Quotes from Prue Leith

I believe in good, honest food. That's always been my ethos.

One summer I was made housekeeper to my own family, making menus and shopping lists. It was my mother's idea of teaching me to be a grown-up. The main thing I remember is my father being so delighted to get roast duck.

It's surprising how you can behave like a 16-year-old in your 60s, or a 17-year-old in your 70s. You know, it's exactly the same. You fall in love with somebody, you start worrying why the phone is not ringing and thinking, 'Can I ring him?'

I won't eat something which is high in calories and not particularly wonderful, because that's just not worth it, you feel guilty after.

Modern cookbooks are marketing tools for chefs. They're in the bestseller lists but no one cooks from them.

With great difficulty, I persuaded my dentist to saw one of my teeth level with the others. He thought it might kill the tooth, but it didn't. I wanted it done because I was doing a lot of television with food and I saw myself eating with these horrible crooked teeth.

Bake Off' has been a renaissance for me. I turn up, taste something and get paid rather well. What could be nicer?

With contemporary writers, I often buy books and then realise I've bought them before.

What makes me laugh is 'Masterchef,' with that ridiculous thing they always say, 'cooking doesn't get any tougher than this!.'

For me the best food in the world is New British. It's quite classical cooking with really simple but good-quality ingredients. I also like top-end restaurants and pub grub done well.

I was an intellectual groupie. Still am.

I was asked if I would do 'Dancing On Ice.' I thought it'd be the perfect way to get fit, lose a lot of weight and learn a new skill. I was actually quite excited, but my team said, 'Absolutely not.' They told me I was far too old and if I fell over I would break something - and then I thought they were probably right.

I probably eat yogurt more than anything else.

I get cross with foodies who think hospital food should be Michelin-star and caterers can fall into this trap.

I didn't actually know what a treasure 'The Great British Bake Off' was, so I just thought, 'oh it'll be fun to do that, I'd like to do that.' Then when I went and had to have an audition and meet Paul Hollywood, I suddenly thought, 'this is really important.'

I'd been brought up in a society which didn't talk about sex, food, money, religion or politics. Those things were all deemed slightly rude.

It's so nice to slip into the lap of luxury.

Nothing beats that sloppy kiss of a six-month-old grandchild.

The most followed chef is Delia Smith. She is my age and doesn't try to be entertaining, she encourages people to learn the basics.

The obesity problem among children is very serious. When advertising budgets are big and business can corrupt the way we live so that it becomes the norm to snack all day - and if you are never hungry you are never going to feel like eating a healthy meal - that can't be right.

My husband John's and my breaks are often very culture heavy. He cannot pass a museum without venturing inside, so we tend to see a lot of architecture and so-called places of interest.

If I am tanned, I feel a million times better.

Nobody thought a white girl should learn to cook in South Africa. I went to drama school. My mother was an actress, so I thought I'd be an actress.

I grew up in a very white, privileged, old-fashioned society in South Africa and went to a boarding school run by nuns.