After church on Sundays, when I was very little, my mum would give me a raw swede and – before I could even crunch it – I'd play with it, nuzzle up to it and suck and gnaw on it, on the floor in front of the TV, during The Waltons.
When I was at primary school we had this theory that if you ate an egg it meant you'd get pregnant and give birth to a chicken, or another egg. It was something we dared together. I avoided eggs for years, but now they're my favourite food.
My parents were quite health-conscious so I was the girl who had the satsuma, the yoghurt and the wholemeal sandwiches when it was quite the revolution.
Auntie Mary was unmarried and a school teacher and quite radical and I remember her showing my sisters and I how to cook. I remember our first Mexican at Auntie Mary's. The orange powder in the packet matched her living room carpet.
When I was 13 or 14 my parents had a bit of a windfall so bought a lovely new kitchen, but I burnt it down. I was making cheese on toast when flames escaped from the grill. My father stopped the fire with blind panic and excessive water. I was forgiven, but it put me off cooking for years.
In Ireland my nanny – now 95 – cooked boiled potatoes with everything. She'd decide the amount to put on our plates depending on how she judged our health and body frames. So my dad got two and I got a dozen.
As a small child me and my pals fantasised about one day owning an ice-cream van. To have ice creams on demand would have been a dream come true.
My first foreign trip as a model was at 19 – flying from London to Morocco. I'd never eaten food so good – although I wasn't able to identify what I was eating. There were rumours among the crew that we'd eaten sheep's particulars, but I didn't care. I found my palate on that trip, as well as a passion for belly dancing.
The food that frightened me as a child was always textural – like gravy or custard.
I remember sitting in New York waiting for people around me to eat an artichoke so I knew how. When you leave your parents and go on the road, you have to learn to deal with food. When a fish with a head lands on your plate you've got to politely dissect it as if you mean it. And then you discover you like it.
I take a Terry's Chocolate Orange and an aniseed, fennel and liquorice Pukka detox tea to bed with me. If I have too many Chocolate Oranges I know I'll get spots.
For my last meal I'd want an Irish breakfast with soda bread and one of my dad's omelettes with three or four eggs.
Erin O'Connor is founder of the Model Sanctuary and All Walks Beyond the Catwalk
