Well it definatly wasn't my mother as she could burn even a saucepan of milk and we frequently used to see the pressure cooker spouting out a gyeeser where she had forgotten to put the little weight back on top!

My mother used to be a big fan of the ' Galloping Gormet'  and **** Craddock who used to always have her husband Johnny in tow ! but even watching them did not inspire her in great culinary skills 

My father was by far the better and more adventurous cook, I learned a lot from him and above anything I learned that you need not always follow a recipe to create a good meal. (It is rare for me to follow a recipe!)

My father was always keen to try new foods and would grow all sorts of strange vegetables that he would then cook.

My inspiration came from some of my aunts! My Mom cooked good meals but you could tell she didn't like to cook!!  Some of my aunts treated cooking as an art and I enjoyed watching them.

My old head chef, John Dalby of the blue lion, East Whiton, back in 93/94. I has worked in kitchens for a couple of years but didn't really grasp the art/science of cooking. At the Blue Lion i was cooking to a really high level, with knowledge rather than following a set of instructions about something or other. it was the first time that i understood the basic concepts and the diversity of what one can do in a kitchen. He was a bit a b*stard, i'm sure i got bolikings just for the sake of it. the knowledge/skill/passon remain with me today as i slog it out night after night in the domestic kitchen for the Mrs. As for 'TV' chefs, Heston and Floyd would be my choices: Heston for his unrivalled knowledge and ability and Floyd for his flawless ablity to throw it together, whilst on the lash in some trpoical location.

MUM MUM MUM here 2

Mum lit my fire for cooking and have had many TV chefs keepin it burnin.

Oh and of course my own flair for flavours but that goes right back to MUM.
We had all sorts of "international" dishes, Mum worked in a chinese restaurant and at my Grans pub, we had Italian friends and of course my godmother was Indian. So I got the taste for fancy stuff early on.

Definatly my mum and my grandmother (mum's mum) both are really good cooks and have a passion for it. My grandma always cooked beautiful traditional farmhouse food (being a farmer) and we had many wonderful lunches there after spending the morning working or running around in the fields. And christmas we all baked cookies together.
My mum was very traditional in her cooking when I was very little but later discovered many different types of cooking eg Italian, Asian etc and got quite adventerouse.
Even now my mum is a great inspiration for me, but now I sometimes cook new thinks she really likes and then tries out herself.
Another inspiration is my boyfriend, as we both really love cooking we do most of it together and with our different backgrounds we learnt much from eachother!