The pleasures and principles of good food (How to Eat - Nigella Lawson)

Member Name: peel.rebekah

Product:	How to Eat - Nigella Lawson
Date:	23/02/01 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great recipes and easy to follow instructions

Disadvantages: none

Is it a cook book or a lifestyle magazine? That was my first thought when I saw this book as it just looks so good.

I hadn't been Nigella Lawson's biggest fan previous to buying How To Eat, I'd always found her Sunday Times reviews a little stagnant and pretentious, so I hadn't paid much attention when this book came out in hardback. Then, on yet another occasion when my husband complained about my cooking skills (don't worry, he's French, so he does most of the cuisine chez moi), I decided it was time to buy myself at least one cook book.

I can not praise this book enough, if you, like me, have liitle aspiration of becoming the next Naked Chef (another thing my husband does well). Not only is it EXTREMELY aesthetically pleasing, it is also incredibly informative and simple to use.

Written on 1998, it is sectioned into eight main menu subdivisions: Basics, cooking in advance, one and two, fast food, weekend lunch, dinner, low fat and feeding babies and small children. It also has a very useful chapter on conversions, and another chapter suggesting where to buy some of the more exclusive or exotic ingredients.

The Dinner section has come in very handy for smaller dinner parties I've held, and I use the Basics section on a regular basis (I'm so proud, I cooked my first traditional christmas dinner with this chapter!). Probably the best part of the book is the suggestions for babies and small children; I have a one year old who is beginning to get a little picky, yet he never turns his nose up at Nigella's inventions.

There are some good old fashioned recipes behind this cool exterior, and there are some suprising suggestions that you would have not thought of without Lawson's advice.

If your cook books tend to lie on the shelf, gathering dust, then at least buy this one so it can look good, lying on a shelf, gathering dust!

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