A word from Delia Smith

I've been busy today and I'm also not eating so I'm going to resort to my cheating option of quoting one of my favourite cooks. This time it's Delia Smith who has made a fortune out of cooking and spent a large part of it with her husband in owning the Norwich football club. I love her recipes - little twists on dishes you know. I don't think I have ever had a failure using her recipes. And she is so British and so ordinary in a way - sort of almost -"I could do that". Her website has almost all of her recipes on it, which is extraordinarily generous and she also has a series of videos that teach you the basics of cooking.

Here is the introduction to the first volume of her How to Cook trilogy.

"In food terms we have moved on into what I would call an era of plenty. Absolutely everything we could possibly want is available. We can now walk into any large supermarket and literally shop for ingredients around the world. We can eat whatever we want when we want. If we don't want to cook at all we can buy ready-prepared meals, vegetables and salads. Every high street has any number of food-to-go outlets - fast food, takeaway, home deliveries, as well as all kinds of restaurants. On top of all that we can simply 'graze' all day on snack foods, crisps and chocolate bars.

It could be said that we're immensely privileged in being so spoilt for choice. Therefore, where on earth does How to Cook fit in? Well, it's my personal belief that the opposite could be true - that we may be in danger of losing something very precious and that is a reverence for simple, natural ingredients and the joy and pleasure they can bring to everyday life. We are not talking about spending masses of time in the kitchen, either. We need to be reminded that, after a hard day, a perfectly made moist, fluffy omelette, which is so easy to make - is not only more satisfying but quicker than the average ready-meal.

One thing we have to come to terms with is that food, perhaps more than any other subject, lends itself to pretentiousness, and the beauty of simplicity can so easily be eclipsed. Yes, we all want to experience the 'highs' of eating on special occasions and celebrations, of eating a meal in a beautiful restaurant cooked by a great chef, but the sensual pleasure of eating belongs to everyday life as well, and it's not always to be found in the vast amounts of mass-produced, easy-cook fast foods that we're subtly persuaded to eat.

I am hoping to achieve two things in How to Cook: one is to reintroduce people to the pleasure of basic, staple ingredients, and the second is to provide a first-time cookbook, something that will be a good grounding in the simple basics and provide a springboard for a lifetime of learning - not just in how to cook but in how to experience the sheer joy and pleasure of eating good food every single day."

Having copied this out I acknowledge that she and I are in a privileged position - we have the money and the time - most of the world does not. Nevertheless for this particular privileged sector of the world's population what she says is true. Maybe I should go and cook that perfect omelette for my dinner - although I think there would be too much fat in it for my 400 calories. Go Delia.