged my parents to let me go to Paris to train. After that I worked in a restaurant in Paris for a year, and from there I went onto London, to the Dorchester Hotel.

What do you love about food and cooking?
I can’t explain it. Preparing food gives me the most profound sense of joy. I’ve worked with food for over 20 years now and I still love it. Here, at Petersham Nurseries, I’ve fallen in love with food all over again through working with a vegetable garden and small producers. Having a vegetable garden helps you feel so connected to the earth and the seasons. It gives me such immense satisfaction. It’s very creative, and all about the taste, texture, colour, and seasons.

Do you have a cooking philosophy?
As I get older, my cooking has become more and more simple. I do believe, as with any art, you need to train and have the foundations in place before you can find your voice in cooking. It’s a craft. It’s like being a carpenter. There are rules and foundations in cooking that you cannot change or break. I do get irritated by recipes that say take three ingredients and rush things in ten minutes… My belief is you need to take your time. I’m really interested in the educational side. It shouldn’t just be a quick fix. We need to pay attention in order to process the great foundation of knowledge that we’ve inherited. One of the winners from Master Chef came to me and asked me what I thought she should do next. I said, “I think you should go back to the kitchen and work for five years!”.

How are things down at Petersham Nurseries?
We take what we do very seriously. Of course we have a laugh, and have fun. But we are very serious about our food. We use incredibly beautiful produce. We source produce from 46 producers mainly in the UK. We get cheeses, blood oranges and cheeses from abroad. We try to source from British farming communities as much as possible. With such exceptional produce it’s really important not to abuse it!

Was having your own place a long-term goal?
No, not at all! Petersham was an accidental restaurant. I came down four years ago in May when it was just a greenhouse attached to a house. I’d been running my catering business for ten years by then. I was cooking for all sorts of interesting people (but journalists always focus on the celebrities!) and had no intention of going back to into restaurants. We just thought we’d come down and cook for the summer, just three of us. We never intended it to be the success it is today – we’ve now got 24 people working here!

What have been your biggest challenges?
It was quite hardcore being a girl in male-dominated West End kitchens! Finding a balance is really hard when you’re a woman with children and working at the same time. You always feel like you’re a less-than mother, or slightly guilty when you’re leaving work half an hour early to pick up the kids. I find that really hard. But you can’t have it all. I’ve also found being a good boss a real challenge. Staff are your greatest asset and your greatest liability. I’ve been through different stages. A year ago I was a really tough boss and now I’m softening up! And recently when I was in Sydney promoting my book, suddenly everyone was writing about me having a drug problem when I was younger, which was a bit tough.

Would you call yourself a foodie?
Well, of course I’m obsessed with food, but I’m not a gourmand, or one of those people who just wants to eat, eat, eat. I don’t have many foodie friends. I worked with Trinny Woodall who’s a good friend, she’s not a foodie at all! I don’t think she’ll mind me saying that.

What’s your favourite restaurant?
I love the River Café. I like going with my family and taking the kids. They provide a really lovely experience that’s informal too. Though on the whole I don’t really enjoy the restaurant experience so much. With Petersham, I wanted to offer a very relaxed, informal experience. Our food is the kind of food you can drag your bread through. I don’t want it to be at all pretentious.

A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell is published by Quadrille Publishing. Visit Petersham Nurseries, to enjoy Skye’s relaxed café in Richmond.