The idea of a chat with Hugh about his current preoccupation with vegetables was hatched at an informal gathering celebrating the epic, thirty-six hour firing of Tim Hurn’s huge wood-fired kiln, at his pottery in the grounds of Bettiscombe Manor.

“I believe that what we eat, how we eat it and the circumstances in which food is produced has a profound impact on our sense of well being. Poor quality food results in ill health and the fact that people on low incomes may be forced to rely on poor quality food really concerns me.

I hadn’t bargained for the reaction I had when I spoke to Sheila Dillon to arrange a meeting; I almost dropped the phone. Presenting Radio 4’s The Food Programme, Sheila’s voice has been the kitchen companion to the preparation of countless Sunday lunches, a relationship that feels very intimate – but belongs on the radio – not coming out of the phone. I took a deep breath and hoped for enough composure to see me through the dizzying prospect of meeting The Voice in the flesh.

“Apparently the Chinese invented sweet and sour cooking for the English dockers because they liked their food really sweet and chicken tikka masala was invented when someone poured a can of tomato soup over some curried chicken. Billy Bragg’s song ‘England Half English’ talks about Englishness in terms of food; veggie curry fried up with bubble and squeak for breakfast or marmite soldiers washed down with a cappuccino. Englishness has always been a collision of cultures.

"I’ve spent over half my life in America. When I was a student, I had no money whatsoever and would always go to this shop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and buy stuff that was way out of date. I spent an enormous amount of time eating things out of packets. Cottage cheese with pineapple was an obsession. Peanuts are a hugely positive form of food. Travelling around the Deep South it was so much easier to stop at a petrol station and buy a bag of peanuts than to go into some awful fast food place. American fast food is disgusting – the very notion of fast food is an anathema. The point of food is to enjoy company and so if you need fast food, you just buy some peanuts. But if you’re sharing food you take a good long time over it, that’s the point.

Tim’s choice of venue for lunch is The Farmer’s Kitchen at Washingpool Farm and when I arrive he’s already there, chatting easily with owner and farmer Simon Holland in the busy farm shop. What strikes me immediately is the genuine friendship and palpable respect between these two veterans of the local food scene.