Tasting places: Ken Hom on the countries he savours most

From Chicago to Hong Kong, Bangkok to Rio, Ken Hom has been inspired by top chefs and street cooking. No wonder he is the master of fusion cuisine. Interview by Ian McCurrach

I was born in Tucson, Arizona, and when I was about eight I moved to Chicago with my Mum after my Dad died. My earliest travel memory is crossing the States from San Diego to Chicago by train. This was back in the Fifties when rail travel in the US was the main way of getting from one place to another. The journey seemed to take for ever and what I enjoyed most about it was the motion of the train. I love things that move.

It was the era of Hitchcock's movie Strangers on a Train. The carriage had big picture windows and I loved hearing the sound of the klaxon and bells trailing into the distance as we passed level crossings. Back then, it was difficult to get a lot of fresh food and my mother had packed lots of Chinese meals and snacks. After eating, the rocking motion of the train sent me straight to sleep. I'm very lucky in that I always manage to sleep when I'm travelling. When a vehicle starts moving I just drop off, or maybe it's because I'm a Zen kind of person.

When I was in my late teens I went with a bunch of friends to Miami. I was very curious to see what a warm place would be like. It was there that I first discovered Cuban-style cooking. That really intrigued me, because I was still in the same country, yet it was like being in a different country at the same time. This gave me an itch to travel and the next place I went was New York. I was overwhelmed by how cosmopolitan it was and found it hard to believe how somewhere only two hours from Chicago could be so different.

In New York the tastes were alien and new to me. I loved the variety of different foods such as Jewish fare and Italian cuisine. I discovered pastrami and big sandwiches of corned beef, which I could barely get in my mouth. I discovered matzo ball soup and lots of meatballs and spaghetti, which was like something out of an episode of The Sopranos.

What excites me most about travelling is that it changes the state of your being. I'm a contradictory person: one half of me loves being home-bound while the other half loves to be, as the French would say, déplacé: taken from one place to another. When you go to different places you think and act differently. When I go to Italy, it's very different from being in France or the UK.

In Italy I'm constantly hungry because Italian food is so wonderful and I'm continually running in and out of different shops buying sausages and things I want to bring back. If I could, I would take a huge empty trunk to Tuscany and fill it with cheeses, sausages, pancetta and hams. Even though I know France quite well, having travelled through many different parts of it over three decades, there are still places there for me to discover and I find that so stimulating and life-enhancing.

Travel is about discovery and being constantly surprised by things and that's probably why it has been such a major influence on my style of cooking. Back in the early Eighties I wrote a book called East Meets West Cuisine. It was a precursor of the fusion movement, which is now so popular everywhere. The book was inspired by all my travels. I feel a bit like a citizen of the world and my food taste has come from that. When I travel and discover new things and tastes it all becomes incorporated into my mainframe like a piece of software. It's like a bit of software that stores away taste sensations that I've discovered in places such as Bangkok, Los Angeles and Rio.

It was in the Eighties that I discovered the base of my Chinese cuisine in Hong Kong. That was a mind- blowing time for me in terms of my culinary life. Even though I'm Chinese, going to Hong Kong completely changed me. It was such a strange period of my life because I felt as if I'd been there before, having grown up on a diet of Hong Kong films. Added to which, my first language was Cantonese. I didn't speak any English at all until I was six years old, and people in Hong Kong kept asking me how long I'd been away for, wrongly assuming that I was Hong Kong Chinese.

The sophistication of Chinese fare in Hong Kong was overwhelming. The food was on a level that was far superior to anything I tasted in places such as France or Italy. And I think that came about because of a confluence of factors such as where Hong Kong was geographically, that it was a British colony and open and free, and that it was a rich trading port with so many different influences from all around the world. There were no restrictions about what you could bring in, so it was a melting pot of tastes. I was staggered by seeing Chinese chefs in restaurants take things they'd never used before and turn them into something delicious. They were refining Chinese cooking as they went along.

