Reading food

I'VE BEEN SOMEWHAT indisposed lately with my annual cold.

Even now, you find me crouched before the laptop with a blanket over my shoulders, a tissue in my sleeve and a hot lemon tea by my side.

Still, no complaints; as colds go this is definitely on mild side. I even manage to do this evening's dinner of sea bass en papillote - quite nice, although the fennel bed somewhat overpowered the delicacy of the fish flavours.

Moreover, the cold hasn't stopped me from enjoying my book, a collection of journalistic pieces by that doyenne of modern cookery writers, Elizabeth David.

(It's been said if you want to learn about cookery just read her French Provincial Cooking and all your questions will be answered.)

The volume* I'm reading at present, though, is her views on a whole range of subjects, from the hazards of eating out in provincial France and Italy to recipes on how best to create the perfect omelette, and includes reviews of books by the likes of Marcel Boulestin and Edouard de Pomiane - hugely influential writers both.

The thing I love about Elizabeth David, though, is that she teaches without lecturing; her sheer love of food in all its diversity carries you along; she makes it fun.

She's happy to prick the balloon of pomposity of many of the cooks of her day - she was writing mainly in the 1960s and 70s - and much of what she says could be applied to some celebrity TV chefs of today.

Anyhow, this is my reading for a cold. Some people like thrillers, or detective mysteries or adventure stories... Me, I like reading about food and cooking.

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* An Omelette and a Glass of Wine (Penguin Books, 1986)