Loved-up on a Valentine
Valentine Warner’s debut television outing ‘What to Eat Now’ on BBC2 really has been a joy to behold over the last few weeks of broadcast. It has an uncanny knack of softening the blow of the onset of winter, instead inspiring a little anticipation of all that comfort food that comes with the season. I suppose the idea is nothing new, as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been a great advocate for the sourcing of seasonal & local ingredients through the ‘River Cottage’ television series & books. In fact, there is a danger that this point is being oversold at the moment as it seems every television food personality is jumping on the bandwagon. Not that there is anything wrong with the idea, but the practicality of most of us city dwellers heading out on a crisp Thursday morning in October to bag a brace of Woodcock falls somewhat short of the reality of the situation. And the notion that my local (and very good) butcher would offer a number of varying local breeds of pig for me to stuff my bacon sandwich with on a Saturday morning is frankly an unfairly high standard to expect.
I suppose what I like about Valentine is that his approach is decidedly un-preachy. Rather than prattle on about food miles & carbon footprints, his tack is to sell it to you on the most obvious level; food tastes better when it’s fresh, and by logical extension the best fresh food is from the local suppliers in your community. By the same token, the best local fresh food is what is in season at that time. In the case of this series that’s autumn & winter. Here’s hoping he gets around to spring & summer too.
All of this aside, the reason I’m compelled to write this post today is because on Saturday I went to the local bookshop & bought the inevitable cookbook that always accompanies a television series of this sort these days. I like cook books, and like a lot of people I know, I will quite happily sit down and read a good one even if I have no intention of cooking anything from it. However, I did buy this one based purely on the quality of the recipes on the program, but I got much more than I bargained for. This guy can write. I mean really write. Endearing as he is on television, his real personality seems to come across when he commits pen to paper. He talks about food in a way that only someone who thinks deeply & often about it can. I have no doubt if he were to commit to writing a piece of fiction that he has all the necessary vocabulary, turn of phrase and feeling required to produce something of worth, but he must physically shine when he sits down to write about food. Ok, there has been many a wordy and textural introduction in a cook book before, and there’s spades of that here too;
‘Find soups to warm the extremities when frozen hands feel like they might smash like china, and slow-cooked succulence for the returning walkers moving towards the pumpkin glow of home at dusk. Overall this book is to accompany the browns, oranges and yellows of falling leaves - the first frosts, bigger coats and log fires - and to encourage joyful activity instead of 4pm gloom.’
But the best thing is it doesn’t stop there. All the recipes are written with the same excitement and care. The first page I flicked to was ‘Scrambled eggs done properly’ which contained the following lines;
‘Keeping the pan on a low heat, stir the egg constantly and thoroughly, getting into the corners and bottom of the pan. While doing this, meditate on how much you love someone or how sweetly the robin sings. After what seems a fair while, your wrist will be slightly sore and the eggs will start to coagulate. Pay attention, for this moment is critical.’
Now you could definitely argue with some legitimacy that this is somewhat flowery, and he is perhaps opening himself to ridicule as a result of writing in this way. I don’t think so though. I believe him and I believe he feels that strongly about a simple dish that everyone thinks they can cook.
The series continues on Monday nights on BBC2 at 8.30pm. The book is beautifully photographed, beautifully designed and beautifully written. As it happens I will have a lot of free time on my hands over the next couple of weeks, something I may talk about on another post. I intend on filling at least some of that time by reading this book from cover to cover, and maybe even cooking a dish or two, but I’m not promising anything. In the meantime, bring on winter.
