This is a collection of bite-sized thoughts
on food by the renowned chef and writer.
No highfalutin culinary extravaganzas here,
just a melange of homage to household staples, nostalgia for brands now
departed, side-swipes at pretension, and affectionate finger-pokes at the
peculiarities of English ways of eating. The range of subjects is vast, but to
give a few examples:
We are treated to praise of victoria sponge,
ginger nuts, rhubarb & custard, and sherbet lemons. There are rose-tinted recollections of Spangles,
Fry’s five centres, Tunnocks‘ tea-cakes, Berni Inns, and aniseed balls. Pointed
remarks are made on modern trends in shopping, cooking and presentation,
including the corner shop, the post-Jamie cook, and supermarket fish. And finally
quirky comments abound on such as the Polo mint, the pink wafer biscuit (always
the last in the tin), and my favourite – how to eat a Toblerone.
The book is less personal than the author’s
excellent ‘Toast’, which had an added biographical depth, but it is still a
good read, well-seasoned with wit and insight, and cooked up with no little
skill with words.
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