Nigel Slater books

Nigel Slater is one of Britain's best-loved food writers, known for cookbooks that treat cooking as a personal and sensory experience rather than a technical exercise, and for the memoir Toast, which traces his childhood through the foods he remembers. His writing has appeared in The Observer for over three decades.

Cookbooks

Title Published Buy on Amazon
“Marie Claire” Cookbook 1992 Buy
Real Fast Food 1992 Buy
Marie Claire’s Creative Cuisine 1992 Buy
Real Fast Desserts 1993 Buy
Real Fast Puddings 1993 Buy
30 Minute Cookbook 1994 Buy
The 30-Minute Cook 1994 Buy
30-minute Suppers 1996 Buy
Real Cooking 1997 Buy
Real Good Food 1997 Buy
Real Food 1998 Buy
Appetite 2000 Buy
Thirst 2002 Buy
Tender 2009 Buy
Ripe 2012 Buy
Eat 2013 Buy
The Christmas Chronicles 2017 Buy
Greenfeast: Spring, Summer 2019 Buy
Greenfeast: Autumn, Winter 2019 Buy
A Cook’s Book 2023 Buy

Memoirs

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Toast 2003 Buy
The Kitchen Diaries II 2012 Buy
Notes from the Larder 2012 Buy
The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater 2020 Buy
A Year of Good Eating 2020 Buy
A Thousand Feasts 2024 Buy

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Eating for England 2005 Buy

Nigel Slater has been writing about food since the early 1990s, and what has made him last is the consistency of his approach: he writes about cooking as something you do for pleasure and comfort, not to impress. His early books, Real Fast Food and the 30-minute series, addressed practical weeknight cooking with warmth and without condescension. His later work, books like Tender, Eat, and A Cook’s Book, became more expansive, following the seasons and his own curiosity wherever they led.

The memoir strand of his work is equally important. Toast, published in 2003, is a brilliant piece of writing about a 1960s and 70s English childhood, told almost entirely through food memories: the smell of frying liver, the taste of a specific brand of biscuit, the way certain meals mark a moment in family life. The Kitchen Diaries and its sequels carry the same quality into adult life, recording what he cooked and ate across the seasons with the kind of honesty that makes you want to cook immediately.

Slater is not a chef and has never pretended to be one. He is a home cook with strong opinions and a gift for describing flavors and textures in prose that makes reading his books as satisfying as cooking from them.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Nigel Slater written?

Nigel Slater has written 27 books across three series.

What was Nigel Slater's first book?

Nigel Slater’s first book is “Marie Claire” Cookbook, published in 1992.

What is the best Nigel Slater book to start with?

Toast, his 2003 memoir, is probably the most widely read starting point, since it introduces his personality and his relationship with food through a series of vivid childhood memories rather than recipes. For cookbooks, Real Fast Food or Appetite are both strong entry points, with Appetite in particular showing his mature voice and philosophy in full.

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