Weekend Meditation: On Not Resisting Nigel Slater
I've written about cookbook lust here before, and I know from the comments that I'm not alone. And as much as I would like to say that I have solved my 'problem', put a hard stop on all future purchases and whittled my collection down to six essential volumes...no, wait. I actually would not like to say that.
It isn't always the objects or situations or people themselves that are problematic, it's how we are relating to them. One person's pile of cookbooks could be a symptom of something difficult, while for another it could be an expression of a passionate engagement, a source of inspiration. Of course, I like to think that I fall in to the later category and here's why.
Let's stay with Nigel Slater as an example. I own two of his American releases (Nigel is a British cook): Appetite and The Kitchen Diaries. I occasionally cook from them and even more occasionally pick one up for a casual browse, especially The Kitchen Diaries because it's reads so well.
I am deeply inspired by Nigel Slater, as a cook and as a person. I feel a resonance with his approach to the stove and table, so when I read his cookbooks, I'm reminded to be more myself. He reminds me of what I value, what brings me joy, and he inspires me to express that. Not everything in my life asks that of me which is OK but, like everyone, I do occasionally need to drink from a deeper well.
Reading a Nigel Slater cookbook has a refreshing, relaxing effect on me. I feel encouraged, inspired, and well, hungry. From there it's just a few phone calls and a quick trip to the market and suddenly, an impromptu dinner party is in progress and my heart is a little fuller.
Besides, food and cooking are my passion and all passions should be entered into fully and with abandon. By definition, a passion should be just a little (or maybe even a lot) too much.
There. I think I may have talked myself into yet another cookbook. And I'm leaving you now so I can get over to amamzon.co.uk before you talk me out of it!
Tender: vol 1: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch by Nigel Slater, available at Amazon.com.uk. Price will vary with currency exchange rates.
Comments (10)
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Oh, I quite agree with you. I like to read at night before I go to sleep and, more often than not, it will be a cookbook. I particularly enjoyed reading The Kitchen Diaries, and as you wrote, Nigel Slater is inspirational. I often want to leap out of bed and start cooking then and there! Cookbooks are my passion and I'm fortunate to earn enough money to indulge it, and even if I didn't, well, I'd find the money somewhere! When people comment on the number of books (and I have a LOT), I reply that they have their hobbies and this is mine. I'll often pull up a chair in front of the bookcase and take a book off the shelf to read. More often than not, I am compelled to head to the kitchen to cook something.
view Deborah31311's profile
Nigel Slater's Appetite is one of my favorite books. Not just cookbooks, but books. His style is refreshing. The pictures are incredible. He makes you want to throw all other ones away because, hey, you shouldn't need them anyway. On a cold, rainy day, there is nothing I like better than grabbing Appetite (or the kitchen diaries, but there are no pictures) and getting inspired to go into the kitchen.
view mssarcastic3's profile
FYI, due to shipping costs, people outside the UK might be interested in ordering this book from bookdepository.com (or bookdepository.co.uk, which is basically the same site, only it's localized), which has free international shipping. The book is slightly more expensive (£23 instead of £19 at Aamazon.co.uk) but Amazon's delivery rate for a book to, say, North America is an extra £7, so I think that in the end it might be worth it to shop a bit.
view Christine M.'s profile
I think the question of what is addiction (unhealthy) vs passion (healthier) is an interesting one, and one that should constantly be alive.
I think anytime the passions get the best of us, and bring us to something akin to guilt or shame, then it's not so useful. If I buy something, and can really savor it, really enjoy it fully, great.. but if it's just going to bring me to more shame or guilt or difficulty, then why should I buy more of that? I create enough of that on my own.
Good on you for indulgence, I hope you can enjoy it all the way.
view Daigan's profile
As addictions go, I think this one is the most fun and least detrimental (unless entire paychecks are being spent on cookbooks!). Nigel Slater is a favourite author of mine and his books rank high in my collection. Sorry for throwing more temptation your way but have you read Real Food? Another amazing volume from him with whole chapters devoted to potatoes and garlic (yumm!!)
I've been told often to consider reducing my stacks of books, especially since they threaten to inundate our apartment often but I just love them too much to part with them. Which reminds me, I've got to be off to barricade them into the bookshelves a bit more...the Greens books and Alice Waters seem to be plotting a living room takeover.
view Chilli's profile
I'm lucky enough to be in the UK, and this week his new TV series started! It looks like it will tie in nicely with the new books. For those who want to try some of the book's recipes without shelling out, then the Observer had a few recipes in today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/13/nigel-slater-tender-recipes
view Esther77's profile
Thanks, Esther, for the link! And I was lucky to get a glimpse of the new TV series, too, via a friend (it unfortunately is not available in the US) and it is a winner. Perhaps one of the best I've seen: beautiful, informative and not at all twitchy (would someone please give Valentine, Gordon and Jamie a cup of chamomile tea?)
view Dana V's profile
"A Cook and His Vegetable Patch"
Sells itself...
How could you not buy it?
view art's profile
Three cheers for Nigel! I freakin' adore the man, as does my entire family. His prose is so easy to read and I find myself endlessly inspired by his recipes, especially his weekly column in the Observer (non-UK residents can read it on the Guardian's websit.)
I saw the first episode of the new show last week and it was good. Lots of pottering around in his amazing garden.
view hilarybue's profile
I love Nigel too! Everything Nigel does is perfection in my book...once or twice I had doubts with a few of his recipes only to have them turn out so beautifully I was ashamed I ever questioned him.
We have half a dozen of Slater's books but we cook most frequently from Appetite and The Kitchen Diaries, probably because the images in those books are so seductive it's impossible to resist. (Whereas Real Fast Food, Real Fast Puddings, etc. are all text.)
Why doesn't someone like PBS or one of our many cable channels pick up his shows already for us in the States?!
view Slow Lorus's profile