Celebrity chef Kevin Dundon has told how his major health scare two years ago made him stub out his 20-a-day cigarette habit.
The star almost died after he suffered two pulmonary embolisms following a routine surgery to remove varicose veins.
The horrific episode prompted him to take stock of his life and he “re-evaluated everything”.
He said: “One of my chefs said to me, ‘But you never finished a cigarette Kevin’, and it was true, I didn’t.
“I’d take a few drags and throw it away. But coming off cigarettes is probably akin to coming off drink – it’s one day at a time. Some mornings I’ll wake up and say to myself, ‘I’m not going to smoke today’.
“The funny thing is that I started smoking because of this industry.
“Back then if you wanted a smoke you could pop out of the kitchen for a few minutes, but as I didn’t smoke I never got a break.
“So it was a choice of smoking or dying of exhaustion so I started smoking. I was in my late teens.
“The first three days off them was hell and who knows I could be back smoking next week.”
The father of three runs Dunbrody Country House Hotel in Co Wexford with his wife Catherine, but the TV chef is also an accomplished cookbook writer. He released his first book Full On Irish in 2006 and is currently penning his seventh offering.
He told the RTE Guide: “When I got the very first copy off the press, I took it to bed with me that night and slept with it.”
Dundon said his new book will “go back to where I started, to where I got my passion for food and where that has brought me”.
He added: “I plan to start the opening chapter with my near-death experience in hospital, the moment that made me stop and think.”
