Andi Oliver

“The foods we love reveal a lot about who we are.”

“I've always read voraciously since I was a kid and for me, there's no snobbery around books.”

“A chow is the most simple and delicious little thing, a bit like a super-fresh, zingy chutney.”

“People don't know barbecue is a Taino-Indian words. They think it's American! And jerk chicken is from the Maroon and Taino people, too.”

“My mum was a teacher and my dad was off working and having philandering affairs, so when I came home from school I would make the tea for me and my brother.”

“My family are from Antigua and out there, we eat a lot of avocados, with salt fish and soused pork and plantain.”

“I struggle with my weight - up and down like a yo-yo.”

“For some reason I didn't expect it to be so food centric in the south of Sweden.”

“I love pastries of all kinds, but I don't feel guilty about it.”

“Being a young child never suited me, I wasn't very good at it.”

“Meeting Shirley Bassey at Wimbledon was a dream. As a child, she'd made me believe a little black girl could do anything, which back then was a rarity.”

“Be yourself, tell your truths, and be brave.”

“A great barbecue to me is all about abundance and gathering together!”

“I don't think my two loves - music and food - are that different. They've certainly served me well.”

“I'd visited Antigua when I was 16 - I grew up in Suffolk around white people, I didn't have a black community, so it was the first time I'd been in a predominantly black country.”

“On many occasions I have had to approach salary and bonus in a different way to white men.”

“I didn't know I had an eating disorder, I just thought I was disgusting.”

“I read a lot when I was a kid - I was very taken with these notions of feasting and people coming together. I was fascinated by that specific bit of English culture.”

“I could be kinder to myself.”

“We need to bring our stories out into the light. Share the pain, give the pain voice and you can move towards joy.”