My name's Steven Heap and I'm 39 years old (40 on the 4th March) and I'm fanatical about South Asian food.

The fascination began as a toddler watching (and smelling) my grandfather cooking curries regularly. As I grew older I learnt that my grandfather has spent quite a bit of time in India during WW2 (Bombay, Calcutta, Chennai, etc) and the curry recipes he was using where all given to him by other servicemen from various Asian Commonwealth countries comprising different religions and from various regions. I didn't know it then but he was actually cooking authentic Indian food and it wasn't until I was around 20 and living by myself that I decided to cook my first curry based on what I had seen my grandfather cook.

My passion for cooking Indian food sprang from that first curry cooking experience. As an avid reader I read every book I could my hands on about Indian food and also about the geography, cultures and history of the food.

After graduating from university I finally had money in my pocket and could actually go and visit these wonderful places that I'd been reading about and visited 34 countries. My food knowledge and passion increased considerably but each time I came back to the UK to stare out of an office window and see that murky grey sky I decided I wanted a more full-time experience of Asia.

I sat 3 English teaching qualifications and finally in 2009 during the recession, my company needed to make some redundancies. This was my big chance for adventure. I actually volunteered my redundancy and was quickly going back to explore more of India and Sri Lanka. I soaked up the food and discussed recipes and cooking techniques with anyone who could speak English, including people in their own homes and restaurant chefs. What's great about exploring food in Asia is that a lot of the cooking in done outside and there isn