The River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a book that’s never very far away from me. I lent my first copy to someone (I can’t remember who), so I had to buy another. It’s a real cook’s book, but also a book for the gardener, the smallholder, the market gardener, the entrepreneur, and the market stall holder looking to make a few quid by making something. 

I adore this book and have huge admiration for Hugh. He is a real person, a bit scruffy—yes, scruffier than me—and he genuinely cares about trying to get as many people as possible to eat good food. I remember watching the first series of River Cottage and thinking: that’s what goes on in my head, I get that idea. I would love to be able to live off my own land, sell some sausages from my pigs, eat parsnips all day long and chase chickens into their huts every night. 

The book has so much information in it, it's hard to know where to start. There are sections on veg, pork, beef, lamb chicken and yeah, there are recipes included but it’s the stories of why things taste better if say, it’s rare breed, or organic, or grown yourself. 

I still refer to this book a lot, to look up a pickle recipe or a cure for this or that. It is an encyclopaedic cookbook for the thoughtful cook. With a sustainable approach and a nod to using more local and old recipes and dishes. This sits well with me. His section on wild food and foraging is excellent. As are the sections on how to keep chickens or how to start a flock. You really don’t need any other book in your library.