Toast

By Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater is the author of several cookbooks and a columnist for The Observer in London, England. This book is a look back at his childhood from the year his mother died when he was nine until he graduated from cooking school and got a job at the Savoy Grill. It looks at his life very much from the foods partaken during those years.
Nigel was a middle class boy growing up in England. His father was a man with a narrow outlook who loved growing flowers and who had a fiery temper at times. Nigel was a skinny, frail-looking child who was a constant disappointment to his dad. He was a lonely boy who, after his mother died, had no real love in his life. His dad married the cleaning lady, a woman that Nigel claims only married his dad for his money and the chance to move up in life. The marriage didn't last very long as Nigel's dad died when Nigel was about fifteen. The stepmother lived up to the reputation of the typical stepmother, criticizing and judging Nigel and piling chore after chore on him, a little boy who had never been required to do any chores, including putting his toys away or making his own bed. It got to where it seemed that everything he did was wrong. For example if he stayed in the house, she complained that he was too much indoors. But if he went out to play she complained that he spent too much time outside.
But through it all runs the foods of his life, meat and potatoes, candy and desserts, cakes and puddings and a few things he really disliked such as milk and eggs. One of his favorite foods at the time was buttered toast, hot or cold, he liked it either way. His mom was not a good cook but that didn't matter. His stepmom was a good cook, but that didn't endear her to him either. She went out of her way to make delicious foods but perhaps did it only to prove her indispensability to Nigel's father. But all his young life, Nigel had a feel for food and ended up making a career out of it, something neither of his parents lived to see. Except for the stepmom, and I suppose she doesn't count.

I liked this book a lot, in fact I read in one day. Nigel's story is touching, engaging and at times rather puzzling when he refers to foods eaten that were unfamiliar to me. I didn't discover the glossary in the back of the book until I had finished reading it. It would have helped a lot if I had known about it. I guessed that icing sugar was probably powdered sugar and that Setlers must be some kind of antacid. But what ribena or maltesers were I couldn't begin to guess. Turns out one in a beverage and the other a malted milk ball. Anyways, despite the language barrier, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Nigel's memoir. I bet his cookbooks are pretty good too.