Going to Thailand also changed my way of cooking and was a vital ingredient for me. You can eat anywhere on the street in Bangkok for next to nothing and it's always delicious. In Brazil I met Claude Troisgros, one of the top French chefs there, who has also been an inspiration to me. Claude has taken indigenous tropical foods, fish and spices, and merged them with his basic foundation of French cuisine, producing something absolutely wonderful and totally delicious.

When I travel I always take Chinese tea in my briefcase. I believe that drinking the right tea is important and I always drink green tea in the morning. Not just any green tea. My favourites are white peony and jasmine. Nothing drives me more crazy than to have boring food that is bland, so I always pack chilli and Tabasco sauce in my briefcase, too. I also take disposable, wooden chopsticks and my own salt and small pepper grinder. It's madness, but these are all things I can't live without and as I don't have hair any more, I don't have to worry about packing things like hair gel.

One of the first places I go when I'm abroad is the supermarket. I like to see what local people are eating and how they live. I don't just go to luxury food shops as that gives you a very false view of what's going on. And I never flit from place to place - I like to go somewhere, say Madrid, and stay for a week.

Hotels are one of the great loves of my life and I always stay in very central ones so that I can walk everywhere. That way I get to know the centre of a city by heart. And if you eat as much as I do, you need to walk it off.

When I'm staying in a hotel my favourite room-service meal is a club sandwich. The sandwich is a test about the kitchen and the service, and really tells you everything about a property. The bread should still be crispy and every layer prepared with care so when it comes together it is moist and full of flavour. It should also be evenly balanced and come with a good garnish. I think of it as the signature dish of a good hotel and the best I've ever tasted is at The Oriental in Bangkok.

I stay only in those hotels that have swimming pools as I try to swim for an hour and a half each day. I love the pool at the Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio because it's nice and big, and there's always someone or something interesting to see as you are exercising. I've spotted the likes of Mario Testino, Sting and Bob Geldof hanging out on the very glamorous pool terrace. The hotel is also part of Rio's history and when I'm there I can just imagine Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers floating down the corridors.

My favourite country is Thailand because of its people. They have such serenity. I'm also very interested in Thai Buddhism and I love the way people are so courteous to each other. It's a chaotic place with a sense of calm running underneath.

A couple of months ago I was on the skytrain, which is Bangkok's equivalent of London's underground, and a woman got on who was laden down with bags. The woman sitting next to her took the biggest bag and put it on her lap without saying a word. I assumed these two women must be friends. When the woman with the bags went to get off, the other seated woman just gave her back her bag.

I've seen that happen many times now and a Thai friend explained to me that they wouldn't have known each other, it is just the natural Thai way of being warm, helpful and good-spirited towards each other.

I like to have a companion when I travel and rarely go with a group of friends as it can be a two-edged sword. It can either be a great bonding experience or could be the end of your friendship. I'm an easy traveller but some people get so anxious and stressed and are obsessed with doing and seeing things all the time. That drives me crazy. My ideal companion is relaxed, easy-going and, of course, Zen like me.

My favourite city

I love Rio because it's crazy and there are always beautiful people of both sexes walking around half-naked to watch. I love their sense of fun and how they always want to party and drink caipirinhas, acting like there's no tomorrow, without a care in the world. I love the sultry weather and sensuality that hangs over the city.

My favourite place to write

My home in the village of Catus, just outside Cahors in the Lot, in south-west France, is perfect for writing my books. Only 200 people live in the village and there is not much to do there, which means there are no distractions. It's not exciting like Paris or London. Nothing happens in Catus, so it's easier to be disciplined, especially as I don't find writing that easy.

My favourite restaurant

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Paris cannot be beaten. He is one of the greatest chefs in the world. He breaks all the rules and everyone in the food industry admires him. He has a few restaurants dotted around the world, including in Las Vegas and London. You eat his food without being in a formal dining situation. You can't book and clients sit around a sushi-style bar and watch Joël and his staff - who are all dressed in black tunics - work their magic.