Books : Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table

Rating: - A poor editing job prevents this from being a classic.
Is there a finer modern writer on food than Nigel Slater? I doubt it. The language, imagery and nostalgic remembrance of food he utilises in his writing creates a blend that will often leave you smiling in recognition, and like all good food, leaving you wanting more.

But whilst this book has all the elements of a great food writer at his best, it suffers (in my opinion anyway) from being really badly edited. There are countless short vignettes and reflections on British food and eating culture that unfortunately suffer from being split up from each other and dotted about the book, resulting in a lot of repetition. Thus we have Slater again and again repeating the same comments made earlier in the book as if he has forgotten that he had already mentioned them, or variations on the same theme. This book could have been so much more substantial if the various common themes (e.g farmers markets vs. supermarkets; the history of different puddings and cakes; chocolates and sweets) had been grouped together into longer essays rather than the shorter segments that they are.

One suspects this was done as a Christmas gift book to be placed in the loo. Which is a shame. Not only does it result in repeated comments, it also results in Slater contradicting himself: take for example his comment on the Rich Tea biscuit, "What sort of person chooses a pale, dry Rich Tea when there are so many other more interesting biscuits to choose from?", but later on, "I get agitated when people put its straightforward character down." Small pedantic errors also jar...in a section devoted to "The Glorious British Chocolate Bar", he refers to Maltesers, Black Magic and Rolos - none of them in my definition chocolate bars. Maybe it's just laziness...but the book could have been so much better had it been better edited.

Despite that, one should not take away from the basic fact that Nigel Slater is simply a brilliant writer. His forensic analysis on how and what we eat (the process of eating a custard from Marks made me shiver in identification with him!!) is awesome. And no-one but no-one can make the eating of toast as sexy as he does.

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Rating: - Good, but a bit worthy.
Nigel Slater is nothing if not earnest, and this book, while an absorbing and in some ways enlightening read, demonstrates his seeming inability to understand the inherent silliness of the way the British eat. Recommended, but don't expect lighthearted entertainment.

I did however buy, at the same time, Martin Lampen's debut book SAUSAGE IN A BASKET, published at exactly the same time as Nigel Slater's. This is a hilarious skewering of the ways food is served up to us in Britain, with all the attendant marketing gimmicks which the hapless British public seem to fall for time and again. Undoubtedly one of the laugh-out-loud funniest books about food I've ever read, and I strongly recommend it. A nice counterpoint to Nigel's more serious-minded opus, if you're in the market for two books. And it proves the essential fact that it is not only celebrity chefs who have a valid opinion about food in this country.

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Rating: - A Book of Delights
This book isn't quite what I was expecting. Rather than a narrative, it is written as a series of musings and snapshots of typically British foods, ways of eating, British eccentricities and Slater's own memories of certain foods.

It includes all the foods you'd expect (Marmite, Coleman's mustard, Abbey Crunch Biscuits et al) but also some more unusual but very English things such as the appeal of Fray Bentos pies; Churches at Harvest Festival and the lovely clunking noise that Quality Street toffees make when they hit the roof of your mouth.

What is lovely about this book, apart from the quality of the writing, is the complete absence of food snobbery. Slater seems to get as much joy from Dairylea triangles as he does from aged Parmesan. I also love the way he admits to sneaking a look inside other people's trolleys at the supermarket and his thoughts about 'food fascists'. Here is an example from his piece on treacle tart:

'Those irritating harridans on television who persist in telling us how to dress, think and of course eat would no doubt rather die than tuck into a slice of this golden sugary pie. Which is why they are no fun. Leave them to their mung beans. That way there will be more treacle tart left for us.'

Hear, hear!

It strikes me that Nigel Slater would be the perfect dinner guest and this book is the perfect read whilst you're waiting for your egg to boil.

Enjoy!

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Rating: - Food Porn
This book is smaller than i thought, and not actually a cookbook. It's a book containing thoughts about food in the same vein as 'Toast' his autobiography. I love it, it makes a great read, and you can pick it up and have a short read whenever you like as many 'thoughts' are in short paragraphs. The way Nigel talks about food is like no other, he manages to evoke everything we think about food but can never put into words! A book for everyone who loves food, and it's pure pleasure for the greedy. Something to take to bed for the coming cold nights...