Turl Street Kitchen was Ben Gibbon’s first taste of life inside a busy restaurant kitchen under head chef at the time, Carl Isham. He worked at the restaurant one evening a week after finishing a seven a.m. to three p.m. shift at his full-time job at Worcester College, Oxford University. This experience gave Gibbons the knowledge and skills needed to go off and run his own kitchens. Now he has returned to Turl Street Kitchen, this time in the role of head chef. “We’re going to be putting new and fun spin on the place with new menus and a slightly different style of food,” he tells TL&CC. “The menu will consist of more vegetarian and vegan dishes than before, the style of food will be modern European and we’ll still be sourcing locally where possible.”

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Sitting at a beach bar in Cadiz on a late afternoon with my wife, a cold beer and some tapas.

What was your first experience with sustainable eating? I used to work on a farm as a teenager, so I understood early on where vegetables, meat and dairy come from and how close to home they grow. Why buy asparagus from Peru?!

What do you love most about what you do? Customer satisfaction and making ideas work.

What do you consider the most overrated ingredient? I’m not sure there is one; everything has its place. It’s true that sometimes certain ingredients go through popular phases, but that shouldn’t give them a bad name. You’ll come across that same ingredient one day in a different format and absolutely love it.

What’s the best thing you’ve ever been taught? How to bake bread. I learnt this first during my time at Turl Street Kitchen in the early days. One of my uncles is a fantastic bread baker and I’ve been lucky enough to pick a couple of things up from him, too.

When was the last time you ate out, and where? Olis Thai in Oxford. Absolutely stunning food in a very friendly and personal environment. It’s always booked up, so eating there is a treat.

Are there any mentors or food heroes you would like to thank? Rob Dennis – uncle, mentor and my first head chef; Anthony Wallbridge – friend and mentor for roughly eight years; Carl Isham – friend and first head chef at Turl Street Kitchen.

What are your favourite books or cookbooks? Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain), El Celler de can Roca (Joan Roca, Josep Roca, Jordi Roca), NOPI: The Cookbook (Ottolenghi), all of The Moro cookbooks, Morito (Samanatha and Samuel Clark), and Under Pressure (Thomas Kellar).

What is the dish on your menu that most engages you? My wife is Spanish and I have a huge love of Spanish food, so when I can bring together British ingredients and deliver them with a Spanish influence it makes me very happy.

What do you make from scratch? Everything.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing what you are doing? Food photography perhaps, or a roadie in a band.

How would you like to spend your day off? Watching Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, playing squash or cooking somewhere outside of work.

What does success mean to you? Happy customers, a happy team and good food.

What is your current obsession, the thing you think about at 3 a.m.? New dishes and how they’ll look on the plate.

What are the qualities you admire most in others? Humour, loyalty and trust.

Can you tell us something we don’t know about you? I’m an unbelievably huge fan of the band Oasis.

Which three words best describe your cooking style? Influenced, fun, vibrant.

If you could eat only one thing today, what would it be? Salmorejo, a lovely Andalusian chilled tomato and bread soup served with diced boiled egg and iberico jamon on top.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I’d speak Spanish fluently and weave the guitar like Keith Richards.

What do you think the future of food will look like? A lot more vegetable and pulse dishes and less meat or fish dishes. A century ago we’d only eat meat or fish once or twice a week, and I think we’ll go back to that. I think we are heading that way already, actually, which is not a bad thing.

What is your number one sustainability tip or trick? Don’t waste a thing.