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Jenny Linford |
A book to take a bite
out of
THE LONDON COOKBOOK
By Jenny Linford
Metro Publications
IT'S a strange world when the Food Standards Agency issues a major report claiming there is no difference at all – nutritionally – between organic and ordinarily-grown food and causes no end of confusion.
You might have thought that a responsible government agency would have taken into particular account the fact that organically-grown food is not stuffed with all those pesticides that undoubtedly harm us, obesity being part of the obvious evidence.
And it doesn’t help at all when rising food prices generally have everyone searching the supermarket shelves for bargains, at a time when, despite the scandals of past months, bankers are still enjoying huge bonuses to nosh on.
Fortunately, especially for those with imagination, there is more to food than the basics.
Jenny Linford’s The London Cookbook will help lift you out of the gloom, not only with some sublime recipes, but with hot stories too that put what we eat into a wider perspective.
As she points out, for example, fish and chips is not a truly British dish but one that originated from immigrant Jews in London’s East End, where too, the Jews introduced a “London cure” for smoked salmon.
Italians too made their mark with their ice creams sold on the capital’s streets while London saw the first restaurants specialising in Indian and Chinese food, all part of a kaleidoscopic food culture we now enjoy that includes African and Caribbean market stalls heaped with bunches of plantains, yams and peppers galore.
She has divided her eating essays into Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Nibbles, Snacks and Starters, and added Simple Suppers, Comfort Food, Food for Friends and Celebrations and, lastly, desserts with its own history of chocolate and how to create Gin and Lemon Jelly.
You can take your pick of the enticing recipes, as my wife has done with much success, but it is the stories and characters that grabbed my attention.
How about that of Alma and Andy Angelucci’s coffee house in Frith Street, Soho, founded by their father in 1929, and now an institution even mentioned in a Dire Straits song.
Alma records: “The war was very hard for my mother; she made her way down here from Muswell Hill in the dark because of the blackout. The prostitutes used to get coffee to send to their families in France; the troops would send it back for them.
“I can remember I was waiting outside one evening when this prostitute came along and said to me, ‘You’re standing on my patch’, but I said, ‘I’m standing outside my father’s shop!’ I’ve always enjoyed being in a broad-minded atmosphere. I believe in live and let live.”
It is but one excellent morsel in a colourful, well-designed book which all those who cook and equally enjoy food should take a bite from. And the more so because so many of the excellent establishments it identifies are local.
GERALD ISAAMAN
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