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|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|paperback=014102951X
|pages=208
|publisher=Penguin Books Ltd
I will always owe Nigel Slater a debt of gratitude: along with Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson he taught me to cook rather than just to prepare food. Over the years I think I must have read just about every word he's published and I don't think he's ever bored me. He's interesting and he's witty, even to a non-foodie. He might even tempt a non-foodie into the kitchen.
{{amazontext|amazon=014102951X}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=5517297014102951X}}
{{commenthead}}
|name=Magda
|verb=said
|comment= You know, I like reading Nigel Slater, I like the spirit he is working in, but I don't think I have ever cooked a single of his recipes.
I don't know what the reason for it is, really. I think they often involve ingredients that I cannot afford or are not readily availbale in the house (I rarely shop for ingredients for a specific dish unless it's for a party or an occasion like Christmas).
This one, however, might be for me, though I notoriously use Jane Grigson for fruit inspiration.
 
 
 
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{{comment
|name=Sue
|verb=said
|comment= I think you might be surprised by this book, Magda. Not a lot of the recipes require what I would call special ingredients, but rather give you inspiration to use what you have and use it well.   
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{{comment
|name=Magda
|verb=said
|comment= I have now bought it on a 2 books for £3.99 deal from The Book People (this and The Real Fast Food) and after a quick read overall and a careful read of the winter's section I think I would be sending it back if it wasn't a part of a package (the other book looks much better); and such a cheap one anyway.
If Nigella Lawson is food as overdone orgasm, this is food as sad masturbation, somehow: an image of an old batchelor (though there are references to we, so not sure, but that's the feel) eating bowls of sweet corn meal gruel when feeling lonely. Ouch.
Oh, and Smarties are horrible.
Now reading the non-pudding one, but I think I now decided I prefer him in column-sized bits.  
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{{comment
|name=Sue
|verb=said
|comment= Magda! You can't not like Nigel! You'll be drummed out of the Bookbag Brownie pack!
Seriously, though, I think a lot of people do eat on their own these days. I eat at least half my meals alone and there are rarely more than two people at most of my other meals. I'll always make food from scratch, but a lot of people won't bother just for themselves and I think a book like this is a godsend for them. I guess we're just going to have to disagree about Nigel!
We agree about Smarties though - they're the spawn of the Nestlé devil.
 
 
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{{comment
|name=Magda
|verb=said
|comment= Oh, I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I am not that negative anyway, I am keeping 'Real Fast Food' :-).
It's the whingey feel more than anything else: numerous references to food you would need when you feel the world is against you, and coming home extremely tired after work etc. He's an extremely successful cookery writer, for goodness sake, not some office slave on minimum wage, he shouldn't whinge like that. Elizabeth David or Jane Grigson never whinge!
By old bachelorism I meant more the fact that it seems like a child never marred his table or kitchen, and those cats referred to lovingly all the time; not the recipes for two, I think this is actually a very good idea, it's often easier to multiply than divide.
 
 
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{{comment
|name=Sue
|verb=said
|comment= We shall agree to disagree then Magda. I think though that even extremely successful cookery writers have the right to feel that the world is against them or that they're very tired after a day's hard work. To me that just makes him more human. 
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