This is top food writer Nigel Slater's eat-and-tell autobiography. Detailing all the food, recipes and cooking that have marked his passage from greedy schoolboy to great food writer, this is also a catalogue of how the British have eaten over the last three decades. "Toast" is Nigel Slater's truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. Whether relating his mother's ritual burning of the toast, his father's dreaded Boxing Day stew or such culinary highlights as Arctic Roll and Grilled Grapefruit (then considered something of a status symbol in Wolverhampton), this remarkable memoir vividly recreates daily life in sixties surburban England. His mother was a chops-and-peas sort of cook, exasperated by the highs and lows of a temperamental AGA, a finicky little son and the asthma that was to prove fatal. His father was a honey-and-crumpets man who could occasionally go off 'crack' like a gun. When Nigel's widowed father takes on a housekeeper with social aspirations and a talent in the kitchen, the following years become a heartbreaking cooking contest for his father's affections. But as he slowly loses the battle, Nigel finds a new outlet for his culinary talents, and we witness the birth of what was to become a lifelong passion for food. Nigel's likes and dislikes, aversions and sweet-toothed weaknesses form a fascinating and amusing backdrop to this incredibly moving and deliciously evocative memoir of childhood, adolescence and sexual awakening.

Having gone away last week-end when the weather was so bad I finished the book I had taken with me and was then stuck without a book. Can you believe that? Popped out to Tesco and found this book from my wish list. What a find! Perfect for filling in before my next bookring. I enjoyed it very much and raced through it. The mix between the food references and Nigel's life was perfect. Nice short paragraphs each headed with a different food, so you could pick it up and put it down easily without getting lost. It was amusing at times and yet had serious threads to it as well. It brought back so many memories of days and meals gone by. I could even identify with Joan trying to keep the house tidy with a growing up boy around, although she did go a little OTT. I remember filling you with food being the order of the day then although out attitudes have changed somewhat now.

I'm going to keep this in my permanent collection because I would like to read it again sometimes and remember again all the wonderful things (they seemed wonderful then!)we used to enjoy that have gone forever. I will however be sharing it with friends of a certain age who I think might enjoy the memories as well.