Spotlight Magazines Spotlight on Mansfield South, Nottingham July 2015 | Page 12

Spotlight Magazine

A Good Read

Eating for England – Nigel Slater

Why is Snot Green? – Glenn Murphy

Subtitled ‘The
Delights and
Eccentricities of
the British at Table’,
this is an extended
love letter to British
food over the last
forty years. If you
have fond memories
of sharing a box
of Black Magic
at Christmas
or spooning jam over school rice
pudding, then this is for you.

Want to see a nine
year old boy (or
indeed, a thirtynine year old boy)
reading? Well, buy a
copy of this book and
that’s what you’ll get.

Anyone who owns one of Nigel Slater’s
cookbooks will know that there is
as much pleasure to be had from
reading the recipes as there is from
following them. He writes about food
with passion, knowledge and honesty,
admitting his fondness for Heinz
Tomato Ketchup , Smarties and other
non-gastronomic treats.
Here, he devotes short chapters
(often no more than a paragraph or
two) to a whole range of peculiarly
British delights. Some are drawn
from childhood memories, such as his
father’s unsuccessful experiment with
a coffee percolator (it ends up packed
away next to the Christmas tree lights)
or his mother’s blancmanges.
Others are more contemporary and
tells of the delight to be had from a
visit to the fishmonger or the ritual of a
Saturday farmers’ market. All are well
written, funny and evocative.
Whether you read this from cover to
cover, or simply scan the chapter
headings for whatever takes your
fancy, this is a perfect book for thinking
about food – and despite Slater’s
reservations the last chapter will
probably send you out to the shops for
a packet of Pink Wafers!

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In fact, you’ll get
more than that.
Written by a member
of staff from the
Science Museum, this book answers
those questions you’ve always wanted
to ask –
‘Could you dig your way to Australia?’
(Come on, admi