The Kitch Lit Series: Toast

If the saying is true, that food is life, Nigel Slater’s childhood was filled with bright spots (Butterscotch Angel Delight) and low points (dried peas). As such, his memoir, Toast, is a complex mix of whimsy and melancholy. Subtitled ‘The Story of a Boy’s Hunger,” Toast is about so much more than hunger in the physical sense. Slater, whose mother passed away when he was a child, spent the rest of his youth hungry for the warmth and care that was lost with her.

Slater readily admits that his mother was not an accomplished cook. Slater and his father pushed through the meals, usually overdone and lacking flavor. Even if the meals were not spectacular, even if she did not always enjoy their preparation, what his mother did put into every meal was love. Again, this is not to say she loved the process of preparing tea or Sunday dinner  - she rather clearly only enjoyed it on rare occasions - but she loved the people she was serving, and that is why she did it.

Broken into vignettes titled for a particular culinary adventure, Slater richly describes the food and the enjoyment of eating it. Here he describes the aforementioned Butterscotch Angel Delight: 

"Butterscotch Angel Delight was magic. Magic in the way that if you stood over it for five minutes you could actually watch the powder and milk thicken into a creamy dessert. Magic in the way it seemed to thicken further once you put it in your mouth. Magic in what seemed like a mean portion in the bowl became almost too much of a good thing in the mouth. Magic in the way that it managed to taste of both sugar and soap at the time."

When you least expect it, Slater drops in a hilarious bon mot as the last sentence in a chapter.    

Taking place in the UK during the 60s and 70s, I admit my own unfamiliarity with some of the terminology, culinary or otherwise. Though my Great British Baking Show knowledge did come in handy. Caster sugar, icing sugar, cling film. Yep, I already knew those. But it is impossible not to find familiarity in the experience of growing up: things happen around you that you do not fully understand but, at the same time, you understand that change is likely afoot. 

Ending shortly after Slater’s days in university, Toast definitely left me hungry for more. The reader can't help but hope that as Slater continued to grow and mature, that his hunger – both literal and metaphorical – was satisfied.