What's the secret of your success?
DS: I founded my whole career by listening to what people want and giving them what they want. It's not that I have instincts that are good; it's just that I listen.

What's your favourite recipe?
DS: I don't have any favourite dishes. It's like music. I can't boil it down to one.

Are you influenced by fads and fashions in cooking? DS: I fell into a few traps early on. I fell into the latest crazes and regretted it. Now I just stand back and wait and watch and if I'm cooking and I go into the supermarket and I want to buy carrots, if the organic carrots are better I'll buy those, and if the non-organic ones are better I'll buy those. And I have to say that very often the non-organic ones are fresher. With my first book I was told if you don't do freezing we won't publish it, because freezing was a big big thing in 1972. I said I can't do freezing, and they said we can't publish your book. You won't be a success. I always say when recipes do freeze well, but most of the time they don't. It's not as good. I do use the freezer and now I'm using it more and more because I want to buy really good ingredients from places like farmers' markets. I have to use the freezer because you can't go to a farmers' market every day. But recipes, I never think they taste as good.

Where do you get your inspiration for recipes?
DS: I've always read all the latest cookery books, all the magazines from around the world. The best cookery is from America. I know all we hear from America is that they're overweight and they eat too much but the cooks and the chefs are good. Alice Walters is the star of American cooking. I like Martha Stewart very much. There's a lovely magazine called Saveur - it's wonderful.

What are your views on celebrity endorsement?
DS: I've never done it. I might, if we have financial problems with the football club. I might sell my soul for the football club. But I've never done it so far. What's happened is if I think it's good I tell people, I don't get paid for it. The commercial reward is here today and gone tomorrow but if you get the trust of the people?. Probably I've sold more books and made more money because I didn't do it.

How do you feel about the St Delia image?
DS: I hate it.

Are you a perfectionist? Are you difficult to work with?
DS: Yes. It's the way I'm made and I don't want to do anything unless it's done to the very best it can be. I wouldn't say I've got any enemies and the people who work for me tend to want what I want anyway. They've got the vision.

What are your views on healthy eating?
DS: I don't believe there's any such thing as unhealthy eating. If the food is natural and good I don't have a problem with eating anything.

Are good ingredients the key to everything?
DS: Yes. When this restaurant (at Norwich City) opens full time next year we will source all our own ingredients. We will have pedigree Aberdeen Angus beef. We've got people in Norfolk who do the most wonderful free-range pork. We've got wonderful producers of free-range ducks, smoked fish, vegetables, fruits. And we have Welsh mountain lamb direct from the farmer.

What are your hopes for the future?
DS: Premiership. We need the money!

What about retirement?
DS: I will slow down. I'll just pick and choose. I?ll start at ten and finish at four. My ambition is to build a team that is so good that they don't need me. I spent five years doing How To Cook and it finished in March this year, so I haven't really had time for myself. It was very time consuming and very tiring and now I don't have any major plans at all, which is lovely.

Get 30% off Delia's Vegetarian Collection with iVillage!