Product reviews

A useful addition. Lots of basic recipies mean that I use it again and again. For instance I use it to remind myself how to make proper custard. But there are also some inspiring recipes too, and I often look for inspiration in the chapters on lunch and dinner, where she suggests complete meals for particular seasons. The chocolate raspberry pudding cake recipe and rhubarb trifle recipe are particularly nice. I have found that sometimes cooking times / quantities need a bit of adjusting. I don't think her recipes are quite as rigourously tested as Delia's.

I'm not a fan of Nigella & was given this as a gift. Some of the more basic recipes are OK but I find the whole thing very patronising.

In times when I need to take my mind off things I can happily read this in bed at night and disappear into a reassuring haze of food philosophy and pea risotto. Also a damn useful cookery book.

The original and best Nigella - this is Delia for the 21st century, a cookery bible that covers everything from breakfast to late night snacks and everything in between.

As hinted at by the title, like her later books the emphasis in How to Eat is not on showy finishes, whizzy techniques or groundbreaking flavour combinations. Instead it focuses on what should be the goal of every home cook; to make an enjoy a delicious meal.

How to Eat is much more recipe-heavy than later Nigella, and minus the glossy photos of Nige licking spoons etc. In fact excepting the back flap, there isn't a single photo of the Goddess anywhere within its pages. Instead it is just chapter after chapter of essential, basic recipes, as well as many inspirational twists that will become family favourites. From roasting a chicken, to cooking a turkey, to pasta, to recipes for small children, this beguiling, chatty volume covers all the basis.

If you are going to buy just one Nigella title, make it this one. In fact if you are going to buy just one cookery book this year, you could do a lot worse.

The first and the best of her books.

Packed with recipes from basics like how to cook roast chicken and make mayonnaise to ideas for weekend lunches, dinner for two and cooking for children.

I love the way she talks about food and eating.

More of a straight forward cook book than the 'lifestyle porn' of her latter books.