Chef and restaurateur Michel Roux Sr explains why his new book was inspired by his battle with cancer with left him unable to taste food for months<br /><br />Michel along with his brother Albert Roux are founders of two of the most acclaimed restaurants in Britain, Le Gavroche, the first British restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star, and the Waterside Inn, which has three Michelin stars, and in 2010 it became the first restaurant outside of France to retain all three stars for twenty-five years. <br /><br />Several of his recipe books, which he did not begin until he was in his 40s, are considered set texts by many cooks. His latest project, called Recipes for Life, is a book of healthy recipes for cancer patients going through treatment, which Roux himself underwent in 2006. <br /><br />Initiated by Peter Marshall, a food publisher, who was treated for cancer by the same medical team as Roux at The London Oncology Clinic a group of top chefs devised a book of recipes adhere to strict nutritional principles that assist in cancer recovery. <br />Roux, told few people about the cancer at the time, just his family and a handful of friends. <br /><br />"My children were wonderful. My daughters came with me to chemo sessions. And Robyn was so good. She didn't look at me like a sick old man, and she would only talk about it when I wanted to. <br /><br /> "You need someone strong. You don't need people crying around you, or pitying you, or telling you 'don't worry you'll get better' either. You just need to get on with life as much as you can." <br /><br />The chemo sessions left him exhausted and nauseous, it also meant him could not smell anything in front of him and meant he lost his sense of taste for a few months. <br /> "It's one of the worst things for a chef. I mean I live for eating. My life is about food. <br /><br /> "This is why the book is so important because I will never for get what I've gone through. You got to remember and try to help the other people who are going to face that situation." <br /><br />Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/<br /><br />Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=telegraphtv<br /><br />Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/telegraph.co.uk<br />Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/telegraph<br />Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/102891355072777008500/<br /><br />Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.
