Dame Denise Lewis: ‘I love an apple crumble – just don’t talk to me while I enjoy myself’
The broadcaster and Olympic gold medallist on her favourite dessert, batch cooking with her mum and how to make the perfect gin and tonicI was a naughty athlete. Ask Daley [Thompson] and Linford [Christie]: they didn’t drink, and they still don’t drink. Not a drop passes their lips. Those are the consummate athletes. I was a mischievous athlete. You know the little miniature bottles of Drambuie? My roommates would notice at the end of a competition that Lewis would have a little Drambuie. Delicious! But when I won the gold medal [at the 2000 Olympics] I actually had a bottle of bubbly for that. My roomies must have thought it was going to happen, so they had a little bottle for me.My early memories are of food associated with my heritage and my mum: a lot of big flavours, a lot of curry chicken. One dish I can actually taste in my mouth now is snapper, which is a very popular fish in the Caribbean. Especially on Good Friday – we only had fish, so she would prepare whole snapper in a pan, with onions, peppers, a lot of black pepper and fish seasoning. It was just heaven. Whether you ate it hot or cold, that snapper would just be exquisite. Continue reading...

The broadcaster and Olympic gold medallist on her favourite dessert, batch cooking with her mum and how to make the perfect gin and tonic
I was a naughty athlete. Ask Daley [Thompson] and Linford [Christie]: they didn’t drink, and they still don’t drink. Not a drop passes their lips. Those are the consummate athletes. I was a mischievous athlete. You know the little miniature bottles of Drambuie? My roommates would notice at the end of a competition that Lewis would have a little Drambuie. Delicious! But when I won the gold medal [at the 2000 Olympics] I actually had a bottle of bubbly for that. My roomies must have thought it was going to happen, so they had a little bottle for me.
My early memories are of food associated with my heritage and my mum: a lot of big flavours, a lot of curry chicken. One dish I can actually taste in my mouth now is snapper, which is a very popular fish in the Caribbean. Especially on Good Friday – we only had fish, so she would prepare whole snapper in a pan, with onions, peppers, a lot of black pepper and fish seasoning. It was just heaven. Whether you ate it hot or cold, that snapper would just be exquisite. Continue reading...