So, an inquiring and a questioning mind,
that's what's pushing world-renowned chef Heston Blumenthal to some of his more daring gourmet creations.
Among his many culinary creations -- bacon and egg flavored ice cream.
Now the self-described perfectionist shows us why passion is key in his World at Work.
In the early days, when I wasn't so known,
people had heard about this strange bloke with a funny name out in the country doing weird food.
They would go, "Well, that's that scientist bloke, innit? That does that funny stuff?"
And I'm not a scientist. I failed my chemistry O-level, so I learned through reading books and cooking.
I'm essentially a big kid, so I just want to know why things happen.
And I... if someone shows me something, I will just go, "Why? Why?"
Until somebody gives me the answer that's simplistic enough that somewhere in my head goes, "Bing!"
And I go, "Ha! That's brilliant!"
To become a chef, you need to be of a very certain type of person.
One: you've got to put an awful lot of hours in.
In that the hours are very, very long, so you absolutely have to understand the basics of classical French cooking.
Start from the bottom up. Be inquisitive.
I would say if you do it as a job, it's one of the hardest jobs that you could do.
If you do it, if it gets under your skin and in your blood, then it's one of the best jobs in the world to do.
I would say the British public's awareness about where ingredients come from,
wanting to know where they come from and openness to try new things has changed drastically.
I met some historians over in the kitchens of Hampton Court Palace, and they're amazing...
and then discovered there's unbelievable wealth of gastronomy.
But what it made me think was that actually, creativity was abounds.
We think... we go back in history and people weren't creative then,
but they didn't have computer games, televisions. They didn't have, you know, iPads, iPhones, whatever.
So, the food at the top end was much more theatrical.
Meat fruit is an old Tudor recipe where they put minced beef and veal, form it into a ball, onto a spit,
turn it in front of the fire and baste it with a green and savory custard.
It looked like a rough apple.
We changed it.
We made a chicken liver parfait, really smooth mousse, into a ball, freeze it in nitrogen for a few seconds,
out of the nitrogen straight into a bowl of mandarin jelly made with mandarin essential oil and gelatin.
And as the cold ball of parfait dips into the mandarin juice, it sets it.
You end up with basically what looks like a little mini-mandarin.
A few years ago, my maitre d' came upstairs and said, "There's a woman downstairs who wants to say hello."
This very elegant woman stood up and she went, and she shake [shook] my hand and she went,
"How wonderful! If only my husband were alive to see this, a real Willy Wonka."
And it was Felicity Dahl, Roald Dahl's widow. And for me, to be called Willy Wonka is fantastic.
I'm not a scientist. Give me Willy Wonka any day.