Tom Parker Bowles argues that our kitchen shelves should contain as many classic old cookbooks as new glossy ‘food porn’ ones.
Had I to choose five classics, the backbone of my collection, I would start with Eliza Acton and her Modern Cookery for Private Families. Forget the overrated Mrs Beeton; this is the real thing, a brilliant British cookbook published in the middle of the 19th century. Then I’d want Florence White’s Good Things in England, a book that attempts ‘to capture the charm of England’s cookery before it is completely crushed out of existence.’ It was published in 1932, made up of recipes sent in by her correspondents from across the land.
(Anyone looking for cookbooks by Julia Child’s should check out this page.)