NYT's artistic director Paul Roseby came to me with a Ruth Cowen book about a celebrity chef from Victorian times. It excited me because it was something on a much bigger scale than [earlier NYT collaboration] Tory Boyz. Relish is a Victorian extravaganza about this guy who becomes the most famous cook in Britain.

The size and the scale of the project and the man himself really excited me. I’ve always thought that cooking is quite theatrical and liked the idea of mixing preparation of food with the making of theatre. Paul gave me complete free reign so I went away and wrote quite a presumptuous draft with 100 characters, going from France to London to Wales in a split second. That’s the brilliance of writing – but he was completely open to all possibilities.

The development process for Relish has been quite an extended one. We’ve probably been working on it one-and-a-half to two years. I was writing The Whisky Taster as I was writing Relish. Maybe because I was writing Whisky – which is about an obsession with whisky and colours – at the same time, they informed each other; they flavoured each other a little as well.

It’s quite liberating to be given an unlimited cast and a production on this scale, but there are dangers inherent in that. It was quite challenging and daunting to find and focus the story down to a concise and entertaining journey. Usually, new writers are quite wisely told to make sure we write something producable, but there’s a danger that younger writers don’t tackle bigger subjects or bigger plays. We don’t necessarily know how to tell those huge stories as well as we might do small, self-contained plays in a single room. An opportunity like this with a big cast at your disposal means you can flex that creative muscle.

Live cooking on stage isn’t traditional theatre or performance art. It’s more abstract and it’s certainly not naturalistic. When I was writing, I was looking for opportunities where food could feed into the story and wasn't just a gimmick. Paul and I decided very early on to structure Relish as a seven-course play. That informs the texture of the storytelling. The cooking points to where the character is at and what emotional state he is in, much in the same way that a musical score goes through a piece.

For example, at the beginning of the play I’m thinking about all the little tips of storylines so I structured an opening with lots of small bite-sized scenes.  The main meal is like the meaty heart of the play, so that’s where we put a lot of the more substantial, juicier elements.

There are some quite strict rules about what can be cooked and eaten on stage. There’s a set group of people who’ve been specifically trained to prepare certain meals on stage – it’s incredible what these young actors do. It's the most technically complicated thing I’ve ever worked on and I’m really impressed with their grasp of the props and the scene and costume changes.

Relish is on from the 3rd to 18th of September at the Tramshed in Shoreditch. For tickets and more information, check out NYT's Relish site or call 0207 609 1800. IdeasTap members get 20% off - see our offer here.

James was talking to Miriam Zendle

Check out our review of Relish

Have a look at some clips of Relish