Feed the MOOD

This book, Around the Table, encapsulates how I think about food. While the seasons always underpin my choices at the market and in the kitchen, I am also very much guided by mood, feelings and memories.

I have the fondest memory from the last time I was in Rome. I was sitting outside with a friend at a restaurant in the Jewish Quarter; the surrounding walls dusky peach and covered in ivy. Our little white linen-covered table dappled with light that streamed through between the large, white umbrellas. We ate carciofi alla giudia (Roman-Jewish artichokes), spaghetti alla carbonara and tiny Alpine strawberries with lemon and sugar.

Then there is the scent of shokupan baking and the memories it brings. If I close my eyes, I am standing in Tokyo early in the morning. I can see the baker unloading the ovens at our favourite bakery.

A midweek meal thrown together to feed hungry mouths, a bowl of warming soup on a cold day or a quick and refreshing salad