Toast
Toast by Nigel Slater
Toast is Nigel Slater’s award-winning story of a childhood remembered through food. Whether relating his mother’s ritual burning of the toast, his father’s dreaded Boxing Day stew or such culinary highlights of the day as Arctic Roll and Grilled Grapefruit (then considered something of a status symbol in Wolverhampton), this remarkable memoir vividly recreates daily life in sixties suburban England.
Nigel’s likes and dislikes, aversions and sweet-toothed weaknesses form a fascinating backdrop to this incredibly moving and deliciously evocative portrait of childhood, adolescence and sexual awakening.
Reviews
"Very enjoyable. Brought back many long forgotten memories. Definitely one for those aged 50+."
"An interesting read bringing back many family memories – not strictly correct in some places due to references of products not available at the time being remembered. Some interesting recipes and fond recollections of food when he was younger."
"Sorry not my type of reading material."
"I did not enjoy the book . It was too slow for me."
"Could not get into this book – I did not like it."
"I give a book 50 pages to capture my interest. If it doesn’t I waste no more time on it. This book seemed completely pointless to me."
"An original idea and well written. Effectively evokes the tastes and smells of the period in which it is set. But the constant, detailed descriptions of food finally gave me mental indigestion!"
"A book to whet the appetite with amusing anecdotes and interspersed with glimpses of periods of growing up in various stages of life. A thoroughly interesting book."
"An easy enjoyable book to read with quite a few laughs and memories awakened. It doesn’t need much thought or effort to remember who is who, or keep up with the plot. Characters are drawn well. Pictures of the food are excellent. Some sexual content but not explicit. A walk down memory lane for those over 50."
"An amusing if sometimes uncomfortable evocation of food and cooking. Very enjoyable."
"I absolutely loved this book! It was very easy to read and most enjoyable: A walk down memory lane in terms of the descriptions of food from one’s childhood, which brought back lots of memories for me.
Apart from the descriptions of food, the author very cleverly tells the story of his childhood up to when he left home and started his career as a chef. It is a very endearing story through which he manages to encapsulate the powerlessness of being a child, sometimes not understanding all that is going on around him and at other times understanding far more than the adults in his life give him credit for! "
"The author has quite a rough time as a child, but throughout it all manages to pursue his passion in life – food!"
"I thoroughly recommend this book!"
"Very enjoyable. Some of the descriptions of the various foods took me back in time to my youth when my mother cooked good wholesome meals."