along with single poached pears
and a solitary butterscotch banana.
DISH IT UP, RIGHT TO THE TOP
You can certainly go over the top in
the quest for culinary self-love. In
2006, the food-centric American
filmmaker, novelist and journalist
Nora Ephron wrote in The New
Yorke r: “By the mid-1960s, Julia
Child’s Mastering the Art of French
Cooking, Craig Claiborne’s New
York Times Cook Book and Michael
Field’s Cooking School had become
the holy trinity of cookbooks... If
I was home alone at night, I cooked
myself an entire meal from one of
these. Then I sat down in front of
the television and ate it. I felt very
brave and plucky as I ate my perfect
dinner. OK, I didn’t have a date,
but at least I wasn’t one of those
lonely women who sat home
with a pathetic container of yogurt.
I realise eating a meal for four
that I had cooked for myself was
probably equally pathetic, but it
never crossed my mind.”
Yet there is space somewhere
between a pathetic lone yogurt and
threeextravagantcourseswheresanity,pleasureandevenjoycan
exist. Food writer Signe Johansen,
author of Solo: The Joy of Cooking
for One (Bluebird £16.99), says, “I’ve
been cooking for myself for nearly
three decades and I never regret
it! Cooking for yourself can be
liberating. You don’t have to cook
every meal from scratch, but theones you take a little timeto
prepare and sit down to properly
enjoy are often the best –there’s
no compromising on ingredients
to please other people’s tastes...
It’s an affirmation of yourself-
worth and, in our turbulent
times, a welcome retreatfrom
themaelstromofmodernlife.”Signe’sfavourites?“Late-night
ramen is always a staple,andany
form of spaghetti to slurpstraight
from the pan. And scallopsfor
one, definitely.”
So, if you’ll excuse me,I’mjust
taking this steak and kidneypie
to bed. It’s cheaper thantherapy
and infinitely more delicious.There is space between a pathetic loneyogurtand
three courses where pleasure and even joycanexistdeliciousmagazine.co.uk 33
food for thought.