Hello.

I thought you might like the first look at my next book. It’s called SPICE/ a cook’s companion - the third in the flavour series, started by SOUR and HERB.

I couldn’t be happier with it - the same team as usual is involved (the great gang at Quadrille, Matt the designer and Matt the chef on the shoots, and more), and by an excellent injustice only my name goes on the front.

It is published in three months - which if this year is anything to go by will seem like the weekend after next.

It is a little different to the other two, in that there are 15 recipes from other people: here’s why.

From the book…

In what can sometimes be a very binary world, I’m increasingly in favour of holding two or more seemingly part-contradictory thoughts in my mind and allowing them to coexist. I very much believe that the kitchen is a place where cultures overlap, where ingredients not traditionally brought together can be thrown into an unfamiliar alliance that may prove holy or otherwise. If you want to sprinkle garam masala on your fried eggs, or add it to the salt for the rim of that third ill-advised tequila, no-one should stop you. The spirit of play should be undiluted in the kitchen. I am far from new to the business of cooking and food writing, and I have much to say about spices and how to use them: I enthusiastically claim the right to respectfully play with ideas from cultures other than my own and to enjoy the spaces between. That said, I cannot hope to fully represent the depth and breadth of food cultures around the world and I respect the importance of moving positively towards a better future when it comes to cultural appropriation. It struck me that this book might be enriched and those cultures respected if I was to beg, bribe, badger and cajole some of those whose food I love and whose ability to represent the food they call home might offer you a springboard or two from which to leap. I am beyond grateful to those who have so generously shared their brilliance in these pages.

There will be much more about SPICE in the coming weeks - a bonus recipe or two, and more - so until then, I hope you like the cover.

The Imperfect Umbrella with Mark Diacono

SPICE/ a cook's companion