Nigella's favourite recipes and one family's attempt to live for four weeks on a low-sugar diet are highlights of this month's OFM
Imagine you can only keep one cookbook. The rest of the bookshelf, or shelves, or in some cases the entire room, must go. Which one would it be? For many it would be an Elizabeth David or an Alice Waters. Others might be wedded to something more cheffy.
The truthful answer should surely be the book you turn to most regularly. The one whose pages inspire and delight but also contain recipes that you make over and over again. If I use that as my guide, then for me it can be only one book. How To Eat by Nigella Lawson. The one whose cover is besplattered and scarred, its spine broken, its cover battle-worn and the pages glued together with deliciousness. This book is a friend. There is no finger-wagging or dogmatic instructions. It sings sweetly with its author's voice.
This month sees much of Nigella's backlist republished in gorgeous hardback. It's the publishing world's way of freshening up a well established title and bringing it to a new market who may have missed it first time round. A chance not be missed. To celebrate this, we have asked Nigella to choose a selection of favourite recipes from How To Eat, Domestic Goddess, Nigella Express and Nigella Summer.
By my reckoning, we are due for another food panic and this time it's sugar's turn. Suddenly, the backbone ingredient to so much we hold dear is the devil itself. Of course too much of it probably isn't going to do anyone any good, but then, surely we knew that.
What many of us don't know is just how much hidden sugar it is possible to consume. The sugar that lurks in soft drinks, pastries and cereal bars that masquerade as health food. In this issue of OFM we take a look at the possibility of a life without it. No cakes or buns, no sweets or drinks. And for this guy, no fun. Lets just hope it is not a taste of the future.