4

Seal

The musician on veganism,

his speakeasy playlist, and

addiction to popcorn.

EATING WITH

anchovies. They’re not like those horrible

ones you can get on a Caesar salad. These

are in olive oil and are quite long and

super-thin. They have a beautiful delicate

taste. That’s my flavour.

If you could eat one thing for the

rest of your life, what would it be?

I love popcorn. And really trashy, shitty

popcorn, too. There’s this one kettle

corn that’s like crack. It’s brutal and

I can’t stop, which is why I avoid it.

What was on the dinner table when

you were growing up?My parents are

from Nigeria, so we ate a lot of West

African food and it was always very,

very spicy. It usually consisted of some

kind of starchy carbohydrate – perhaps

brown rice, cassava or yam – and a

tomato-based stew with meat or fish.

There weren’t a lot of vegetables and

the ones we did have were cooked

to the point where there were no

Do you enjoy cooking?I joke

about this imaginary cooking

show I have,Cooking with

Seal. It revolves around me

essentially cooking the same

dish every time and the

tagline is “a recipe for

disaster”. That should tell

you all you need to know.

How would you describe

your diet?I’m vegan with

pescatarian tendencies. My

reason for veganism isn’t to

avoid eating meat, though, so if I felt like having a steak, then I’d

go and have a great steak. I just haven’t felt like it in the past year.

What’s your favourite type of food?French mountain food.

I love snow, the mountain mentality, the freshness of the

air. The truth is I feel more alive on a mountain top than

I do on a beach.

Who does it best?La Soucoupe, a restaurant in Méribel in Les

Trois Vallées, in the French Alps. My favourite thing there is the INTERVIEW MAGGIE SCARDIFIELD. PHOTOGRAPHY GETTY IMAGES

32 GOURMET TRAVELLER