Gorgeous book, and the writing is mesmerising - I often just read How to Eat for the pleasure of the 'sound' of Nigella's voice in the writing. A basic Roast Chicken (and later the BEST version of roast chicken in Tagliatelle with Chicken from the Venetian Ghetto), The World's Best Chocolate Ice Cream really is. There are lots of simple recipes for feeding children, and heaps of budget ideas (my Marsala costs just a couple of dollars) along with the more fancy menu options. Stews, soups, lunches, dinners, sweets, it's all delicious and there are SO many recipes! I've cooked from How to Eat more times than I can count, yet, I think after all these years, I have only scratched the surface. I love that I am still discovering new dishes. ( )

This was the first cookbook I bought and basically learned to cook from it. I was a student when I bought it and now have a kid! Yes, some of the recipes don't work and you could bankrupt yourself fairly quickly buying bottles of marsala and the like. But it's so well written (referencing Henry James when talking about making mayonnaise!) and covers every eventuality - basics, dinner for 2, babies & kids, fancy dinner party menus, slimming. ( )

This is my new bible. It is the sort of book I could sit down and read from cover to cover, or dip in and out of. The recipes are simple and impressive. The coca-cola braised and glazed ham is ingenious. ( )

This is such an irritating book! Only useful to people with unlimted money & access to a deli.! ( )

I make her kids' birthday "fairy cakes" all the time as my standard cupcake recipe. It's very easy! ( )

I initially had the paperback version and had to graduate to the hardback with the ugly cover. I love this cookbook. Like the rest of Lawson's books, it stands as a book you can simply read -- she is intelligent and quite entertaining. As a cookbook, it's also excellent -- lots of simple, accessible recipes. My one qualm at this point is its heavy reliance on dairy, but it's very Nigella.

I'm not saying Nigella bites, but it seems to me the test of a good cookbook is that it has recipes that work and that you want to cook. I have tried only one recipe from this book and while not a total flop it wasn't what I'd hoped for, and I just can't say I'm inspired by the rest of it. I'd put it down to a lack of photographs, but Mark Bittman doesn't rely on pictures and I love his cookbooks. Perhaps it was the translation from English to American kitchens that curdled the cream, or maybe Nigella was always over-hyped. However, if you liked her presentation on her cooking show (and I thought she did extremely well), you should like the prose sections - unfortunately, you can't eat her words. ( )

Nigella Lawson's is a wonderful example of how story can be interwoven with recipes. This isn't so much a book I cook out of (although I do cook some of the recipes, and they are wonderful) as a book that I *read* ... and I loved it. ( )

I can't help myself, I love Nigella. I really like the way this book is organized, with menus for different sorts of seasonal lunches and kitchen dinners, and her casual, friendly writing style.

"Her prose is as nourishing as her recipes - it should please mere readers, serious cooks and happy omnivores."
-Salman Rushdie

"I love Nigella Lawson's writing and I love her recipes."
-Delia Smith

"One of the best and most influential of British food writers - bound to become a staple cookbook for a whole generation."
-Ruth Rogers, The River Cafe Cook Book

"Cerebral and scintillating advice - peppered with wit."
-Sunday Times

"A gloriously sensual wander through the possibilities of food. The recipes read more like seduction than instruction."
-Independent

This has become my alternative cooking bible, Delia having been the book of choice til Nigella came along. It's just as complete as Delia, but so much more fun and contemporary, and all enthused with a joy of eating good food. ( )

This is my favorite cookbook of Nigella's, her first and imo still her best. Every thing is here (except for the lavish photos of her subsequent books): eclectic menus, witty writing, Nigella's take on cooking for children, on diets, on food allergies and most of all, the importance of enjoying food. ( )