Food: lightly-grilled celebs

JAN ANDERSON

BEST KNOWN FOR HER ROLE AS NURSE CHLOE IN CASUALTY, JAN HAS JUST JOINED ITV'S FIRE-FIGHTING SHOW, LONDON'S BURNING - AS LISA HILL, THE COOK WHO CAN'T COOK...

Favourite sweets as a child?

I never ate chocolate or sweets until I was about 15, and I still prefer savouries.

What and how do you dunk?

Peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches into carrot and butterbean soup. I also bite the end off chocolate fingers and suck tea up through the biscuit.

Weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

I went to a place in New York that sold food made from grass - the green stuff that grows under-foot. I had a milk shake - it tasted disgusting, but was supposed to give you lots of energy. Last time you drank champagne?

Two days ago at a party. I love it but I'm a bit allergic to it. I start behaving like a loony. Before the party I said, 'Right, I'm not having champagne.' Then when I got there I was like, 'More please!' I'm also allergic to mushrooms. If I eat them I get dizzy and a red rash appears on my neck.

Most romantic food memory?

One Valentine's Day I woke at a boyfriend's to the sound of a champagne cork popping and there was a platter of exotic fruit next to the bed, arranged to read, 'I love you.' But that was some years ago and he's an ex now.

Any food you absolutely loathe?

Yes, Marmite. Eugh.

Any culinary disasters?

Does around a meal table count? When I was younger I was at a posh dinner and one of the girls asked me for a tissue. I grabbed one from my bag and threw it to her across the table - only it was a sanitary towel. I nearly died of humiliation.

What's the oldest thing in your cupboard?

When I left Casualty last October the cake they gave me was so beautifully iced that I wanted to glaze it to make last, rather than eat it. So I put it in a plastic container in a cupboard and forgot about it - until it started to stink.

School dinner story?

When I was 13 I was obsessed with vegetarianism and I got into the canteen at Porthcawl Comprehensive before lunchtime and stuck up really graphic posters of calves being butchered with blood spurting out of their necks. I got expelled, but it was worth it.

Ever eaten food off your body - or anyone elses?

Not from my own body, but I have eaten chocolate sauce from someone's naval and also drunk champagne from the same place, but not at the same time!

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