'Remarkable' Observer

'Acutely observed, poignant and beautifully written' Daily Telegraph

'My mother is scraping a piece of burned toast out of the kitchen window, a crease of annoyance across her forehead. This is not an occasional occurrence. My mother burns the toast as surely as the sun rises each morning.'

Toast is Nigel Slater's award-winning biography of a childhood remembered through food. Whether recalling his mother's surprisingly good rice pudding, his father's bold foray into spaghetti and his 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 1960s suburban England.

Likes and dislikes, aversions and sweet-toothed weaknesses form a fascinating backdrop to Nigel Slater's incredibly moving and deliciously evocative portrait of childhood, adolescence and sexual awakening.

'Toast is a magnificent reminder of...food in family life.' Lynne Truss, Sunday Times

About the Author

Nigel Slater is an award-winning author, journalist and television presenter. He has been the food columnist for the Observer for over thirty years. His collection of bestselling books includes the classics Appetite and The Kitchen Diaries and the two-volume Tender. He has made cookery programmes and documentaries for BBC1, BBC2 and BBC4. His memoir Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger won six major awards and became a film and stage production. His writing has won the James Beard Award, the National Book Award, the Glenfiddich Trophy, the Andre Simon Memorial Prize, the British Biography of the Year and the Fortnum & Mason Best Food Book. He lives in London. He was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours in 2020 for services to cookery and literature.

Reviews

'Acutely observed, poignant and beautifully written...Slater tells his heartbreaking story with great subtlety. The theme of food and love is a fascinating one and I have never seen it better handled.' Daily Telegraph

'He recreates with moving honesty and laugh-out-loud comedy the hopes and fears of boyhood. Remarkable.' Observer

'"Toast" connects emotions, memory and taste buds. Genius.' Lynne Truss, Sunday Times

'A talent for prose as simple and pleasurable as his recipes.' Sunday Telegraph

'Exquisitely written...You read this remarkable memoir partly cringing, partly marvelling at Slater's hallucinogenic retrieval of times past. He is the Proust of the Nesquik era.' Independent

'It achieves a remarkable freshness...[and] reveals a gift for doleful, Alan Bennett-like comedy.' Guardian

'This touching memoir proves [Slater] is more than a cookery writer. Its emotional impact will touch a chord with many.' Sunday Mirror

'Wonderful, precise...extraordinary.' Matthew Fort

'It's bitter-sweet, it's a book to be consumed in a single sitting, a book that slips down really nicely. However you want to put it, "Toast" is delicious.' The Oldie

Book Information
ISBN 9781841154718
Author Nigel Slater
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint HarperPerennial
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 180g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 16mm