	Becky Thorn
	One woman's quest to see if buying those cook books really does help with the cooking or is it all just gastroporn?

contents

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School Dinners - The story of a cook book

Having whiled away many an hour reading and re-reading the many cook books on my shelves there comes a time (usually after several glasses of wine) when this frustrated writer thinks to herself, I could do that. I could write a cook book. More often than not the feeling would pass and sanity prevail but the last time the muse struck, it hit hard enough to knock me senseless and by the time I'd come round I was up to my ears in it!

The discovery of a favourite but forgotten recipe was the catalyst for my creativity. Butterscotch Tarts rule! A summer holiday of cooking and writing followed. Indigestion and typists finger in equal measure. Recipes written it's time to start the hard work.

Now to get published. Without much real hope I began. Inevitably for a newbie at this game there were rejections from literary agents. They kept telling me that as I wasn't Nigella or Delia (tell me something I don't already know!) and had no TV tie in my book was unlikely to sell. One rejection came from a small publisher on the grounds that they were all vegetarians and would find publicising a book with meat recipes in hard but they wished me well with the project!!! I decided to get serious. I bought a copy of Writers and Artists year book and worked out a system. Being a teacher the system I used was ........ wait for it ..... the alphabet. Begin at A and work your way through to Z. If you get to Z and still no one loves you then it's time to stop I reasoned. I also thought that I'd start by just sending to publishing houses who accepted emailed submissions. My guilt over an increasing carbon footprint, trees being felled, and the time spent in queues at the post office if you can find one that is.

My first submission of this new system bore fruit. Anova, or more specifically Portico, an Anova imprint were interested in my idea and the fact that I wasn't a TV chef didn't matter a jot. I was elated, over the moon, gob smacked call it what you will when that first email pinged into my inbox. Later reality struck when I worked out just how many words I had to write and the fact that they expected me to be witty too. Worrying, especially when, according to my daughter, I don't do "funny".

So what is this book all about then?

Did you lust after a Chopper or crack your knuckles on clackers? Did you cut the roof of your mouth on spangles or fancy the Milky Bar Kid? You did! Me too, excellent; we lived through the heyday of school dinners. Time was when all schools had a cook, each cook had her ice cream scoop and she wasn't afraid to use it.

In my book I hope you will find tastes that awaken memories of your days at school. Food is a fantastic way to time travel. Transport yourself back to a time when tank tops were cool and lapels were so wide they could catch on doorframes. Take a few friends with you whilst you are about it. All you really need is a tray of mashed potato and an ice cream scoop and off you go.

As children we had a favourite school dinner and also had some we liked less, but usually with enough custard or gravy most flavours could be masked. I have attempted to revive the flavour of the school canteen during the sixties and seventies. Some recipes I have collected over the years from friendly school cooks. Others I have recreated using my own memories of meals eaten. First courses at school were hearty and filling but it was school puddings that really made us finish our cabbage and sit up straight. Some were real traditional favourites whilst others were only found in school canteens. All these recipes are, I hope, as you remember them from school but in many cases I have also added a version that allows for the maturing of our palates and the changing ingredients available to us today. Added to the recipes are recollections of life as a scabby knee ed, parka wearing, Bay City roller fan whose main aim in life was to be first in the queue for puddings!

Want a copy? School Dinners Published in October 2008. Portico £9.99