Slow Food suggested a number of people to talk to. Above all I was fortunate to have my sister-in-law, Mary, in Rome to act as my project manager. I would ring her up or email her saying that I would be near, say Castrovillari or Acoli Piceno the following day. She would then check the guide books, web sites and her extensive network of friends, and phone or email me back with a suggestion about where to say, where to eat, and, at times who to go and talk to.

I am going to go out on a limb here. Now I could be wrong, but I got the distinct impression that you preferred the southern part of Italy. And my interpretation is that it is a much more insular environment. It offers more localized cuisine, local products, local techniques.

If you get the impression that I preferred the South it may because it had been so unknown to me that I did not know what to expect, and was in that sense a complete revelation. Perhaps, too, the earlier part of the book reflected my own excitement at starting out on the journey of which I dreamed so long.

Jamie Oliver did something similar to your adventure, but his choice of weapon was a VW Camper. The resulting series was amusing, but very shallow. Were you upset that someone had beat you to the punch line? Please do not think that I am comparing the projects - they obviously are aimed at completely different markets. But I am interested in your thoughts.

I was very pleased not to have a TV crew dogging my trail. Making a TV series really takes all the serendipity, spontaneity out of a journey. Everything has to be researched, organized, pre-planned. And perhaps Jamie was at a disadvantage because he didn't speak the language. It is difficult to get to the heart of a food culture if you don't speak the language it is expressed in.

In my review I stated that I was green with envy of your project. I genuinely am. If you had to pick one absolute high spot of the whole adventure, what would it be? And why?

There were so many high points. I found kindness, generosity and great food the length of Italy. When I look back, I am staggered at the way in which people treated me, took me in, gave of their experience and passion freely. Your question gives me great pleasure because it allows me to go back over so many great pleasures - lunch with Signora Cappello and her family in Reggio; the days spent at La Carolee; crossing the Monte Matese; the marvels of the Marche; travels around the Po Delta with Giacomo Benelli; my last dinner in Turin with the Larizza family. I suppose the great market at Porto Palazzo in Turin is a summary of the Italian food experience in one way; and if there was one part of Italy I would love to go back to explore again it would be that obscure and forgotten area, the Monte Matese. And to eat, perhaps La Bandiera at Civitella Casanova.