The River Cottage Cookbook

"River Cottage Cookbook by Fearnley-Whittingstall: I can’t pronounce his name at all. What I really like is it’s about what food should be: sustainable. I like that he has some chapters where he talks about the gardening , how to grow your food, how to pick, to store, to cook and to eat. You start from the beginning and go up to the end, and I’m sure a lot of people changed their way of thinking when they read this, because it makes them understand that food doesn’t grow in a plastic bag in a supermarket but on a farm with a lot of work and the seasons happening. Yeah, where they come from and when you should use them – for example, you shouldn’t use asparagus in winter (because then they come from Peru), but in summer, when they are English and don’t come from far and are at the top of their condition. I like the fact that he talks about all of this and maybe gives a bit of excitement because he’s obviously a very likeable person from the way he writes and his show on TV – he’s kind of nice, and easy going, and sometimes a bit funny, and doesn’t take himself very seriously. I like as well he talks about how you should plan your garden and your larder at the same time, and I like all the connections he makes between everything in the book. He ends up with dishes that sound very yummy – just making the most of, for example, a pork joint by roasting with three or four veg, and maybe a spice to pull everything out and make it a bit more exciting. It’s not by having 100 exotic ingredients that the recipe becomes nice, just that fact you use the perfect produce at the perfect time. Most of his dishes are classic and regional English dishes, mixed with a bit of French and Italian – for example, the lamb kidney with chilli and lentils. It’s a fantastic dish you resolve to eat in front of the fireplace on a winter day at home, you know?"