Culture That Made Me: Neven Maguire's favourite food books and dance-music DJs
Neven Maguire has a new RTÉ One series, Neven's Portuguese Food Trails, Picture: Joanne Murphy
Neven Maguire, 50, grew up in Blacklion, Co Cavan.
After cookery school, he worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants around Europe, including Arzak in San Sebastián.
In the 1990s, he moonlighted as a DJ in Mirage, a nightclub in Enniskillen. The first vinyl record he bought was dance track Don't U Want My Love, by Felix.
In 2001, he took over running his family’s business, MacNean House & Restaurant.
He’s authored over a dozen cookery books and presents culinary TV shows, including Neven's Portuguese Food Trails, Wednesdays at 8pm on RTÉ 1.
Only Fools and Horses is such good, innocent fun. All the characters are brilliant, but Del Boy is my favourite. He's a wheeler and dealer. He's funny, smart with a goodness to him. He's the real deal. It’s timeless comedy. I've watched every episode about 20 times. There’s a wee artist over in the UK who does sketches of them. I have a couple of them, of the whole crew – Rodney, Uncle Albert, Granddad and Del Boy.
I take a lot of inspiration for my own food and travel series from watching cookery shows on television. Gordon Ramsay is brilliant. I know Gordon. He's box office. He's a brilliant chef, a great communicator and he's direct – there's no bullshit. He knows what he's talking about. He's about 20 restaurants under his belt. I've been to his flagship restaurant, which has three Michelin stars, many times. It's world class. The man is fantastic. His food is beautiful, delicious, and he's funny and entertaining.
I’ve always had an affection for dance music. It’s my first love. I used to listen to DJs like Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 when I’d be prepping food on a Friday night. The show was called Essential Selection. This was around 1991. He’s a cool customer, and has a great radio voice. He was a good inspiration when I started buying vinyl at the time. I stopped then for 20 years. I don't know why. I’m reconnected after Covid. I have a collection of about 3,000 or 4,000 records.
I find Jamie Oliver brilliant. He’s made cooking very fashionable. He simplified it. The man is a genius. He’s always coming up with new innovations, new trends. He's a very smart boy. He's a great business head. There’s no one like him when it comes to cookery books. He’s the best. His whole approach to food is excellent. It's feelgood, but it's also simple. Do you have to be a chef to cook? No, you don't; you just have to enjoy food. I like his attitude and his manner.
I like Rick Stein because he travels, a bit like my TV shows – travel, food, wine. He’s the godfather of them all. He's a great communicator, brilliant at poetry. His programmes are interesting and educational – that's what we inspire to be with our own travel cookery shows.
Training as a chef, Marco Pierre White’s cookbook was the first one I turned to. He was an inspiration to me. His food is beautiful. He did a lot of training with the Roux brothers. He had his own restaurant called Harveys. It was known as “the SAS of all kitchens”. It must have been a tough place to work. I like him as an individual. He's articulate, a very intense guy but a genius of a chef. I remember when he got his third Michelin star, I went there for my 21st birthday. I was so nervous meeting him. I couldn't get my arm around him, he was that big, like a big rugby player. He was so kind to me. It was fantastic.
I’ll never forget reading chef Raymond Blanc’s autobiography, A Taste of My Life. He's a two-Michelin star chef in England. It was a nice book to read – about his career and coming from France and opening up one of the few fine dining restaurants in the UK, Le Manoir. He's on TV quite a bit. He's very entertaining and very honest. I love that.
There was a DJ up the North called Robbie Nelson. Whenever I went up to Belfast to buy some records, I would also have bought some of his vinyl. Bolivian Angel, which he released under Ubiquity, was his huge tune. Xtravaganza was his record label.
I used to go to Kelly's in Portrush. I wasn't a regular but by God it was fantastic. Me and my friend used to go up when I could take the odd, and I mean odd, Saturday night off. DJ X-Ray was the man there. I follow him on TikTok. He's excellent.
Seeing U2 at Croke Park – the last time they played there, The Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary Tour in 2017 – was a stand-out concert. My and my twin went. I really enjoyed it. They capture a lot of emotion and feelings when you think of, say, Sunday Bloody Sunday. I lived through the Troubles. Our restaurant was bombed twice. A lot of their music would connect with people. It's very meaningful. They're very talented and great performers.
Forrest Gump is one of my favourite movies. Tom Hanks is an amazing actor. He's done it all, all kinds of roles. He's a genius. It's a lovely film to watch and it’s funny. A wee bit of food was in there. Him running, training. The way he grew up. It definitely has a good feelgood factor.
A little bit of The Tommy & Hector Podcast with Laurita Blewitt is great. They're three very smart people who can talk about anything. They're engaged. They're fun. It's a good, easy, nice listen. It ticks all the boxes for me. It’s great escapism.
An interesting Netflix show regarding food is called Rotten. It shows you the corruption within the food industry, from garlic to honey to cod to chocolate. It's unreal – the food we're eating, what it goes through before reaching the plate. The garlic in China, for example, is peeled in Chinese prisons. Avocados are called blood diamonds. The sector is run by cartels. One factory in Mexico they're processing 1 million avocados a day. It's an incredible programme, very insightful.
I love musical theatre. I don’t think anywhere does a night at the theatre as well as London. I’ve probably seen Queen’s We Will Rock You: The Musical five times. I’ve always loved Queen’s music. They're a class act. Freddie Mercury was a genius. He was such an entertainer. The show was excellent. It was full of energy, good fun.
