Wealth & Money Quote by Heston Blumenthal

The line lands like a confession you’re not sure you’re meant to overhear: thrift turned into ritual, and ritual turned into rebellion. Blumenthal isn’t describing luxury for its own sake; he’s sketching the psychology of anticipation. “Saving, saving, saving” is almost percussive, the cadence of wage packets and deferred pleasures, building tension before the release valve of “France.” The payoff isn’t shopping or status objects, it’s eating - sensory, immediate, unbankable. Money disappears into taste, and that’s the point.

The nurse matters. She’s not a foodie archetype or a trained palate; she represents competence, care, and a life spent managing bodies rather than indulging them. Fine dining, in this frame, isn’t elitism but a new language of attention. Her loving it “too” is quietly radical: pleasure isn’t reserved for the initiated. It’s a reminder that the supposedly rarefied world of haute cuisine can be a gateway experience, not a gated community.

“Our mates thought it absurd” gives the memory its social pressure. This is class coding in miniature: the group’s skepticism polices what’s considered a “proper” use of money, what kinds of aspiration are acceptable, what pleasures are suspect. Blumenthal’s intent seems less to justify the expense than to mark a turning point - the moment an obsession crystallizes under mild ridicule. The subtext is that absurdity is often the first draft of taste, and that the most transformative experiences can look wasteful to everyone who isn’t hungry in the same way.