In the early 1970s many British cooks were strictly ‘meat and two veg’ types, but Vincent aimed to educate and inspire them to expand their horizons. He proclaimed that: ‘in this series of programmes, I hope to take you around the world, using your cooker instead of a jet-plane.’ He wanted to encourage the British cook to try something a little bit different, and would demonstrate some favourite dishes that he and his wife Mary had collected ‘on our travels, here and there.’ Vincent reassured his viewers that, ‘no matter how outlandish some dishes sound to you, or how out of the way the places they come from, they really are quite simple.’
