Daniel, welcome to the UAE. Do you have plans to do any sightseeing while you’re here?
Sadly not, but I was here 10 years ago, so I got to do some then.
Um, quite a bit has changed since then.
Yes, I suppose it has. Maybe next time.
If you did have time, what would you like to do?
Hit the beach. It’s minus 10 back in Minnesota [where Daniel’s based].
What are you doing while you’re in the UAE?
I’ve teamed up with Dusit Hotels in Dubai to develop healthy eating menus and I’m here to do some demonstrations. I’ve got a gala dinner tonight, and some Time Out Dubai readers are coming.
You’re a model, cook and TV presenter – what are you first and foremost?
I’m definitely not a model – that was many years ago. My day-to-day is presenting on Shop NBC, which is one of the biggest shopping networks in America. But – from what I’ve done on the cooking side – being a healthy-eating chef is what I think I’m all about.
How do you find time to write your cookbooks between full-time presenting and all these soirees abroad?
I have six cookbooks, but that has been over a decade – I also endorse a fat-free cheese in America and I also have a weekly show called Kitchen Takeover.
Which celebrity chefs right now do you like and dislike?
Well, I don’t like the English one that pretended he was a chef for Buckingham Palace and got his own show in America [Robert Irvine, formerly of Dinner Impossible].
Giving Brits abroad a bad name?
Absolutely. The fact that he got thrown off the Food Network for lying then got another gig is amazing. Otherwise, I admire the style of cooking of Australian chefs Bill Granger and Kylie Kwong – the way they put things together.
Being a British presenter on an American shopping channel, do you get a lot of attention from bored American housewives?
I don’t know about that, but we [broadcast to] 70 million homes, so you do get a lot of coverage there, but, well, no, the English [accent] definitely goes a long way – especially in the Midwest.
What kind of things do you sell on the Shopping Channel?
They brought me in to concentrate on food. We sell food, pots and pans – I actually have my own line – and things like that, but somehow I’m selling a lot of watches.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to sell?
Oh, there have been lots of things. Probably the spin-mop.
I read on your website that you were a fat kid then you decided not to be fat anymore. What’s that all about?
Well, I just didn’t feel good about myself and that’s how I got into healthy cooking and developing recipes in a different way to how chefs normally cook.
