Eating With Leigh Sales

The 7.30 presenter and author on lobster suppers, special apples and Paul McCartney.

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What was in your lunchbox growing up?

I always hated having to eat a packed lunch. In Queensland, it always got so rancid because of the heat. I refused to have a sandwich because it would get sweaty and horrible. I used to eat fruit and Vita-Weats.

You’ve said that going to your local Chinese restaurant, Double Golden Dragon, was a special event. What did you order?

Old-school Chinese fare like sweet-and-sour pork, spring rolls and beef in black-bean sauce.

Do you have a favourite scoop from your time studying journalism?

There was a huge story in the early ’90s about James Scott, a medical student who went missing in the Himalayas and was miraculously found after around 40 days in freezing conditions. I scored an interview with one of his hiking companions, who happened to be the brother of one of my best friends.

One of your earliest stories was about charity lunches for the homeless. What did you take away from it?

How lucky I was to not be homeless on Christmas Day.

You were the ABC’s Washington correspondent during an eventful period of the Bush administration. How was it covering 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina?

That was a massive news period to be there and a very scary time for the world. I remember being so shocked at the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. I visited Biloxi right on the coast and it was like a pile of toothpicks. It was hard to believe it had ever been full of buildings.

Did you become a fan of American food?