Inspiring an unholy greed
Victoria Clarke
HOW TO EAT: THE PLEASURES AND PRINCIPLES OF GOOD FOOD by Nigella Lawson Chatto, £25, pp. 473 Iknow not whether it is a sign of age or greed, but as each copy of Vogue drops onto the doormat my trembling hands fin- ger through the pages in search of Nigella Lawson's food column. I have become addicted to her recipes, although my hips now roundly curse her for the chocolate speckled brownies. Imagine my joy when I realised she had written a tome of close on 500 pages. The title, How to Eat, had me thinking guiltily about the unfurling crisp- packet in the bin, and I wondered anxiously if the author of so many delectable and downright evil recipes had had an alarming change of heart. Luckily, I was soon immersed in descriptions of 'fabulous, smoky, gleaming, elegant meringue the colour of expensive oyster-satin under- wear'.
In her preface, the author introduces the following pages as a 'conversation', and indeed the book is fabulously chatty with a wealth of personal and family detail, the language oozing and unctuous. Her fre- quently professed greed is enough to make even the most secretive binger relax and enjoy (publicly) the profusion of food on offer here. The description of Coca-Cola braised and glazed ham would make glut- tons of us all.
The book is divided into sections: `Basics', 'Fast Food', 'Weekend Lunch' etc., and once the recipes in 'Basics' have been mastered, the following chapters build evenly upon this, by now, subliminal knowl- edge. The recipes are laid out as menus rather than categorised by ingredient; thus the exhaustive index is much in use. Every- thing in the book has obviously been com- prehensively tried and tested, which makes for relaxing cooking. Despite this I found that I had absorbed rather too much of the ethos of 'talking and drinking unhurriedly with friends', and not enough of the military timing she insists upon as I embarked upon our lunch this weekend.
In her introduction to the chapter `Dinner' she states:
What I feel passionately is that home food is home food, even when you invite other people to eat it with you. It shouldn't be laboriously executed, daintily arranged, indi- vidually portioned. It's relaxed, expansive, authentic: it should reflect your personality, not your aspirations.
What a relief! Out go the individual dariole moulds and all the cookery books whose ingredients require a blank cheque and the services of a chauffeur prepared to drive to all four corners of the metropolis. In this section the suggested menus really come into their own. Indeed, I have already dined out on one of them. Nothing is too Illustration for the chapter entitled 'Weekend Lunch' complicated or fussy, all the timing is accurate, and there are even instructions for order and companionship in the oven. All this may seem a little intrusive to the seriously accomplished cook, but is reassuring to the amateur, the hassled or the idle.
It was when I reached the chapter 'Low Fat' that I fell truly and deeply in love with the author. Never has anyone cut so direct- ly through all the traumas surrounding dieting. The agonies of deprivation are here swept away by lists of groceries that will tempt, not fatten, and by a philosophy which is considerate and respectful, not punishing. The mouth-watering recipes are charmingly described as 'TempWood', very attractive to the potential healthy eater:
Much as I hate the false witnesses of the various new-age health movements, I accept that, in order to make this whole thing work, you need to get in the mood, adopt some- thing of the mindset; you need to shift into the my-body-is-a-temple mode.
How very true, and maybe such a mantra might keep me going longer than tea-time on Monday. Indeed, after gorging on Cam- bodian hot and sour beef salad, Thai clam pot and lacquered quail, who would not feel virtuous and also wonderfully and emotionally replete?
My only reservations concern the lay-out and the children's food. The fashionably minimalist look, while creating a volume that would adorn any drawing-room, rather hinders its use in the kitchen. The recipe titles are often printed in such pale colours as to be almost invisible, whilst many deli- cious ideas which occur within a main recipe and are annotated in faded lettering in the margin often disappear altogether. On the other hand, this book contains the best, clearest and most useful conversion tables I have yet come across. Not much of a compliment, you may think, but to one who lingers in the schizoid nether world between imperial and metric, a godsend, I can assure you. In the 'Feeding Babies and Small Children' chapter, Nigella Lawson's sense of humour and passion for food are not so evident. Who indeed can be enthusi- astic about ice-cube trays of puree? It is almost as if this chapter had been forced upon her by the hysteria of contemporary parents. I dare say many of them will side- step the delicacies trailed before them in the previous eight chapters in order to get to grips with pureeing spinach and sweet- corn.
I believe Nigella Lawson may have come up with the domestic bible for the millenni- um generation. I do not use the word cook- book, as this is something more. It is not just about 'how to eat', but how seriously to enjoy the food that fuels our bodies. It inspires an unholy greed and a desire to rush to the nearest kitchen and create. Her ideas are delicious yet straightforward, ele- gant yet funny. This book has been eagerly awaited by many of my acquaintance. It will more than fulfil their expectations.
Previous page
