Lindsey Bareham recalls one of Jane Grigson’s finest works, a 1971 collection of early columns for the Observer colour magazine. Plus six of our favourite recipes from the book
When Good Things was first published in 1971, I was consumer editor of Time Out in a very run-down King’s Cross. We lived on a pittance but I was learning to cook, often inspired by Jane Grigson’s column in the Observer colour magazine. One of my first successes was the curious sounding curried parsnip soup. I learned to trust Mrs Grigson and appreciated her eclectic choice of recipes, sometimes quick and modest, other times a dish worth labouring over.
Whatever the topic, I enjoyed her literary style, essays informed by research and an obvious love of food, its heritage and seasonality. Early recipes from her Observer column – written between 1968 and her death in 1990 – were the basis for Good Things, Mrs Grigson’s second book. The first, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery, set the tone for an impressive catalogue that includes English Food, The Mushroom Feast and her exhaustive Vegetable, Fruit and Fish books.
Related: Jane Grigson: her life and legacy
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