Nigel Slater.his budget, his kitchen, his food, him, rumble grump

[Minimammoth]

It had to be done. A Nigel Slater thread just to get it off your chest.
Do we really have the time that you have Nige?
Does he ever cook for more than one?

[Plonkysaurus]

Pregnant I think you're right. He is gay, and not of a mind to hide it. I don't think many people would bat an eyelid if his partner ate with him, but perhaps the partner doesn't want to. Fair play, it's preferable to seeing nigella lawson entertain her 'friends' as in her most recent series.

DP and I just like to make smutty jokes

[highlandcoo]

Toast is a brilliant read, especially for those of us old enough to remember Arctic Rolls, blocks of ice-cream wrapped in cardboard, Creamola Foam and the like. Very touching account of how his life changed after losing his mum too.

And Real Fast Food is a fab wee book and very down-to-earth. Chapters like 20 ways with a baked potato, how to grill a chicken breast with different toppings, that kind of thing. Really recommend it - and Real Fast Puddings - for realistic everyday cooking ideas.

I've always loved his more expansively written cookery books too. Have never seen him on the telly though don't think I want to now

[sybilfaulty]

The godlike Simon Hopkinson tasted all his food (and esp the massively strong drink !) on his own and he didn't come across as sad or lonely.

I think I would prefer Nigel to tuck in alone rather than have the faux "friends" round for supper a la Nigella. I think Nigel is just rather awkward on TV and doesn't try to ingratiate himself with the viewer as much as others. I don't do some of his more complicated recipes now as I find the ones I have done haven't work, but real fast food is a joy as it's so simple and you can tell how much he loves food as he writes.

I do find his breathy prose in the Observer mag a bit hard to stomach at times, though, TBH.

[Minimammoth]

Just to put the record straight, am not a Nige hater, just find the program pretentious and far away from what happens in an ordinary kitchen, I think Chub said 'aspirarational'. I am not rushing out to buy the cook book though, ( I do actually like cooking) but mostly don't have the time to give it that much thought.

[Xiaoxiong]

I've been a huge fan ever since I read the Kitchen Diaries and one evening he goes to the corner shop and buys two tins of lager, a bag of frozen chips and frozen peas to eat with ketchup in front of the TV and someone accosts him and says "hey! aren't you Nigel Slater?" and then sneers at his frozen peas.

I love every single one of his books. The recipes always work for me and Appetite and Real Fast Food in particular, and the Kitchen Diaries, helped me get into the situation where I can look in the fridge and make dinner with pasta, a couple of dairylea triangles and some wilty cabbage, rather than buying piles of nice ingredients especially. Tender gave me the courage to grow some herbs on my windowsill in a 2nd floor bedsit and now I have a patio, to grow a few more adventurous things.

It's interesting that 99% of the comments here are about his TV show, which I have seen only twice. I assumed everything was wrapped in brown paper and decanted into glass jars because the show was on the BBC and didn't have a supermarket sponsor a la Jamie Oliver and Sainsburys, not just because it's all supposed to be naice and posh.

And the thing about him eating alone is interesting - when I was single I remember watching Nigella and the Barefoot Contessa with these crowds of friends and family and thinking "why bother, there's no one to cook for" and eat Pringles. Whereas in one of his books Nigel says "the best thing about cooking alone is you can buy three perfect scallops or a single nice steak, and eat them by yourself when it would be far too expensive to buy for two". I think that made me a lot more confident and happier on my own making real food and eating it properly.

[diddl]

Aw, I luffs Nige!

I don't think he comes across all that well, though.

Much prefer him to Nigella.

[SoupDragon]

I quite like him. I think it's because his shuffling, slightly dishevelled look reminds me of my late uncle.

I like the idea of making use of what you have left over and I think his approach makes better use of seasonal stuff than a strict meal planning approach. I've often made Slateresque meals at the weekend when I have very little food left from my groovy delivery - watching Nigel makes me feel I can pass it off as fabulously inventive rather than panicked "shit! it'S 6pm on a Sunday and I have no food!"

Wrt the brown paper wrapping, I'm sure it's not essential. Asda Smart
Price probably works too and you're not eating the wrapping.

[Trills]

At least Jamie Oliver looks like he did a Sainsbury's online shop and opens up plastic packaging. I know he's sponsored by them, but it's better than insisting that we go to "our local fishmongers". (like we have one)

The last time I went to a fishmonger I asked for "some chunks of fish to put in a curry" and I ended up with cod. I could have done that at the supermarket myself for less money and without making an extra trip.

[SoupDragon]

I hat eDelia with a passion though.

[ZingWidge]

all I want to know is where he got that large pestle and mortar of his - the pestle looking like a huge flat-ish bowl - because I want one!

I so desperately want one!

