Pop artist, exhibition curator and creator of the word Hoepelpoep, Alex Hamilton also owns what may well be the world’s largest collection of vintage wall sconces. He talks about his fear of 1000-year-old eggs and middle-aged mozzarella sticks in New Mexico.
Fascinating with fascinator
What is your favourite flavour combination? Quince jelly and Gruyère cheese.
What is your most cherished food memory? Waking up to the smell of fresh mosbolletjies that my Mom had been baking since 5am.
What food scares you the most? Sea urchins and 1000-year-old eggs.
Which cheese do you most identify with? Emmentaler, because it is holy.
Who are your food heroes? My wife, Zelda.
What would you say to bacon? Bitch, get healthier.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself as a dinner party host? I talk too much.
What is the trait you most deplore in dinner party guests? Skinny girls who only pick at the salad in a smorgasbord of deliciousness.
What is your favourite food moment in a film? Babette’s feast – when they are not allowed to talk about the food but cannot hide their absolute delight with it.
What is your most embarrassing kitchen moment? When I was ten, I tried to cook soup from an oxo block. I reduced it etc, just to spill the pot of hot liquid all over my stomach, resulting in serious burns.
What do you consider the most overrated ingredient? Anything that can be made into a foam.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse while eating? Delicious.
What do you regret eating? Deep fried mozzarella sticks from a diner in New Mexico.
What is your current state of stomach? In perpetual need to be fed.
What is your essential kitchen utensil? Sharp pairing knife.
What is your most treasured drink? Caipirinha.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of over-indulgence? Ordering the entire menu on our last night in Mexico because it was cheap, before we had tasted any of it.
Who is your favourite TV chef? Rick Stein.
What is the quality you most admire in a steak? Tenderness.
What is the quality you most admire in a salad? The absence of lettuce.
What food or drink do you feel most guilty about? Chocolate.
What is your motto in the kitchen? Keep surfaces and the oven clean.
Don’t miss his cheeky social commentary on vanity and vapid arrogance in popular culture.
*The Prost! Questionnaire is this Kitchen Vixen’s tongue in cheeky version of Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire. The Prost! Questionnaire therefore belongs to me, unless Vanity Fair objects, in which case it will be theirs.
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