I am proud of this book, because I have always regarded Rose Prince as my most promising pupil. Over the years, I have taught a lot of girls to cook. By this, I do not mean close super- vision at the skillet. As they are born with an innate ability to cook, girls should find it easy to master the basic techniques. But they need to be directed by men who know how to eat (there is an analogy with typing).

The New English Kitchen vindicates my tutelage, for there are signs of mental quickening. This is not just a cookbook, but a work of culinary philosophy. The subtitle is ‘Changing the Way You Shop, Cook and Eat’. Rose Prince stresses the importance of the food chain. The text is spiced with anecdotes about farmers and butchers. If all girls were to study Rose’s homilies, the English table and the English shirt-button would be groaning under the weight of the finest produce.

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