Read by Karin: March 2014

The weather caught me out today. I looked outside before I went out today and decided that as the sun was shining its was probably a nice temperature as well as it had been for the past few weekends. Alas..... it was not!! It was bloody freezing and I wished I had remembered to put my scarf on when I was about 5 steps outside the door. The cold weather made me feel like having a warm, thick hot chocolate but on the way to Bogota Coffee I changed my mind and settled on a large cappuccino instead. Equally warm and the caffeine in it got me suitably motivated for a trip to the market. So, with the laundry tidied away and the fridge full of fruit and veg I can now sit down in peace to make a start towards catching up on the reviews. I have not been reading too much recently as I seem to have re-addicted myself to one of my Nintendo games so may catch up before I finish another book.

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Toast, the story of a boy's hunger - Nigel Slater
This was an interesting and entertaining read of the development of a young man's love for food and of his childhood. It does mention a lot of foods that are specific to the UK and as a non-native it did not always link back to the foods of my childhood but I found that I could definitely relate to the good, warm and fuzzy feeling that childhood memories of food give you. It made me think of the foods I loved growing up. It made me think of the times that I went into the local little shop and spent my pennies on licorice and lollies. It also made me remember the one time that I sooooo wanted a sweet and took some money out of mum's purse and ran to the shop (feeling guilty every step of the way) to get my favourite sweets (cola flavoured smurfs!!), then found I did not have enough money, ran back home only to be caught out by mum coming home suddenly finding me rummaging through her purse for more change. I think I got told off... but I don't quite remember.
Anyway.... back to Nigel. The book is about a young boy who grows up with a mother who does not like to cook and seems generally bad at it when she does. Apart from a few dishes she does well most of her meals are a torture to get through and young Nigel is made to eat things he does not like to the point of throwing up. It is a traditional family that Nigel grows up in. Dad earns the cash and mum stays at home and goes to the right kinds of stores, befitting their station in life. Less traditional perhaps is the somewhat beatnik young gardener who likes to look at magazines with him and the fact that his dad likes to go to the potting shed to "spend some alone time" (nudge nudge wink wink). When mum dies (a fact that Nigel finds totally confusing), dad finds himself a new woman.... who is married (at least at first), does not like Nigel and is the total opposite of his wife. This causes a lot of unrest in Nigel's young life. The new family moves and Nigel feels more alone than ever. However, all is not lost as somewhere along the way his love for and interest in food has developed into wanting to craft himself a career in it...somehow.
What I liked about this book is that you get an idea of what life was like for Nigel on a number of levels. He talks as freely about his developing love for food as he does of his explorations in the field of sex. His innocence is so sweet and very recognisably human both in the field of food and sex and he seems to relish in exploring both in equal measure. All in all it makes for a very entertaining story of a boy and his love for food that is almost inexplicable.

Title: Toast, the story of a boy's hunger
Author: Nigel Slater
247 pages
Fourth Estate
ISBN# 978-0-00-739361-9

Books to be read: 137

Read by Karin

Saturday 22 March 2014

Foodie Nostalgia

Sunday 16 March 2014

Fun in the Sun