John: Before we ever met, we'd already been on the same track together on a Brian Eno album. I put some avant-garde, spacey piano on it. When I heard the finished track, Robert had added this fantastic guitar solo over the top. I didn't know much about King Crimson; major bands don't hang out together much because we're working all the time.

I was looking around for a record company and I don't really want to sign with one of the majors. Robert and I share a manager and he told me that Robert had his own label. It's unusual in that there are no contracts and all the artists retain their own copyrights. I thought, 'That sounds good', so I went down to his house in the country and met the team over a cup of tea.

Later we met for dinner. Robert was staying in Chiswick and I live there, so we went to the Chiswick Restaurant. We both had gazpacho because it was such a warm evening. He had plaice and I had seared salmon.

We discussed the project and later discovered we'd turned professional at the same age: about 16. I played in my father's dance band but then collected up my kit and set off on my own. It turned out Robert had also done a lot of what is called regular musician work. It gives you a solid grounding in things like performance. A lot of youngsters in bands these days live with each other and only listen to the same music, whereas we had to perform at weddings and dances.

I eat fish but not meat. I stopped eating meat for a number of reasons: I don't like what they put into it, and raising cattle is not a very productive use of land. Since I've stopped, I've felt better. Fortunately, there is a good fish shop near us. I love their fresh tuna, salmon, shellfish and crab. My wife, who's a great cook, just grills it and serves it with a big salad.

We go to Minorca a lot. Again, they cook fish very simply: just grilled and drizzled with good olive oil. I'm not a great restaurant person, although we like Ravi Shankar in Drummond Street, especially before a show or a concert. The joy of an indian vegetarian restaurant is that you can order anything and it'll be good.

We went to Japan a few times with Zeppelin. I'm very keen on Japanese food, especially sushi. In the States we had good Italian food in Chicago and New Orleans was always a place to look forward to, especially for the blackened catfish and shrimp. In the Midwest, Thai restaurants have been springing up. Even when I've been touring I've always found good places to eat - you can't live on drugs and alcohol alone.

Robert: I was staying in my wife's pied-a-terre in Chiswick, so it seemed obvious to eat there. John and I had tea together at my home in the country to discuss working together. I had plaice because I'm a fishatarian. I stopped eating meat partly because I had reached the point where I loathed blood oozing from the meat so much that I'd have it blackened and without any nutritional value whatsoever. Occasionally, though, I've eaten liver pate and chicken because it seems to me that manners are more important than one's dietary requirements.

John and I found we had a lot in common: he was out performing with his father when he was 16, which would have been my probable morphing had I not gone into the family firm. Like him I played at bar mitzvahs and weddings in hotels, but I was still a provincial, aspirant player when John was in the centre of things in London, influencing my fellow musicians in Bournemouth. With my wife, one of our treats is eating out together. When we lived in Wiltshire, we often used to go to a pub along the Chalk Valley. We would sit on a grassy slope overlooking a beautiful view. I'd have their fish bake or vegetarian lasagne. Toyah loves lambs: watching them or eating them.

It was appallingly difficult in the early Seventies to get decent vegetarian food. I remember wandering around Preston at 2pm on an early closing day with the drizzle beginning, trying to find a vegetarian lunch. When I go to Nashville to visit Adrian Belew, my pal from King Crimson, we go to a vegetarian Mexican restaurant called Loco Lupe. They have a Margarita called 'the monster' that comes in a 52oz glass.

I've got a sweet tooth. I've been going to The Polly Tea Rooms in Marlborough for 25 years and I often buy two or three dozen cakes. They now give me bulk discount. People think it's very civilised for a rock star to like afternoon tea, but I'm not a rock star, I'm a man from Dorset.