Toast (2005)

By Nigel Slater

The thing I was most amazed about when reading this book was Nigel Slater’s apparently incredible memory for food – the taste, the appearance, the context. I tried to conjure up of some of my childhood memories of food, but all I could think of was the time I threw up after eating spaghetti and dreaming about gorillas (left over from an episode of David Attenborough’s “Life on Earth”). And I can’t claim to remember the particular texture or special ingredients of the spaghetti in question. (The appearance and aroma I can probably guess). Also I remember fish fingers, but I doubt I could write about them as poetically as Slater. Clearly, this man was destined to be a chef. (He is a chef, plus a food writer). He even carried out repeat covert operations, at the age of 12 or so, to discover the secret recipe for his evil step-mother’s lemon meringue pie.

This is essentially a biography; memories of food interlaced with Slater’s own family tragedies and a sexual awakening on the part of young Nigel. While I did very much enjoy the food and family bits, I’m afraid I found the sexual awakening bits a bit sordid at times. Still, this is Nigel’s biography, and if he wants to tell everyone about it, well that’s his prerogative. (Go Britney!). Definitely worth a read, though.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10
A good rainy Sunday read, especially if someone is baking a lemon meringue pie.