Feedback with Paul Lewis

If you are struggling with money problems there's no better person to give you advice than Paul Lewis.

A financial journalist for over 40 years, for the past 22 years he has been the voice of Money Box and Money Box Live giving help to thousands on a wide range of financial topics. His easy, relaxed way of broadcasting breaks down the usual jargon that flumoxes us mere mortals making it easy for his listeners to understand even the most complicated money matters. HIs latest book Money Box is out now, and you can win a copy in our special competition - see the link below. Here he swaps his money belt for his apron as we find out why a simple bacon sandwich transports him back to his childhood, and why he can remember the exact month he became a vegetarian almost 40 years ago.

What food always reminds you of your childhood?

Well I thought about this a lot and I think I'm going to go with a bacon sandwich with my father at our kitchen table.  He used to make the best bacon sandwiches and there would always be HP Sauce and he would always be smoking, because he always smoked - hence his early death.  We just used to sit and have a lovely chat about all the things that interested us both, and those strangely are probably my best food memories.  I also remember my mother's shepherd's pie which I loved. I remember what it looked like, what it tasted like and I loved it when she made it. But it was those bacon sandwiches that takes me back immediately.

Do you have a current favourite restaurant or type of restaurant?

I like Italian food, and I like Italian restaurants - even the chains. I like Pizza Express which I think is fabulous and Carluccio's although my local one has now closed down. I also love the family ones, there's one I go to with a friend run by a husband and wife and you just feel it's real food, properly cooked at the time, by people who enjoy what they are doing. So I would go with Italian for my very favourite.

What food or ingredient could you not do without?

I was tempted to answer every question with the same answer - cheese!  I eat a lot of cheese, it's my go-to nibble and there isn't really a cheese I don't like and I love fresh, real cheese from farm shops - as well as a basic strong mature cheddar. Cheese is the one thing for me, I could probably not do without in my life.

What was the most memorable meal you can remember eating?

It's hard to pick only one, but I think it was when my wife and I went to Uruguay four years ago and there is a place called Jose Ignacio which is on the beach, we stayed in a lovely hotel, and there was a restaurant called Parador la Huella, it's right on the beach and overlooks the sea. I had fresh fish and vegetables - and fresh fish that you know has been caught that day with fresh vegetables cooked properly is just delightful. We also go to Arles in the south of France quite a lot, and we've had some memorable meals there, which is why it's hard to pick out just one meal. There's a wonderful Roman arena you can sit by and have coffee, and we have had some brilliant meals there too, so it's hard to choose just one.

Over the years you have presented programmes on television and radio very early in the morning. Do you have a set routine for eating breakfast?

I used to get up at 3.30 in the morrning to do Wake Up To Money, and at 6 o'clock to do breakfast television, but I didn't really have a routine for breakfast. I'd grab a cappuccino if there was a cafe I could call in to on the way.  I wouldn't have anything to eat at that stage but then I might just have a croissant later. I have no real breakfast ritual, when I'm at home, and I work almost entirely from home now, I have a cup of tea for breakfast, then maybe a piece of toast and some coffee later on. Working from home is a different habit than going out to work. If I go to a hotel though I might have a bigger breakfast - if it's included!

Is there something particular you always keep in the fridge?

Well cheese woud be another answer! But I tell you what I do keep I the fridge - tangerines, I absolutely love them. There's all sorts of others and supermarkets have things called easy peelers, and I have to break it to them but easy peelers is not a variety of fruit! Tangerines which I prefer to clementines and the others, I keep in the fridge and can eat two or three at a time, they're lovely when they're cold, they do take up a bit of space though if you have two or three bags of them.  Oat milk is always in the fridge because I don't drink cow's milk anymore, so is piccallili, I love it - and mini Magnums!

How long is it since you last ate meat? 

I became a vegetarian in April 1983, and I remember the month because of the events that surround it.  I went for a visit to an agricultural college near Maidstone in Kent where at the time I lived and they provided lunch, and it was probably the worst piece of beef I have ever been served. It was overcooked, tough, dark brown and it came with gloopy dark brown gravy which I really didn't like and a few overcooked vegetables.  (My then wife had been a vegetarian for a few years but I wasn't, if we went out I always ate meat). And I thought this is just horrible, I really don't like it and so I've never eaten meat since and I've never wanted to. Not even the thoughts of my dad's bacon sandwich has ever tempted me!

You tried a vegan diet for a while, what made you give it up?

Well two of my children are vegans following being brought up as vegetarians, and they never eat any animal products at all. So we tried it and although I gave up eating fish, I just couldn't give up dairy, couldn't give up butter and of course I couldn't give up cheese! I tried some vegan cheese but it's disgusting, it just does not work. I do think it's completely daft to grow grain, feed it to animals then eat the animals, in my view we should just eat the grain and not the animals. And with fish, I know nowadays there is a lot of farmed fish, like salmon, but there is something about eating fresh fish that's been caught that day that . It makes me think this is how people should be; catch a fish, cook it, eat it, I don't have any problem with that. Animal farming I do have a problem with.

What would be your last supper if literally anything was available to you and where would you eat it?

I want to know what I've been convicted of! In fact somebody commented on my book and said I should be jailed for some of the advice I gave in there - although he didn't quite say executed...  Well, it was a toss up really so I will give you two things and the first one is the most respectable. Fresh fish with fennel and chips with their skins on, which is a bit of an indulgence. And for pudding a freshly made creme brulee and I'd have it if I could in either of the two places I've mentioned, Arles in France or on the beach in Uruguay. And then I wouldn't say I'd die happy but it would be a good thing to do.

My less respectful meal would be something I do eat a lot - a cheese and lettuce sandwich on fresh, seeded sourdough bread with salad cream, I love that. So I'd settle for that if there was no fresh fish. Although if it was my very last supper perhaps I could have both!  The sandwich as a starter, follwed by the fish then the creme brulee as pudding. I only drink red wine and I love red wine from the Bordeaux region of France that is my favourite drink, in fact we went to St Emillion recently which was just fabulous, I think they had 49 wine shops in a very small town!

Money Box by Paul Lewis (BBC Books), is available now from all good book shops and we have five copies to win. Simply head over to our Competition page here