[Trills]

I have one Nigel Slater book - a diary-ish one - and you're right that there are hardly any recipes - just smug "I ate one perfect tomato on a slice of sourdough with a drizzle of artisan olive oil from Sicily".

What else did you eat Nigel? Did you go down the chippy after that?

[stinkyfluffycat]

I met him once, and he was very lovely and helpful when he didn't really have to be. And as Xiaoxiong says, I'm sure the TV people have a lot to do with why things don't come of out a plastic Tesco's packet.
Be nice to Nigel, I'm sure he would be nice to you!

[curryeater]

I think Slater is very annoying on TV and he would be less annoying if they showed him with his partner (does he have a male partner?) and a lot of gay friends having lovely gay suppers. I feel like they show him on his own all the time because they can neither bring themselves to show him with a fake wife nor admit that he is surrounded by screaming queers all the time. they should do the latter and have a laugh and he would be less cringey to watch, all alone, smirking at the camera in a vast empty kitchen

[PixieBumbles]

I'm not a fan of his TV show, but then I'm not into TV cookery programmes in general. The only TV cooks I really enjoy watching are the Hairy Bikers.

I do love his recipes and writing though. I have a copy of Kitchen Diaries and although I've only made about three things from it I love to just sit and read it. My Mum and I both swear by his lemon and basil roast chicken from Real Food as a simple meal (sorry, suppah!) for entertaining.

[encyclogirl]

I loved Toast. Fantastic read and really touching.

I don't mind him on TV, even though I think he does veer towards the creepy and my leftovers don't in anyway resemble his.

I bet he's lovely in real life and you can see he's in his element unwrapping his little packages.

Good man Nige.

[Davros]

I enjoyed the televised Toast, BBC I think. I like him but all these programmes are very staged, it's just the way it is

[SoupDragon]

curryeater Err... maybe he isn't always surrounded by "screaming queers all the time" or having "lovely gay suppers"

What a truly bizarre thing to say.

[Xiaoxiong]

curry he does have a long-term partner, who is a professional food photographer which is why he has all these lovely pictures of his day to day food in his books - they met when he was working at Marie Claire in the early 90s. But he lives alone with his cats, and if you read the Kitchen Diaries in fact he does actually eat on his own most of the time.

(Disclaimer - not a stalker, just read a profile of him in the Observer years ago and it stuck in my head how solitary he seemed to be.)

[curryeater]

Xiaoxiong (What does your name mean btw?) Oh is it Jonathan Lovekin? (I love that name so much. If I was that sort of person I would get a cat and call it Jonathan Lovekin. And go on and on about Stocky Toffee pudding and have a million rugs and cushions and always have the house a bit too hot and burn essential oils in little burners and be very very kind and giggly and a bit claustrophobic and have a list of places in Richmond and Hampstead where I love to have cake and buy unflattering wildly expensive over-embroidered lumpy jackets)

Maybe he (Slater) is very happy but I think there is something a little odd and chilling about him, all that food-love seems to be standing in for something. I am just projecting I suppose: I am mistrustful of food, I would like to be post-food. I doubt I will lie on my deathbed and think "If I only I had muddled more fresh herbs in a photogenic pestle and mortar, that is my chief regret"

[ZingWidge]

xiao is it a male or a female partner?

[Treagues]

ZingWidge: he did tell someone who'd asked on Twitter where he'd got that pestle and mortar I can't remember the answer but it's in his Twitter account somewhere.
He is always lovely on Twitter and responds to nice people.

[ZingWidge]

curry that's it! It's that photogenic pestle and mortar I want!
do you know where to get it.
anyone?
I might have to start a thread. ...

and yes, having a little garlic & rosemary squashing session in it IS on my list of things to do before I die. and I'm not even joking

[Treagues]

The whole book Toast is about the food-as-love thing.
He doesn't seem lonely or solitary to me at all, he seems like someone who is part of a product for tv and publishing, maybe a bit of an introvert, someone who has gorgeous corners in his house in which to sit and appreciate his exquisitely grilled courgettes drizzled in single-estate olive oil, sprinkled with home-grown chervil and a crunch of flaky salt. It must be flaky salt. There simply is no other.

[ZingWidge]

treagues thanks, but I'm not ot twitter.

oh I bet it was custom made or he bought it from some remote village....

[Xiaoxiong]

curry yes it is Jonathan Lovekin I think - and google agrees so must be right!

My name means little bear in Chinese

Haha google has also turned up this quote from Nigel in 2005: "Well let's face it, who on earth besides antique dealers and gay couples actually still give dinner parties?" So he certainly does recognise that he lives in a rarefied world removed from the hustle of family life with small screaming children.

(As I type I am listening to DH swearing as he scrubs banana off the kitchen skirting board nearest the highchair.)