'Cooking at home is life and a pleasure'

THIS WEEK’S COLUMNIST TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

- GEMMA CALVERT

 

"My 60th birthday is next January, but a celebration will probably be in the summer. There are no possessions missing from my life to go on a birthday wish list, but it is a family tradition on big birthdays to have a lot of people stay, spill out into the farm, camp, jump in the pond, dance - even if we now slightly embarrass the children! - and cook up a feast on big barbecues. Although these days, there are more plants than beasts on our barbecue.

Every meal I eat now includes a bunch of plants, with a bit of meat and fish getting a look-in maybe two or three times a week. Your body loves diversity, and if we can manage to eat 30 plants every week, then our bodies will love us for it.

When I was putting my latest book together, I made a list of fruit and veg that we can all access, spices and storecupboard ingredients - pulses, nuts, beans and lentils. That list has over 200 things on it. None of them are obscure or expensive.