The Edible Books selection for December is Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger by Nigel Slater.
Nigel Slater is well-known for several cookbooks filled with stories and sumptuous photos, his BBC series Simple Cooking, and his food column in The Observer. And Toast is now a BBC movie starring Helena Bonham Carter.
Before Slater was a famous author and broadcaster he was a young boy who dealt with the loss of his mother, a new housekeeper, and his father’s uncertain temper.
Toast is a memoir of Slater’s childhood and growing culinary talents, told through food. Get ready to learn more about the boy who became the famous man.
Happy Reading! ~ Christina & Natalie
Below is the December discussion schedule:
This month’s reading schedule requires some explanation: We have divided the book into four roughly equal weekly sections as usual. Toast is written in 118 very short chapters—some less than a page long—that are titled but not numbered. The page numbers listed below are accurate for the Kindle Edition but vary slightly for the paper editions and are therefore intended only as a guide.
- December 1st-7th: Discuss Chapters Toast 1-Jelly 1 (approx pp. 1-57)
- December 8th-14th: Discuss Chapters Jelly 2-Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney Pie (approx pp. 58-109)
- December 15th-21st: Discuss Chapters Smoked Haddock-Coffee and Walnut Cake (approx pp. 110-159)
- December 22nd-31st: Discuss Chapters Candyfloss-Toast 3 (approx pp. 160-247)
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I had only just heard of Nigel Slater about a month ago, and have not seen his show. So this might be a question for Natalie. What is his show like ? What do people in the UK think of him ?
Really the only thing I’ve heard is that he doesn’t really give out a lot of detail on his recipes – just saying things like ‘throw in some of this’ . Wouldn’t bother me, but I can see how that would get annoying.
Hi Peter, thanks for your question. I am assuming that since he has had TV shows and plenty of books then he has a good following in the UK. I have my own favourite TV chefs and he isn’t amongst them.
Sorry, that probably doesn’t answer your question. I will try to get to know more.
It’s interesting how quickly cooking shows have taken off. There are at least two networks here in the US devoted only to cooking. I don’t have cable now, but when I did I would only watch one TV cook, Lidia Bastianich. (I’d also watch Anthony Bourdain, but his show is more of a travel show rather than cooking) So if I were asked about any given TV host, I’d probably have the same response too.
I’ve found some videos on UTube of Nigel’s show, looks like he prefers using simple ingredients but maybe in unusual ways.
I watch Anthony Bourdain, too. Haven’t seen Nigel Slater’s show, though.