Melanie Dakin discusses new tastes and flavours with chef, cookery author and Limited Edition contributing food columnist Barry Véra

British-born chef Barry Véra is the latest sensation cooking up a storm on our shores. Barry returned home from Australia just a few months ago having opened Véra Restaurant Café and Bar, in Melbourne in 2006.

Later in the year, Barry will head up a team of chefs at a brand new restaurant - The Clarendon -in the refurbished Clarendon Arms pub in Chandlers Cross, but for the time being, Barry is launching his first book, Feast Bazaar, which takes a trip through India, Morocco and Syria. Next on the agenda will be Greece. The good news for Limited Edition readers is that from this issue Barry will be hosting a monthly food column showcasing his latest culinary creations.

Barry grew up in a pub in Stocksbridge, near Sheffield raised on "my grandfather's tomatoes and pheasant and rabbit from the local gamekeeper. I was always spitting out bits of buckshot."

He went on to train in France and has worked under great names like Marco Pierre White and Conran Restaurants.

He says: "My first real experience was under David Burke at Le Pont for Conran. He taught me a lot about using seasonal produce and simplicity."

Barry tells me his favourite food writers are Rick Stein and Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall. "I read everybody," adds Barry. "I'm very keen to see their opinion and views."

To assuage his insatiable appetite for recipes, Feast Bazaar is an ongoing account of his global experiences. His latest journey, as detailed in the book, began with collecting recipes in Kerala (The Spice Bowl of India) and from there through the Atlas mountains and Marrakesh on to Old Damascus.

With healthy eating firmly on the western agenda, I ask Barry which of the eastern countries he has visited has the healthiest diet?

"Funnily enough, India has the most amazing well-balanced vegetarian dishes, coupled with a philosophy of how and what they eat. These include quite rich dishes and coconut creams combined with rice dishes, plus a lot of spiced boiled water to balance it out. Spice is such an important part of Indian food. Everything they eat has a meaning."

Barry says the concept behind Feast Bazaar is to come together to eat and to celebrate food.

"I wanted to find out why we eat the food we do, where it comes from and how it was discovered, which encompasses religious ceremonies but also daily life.

"My intention was to delve deep into the cultures of local people. It's as much about food as absorbing different cultures. India was the first. It's a journey of discovery with me as the Michael Palin of food."

Despite his wanderlust, Barry describes himself as a British international chef and is a big fan of homegrown produce. For The Clarendon he will be traversing the length and breadth of the British Isle to source local fare.

"I'll be travelling across the entire UK to find producers. I've already tasted oysters from Cornwall and Scottish langoustines. I want to take the work of the likes of Jamie Oliver and Gary Rhodes and push it to a whole new level. I've discovered a smokehouse in Cley in Norfolk where they do the most wonderful smoked meats and fish. I want to find real producers who do it for the love of the product. "

Both for the new restaurant due to open in September/October of this year, and for our monthly column, Barry is getting together with the pub's owners to sample new dishes.

"We have dinner together each week to test the menus. If anyone can give a true and honest answer about a new recipe, it's your friends."

3:15pm Tuesday 29th July 2008

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