Nigel Slater

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the cookery writer Nigel Slater. The British public have taken Slater and his recipes to their hearts and - crucially - their kitchens in recent years, encouraged by his philosophy that cooking need not be daunting. Don't cook to show off, he says, or because you feel you should - cook for enjoyment, and comfort. Choose good ingredients, cook them simply, and above all - relax.

Slater's passion for food grew out of a lonely, neglected childhood in which his only comforts were culinary. Born in Wolverhampton in the late 50s, his mother died when he was just nine leaving a gap in his life which he tried to fill with comfort food. Against his father's wishes, he fantasised about being a chef, later leaving home to go to catering college and then work in a variety of restaurants around the country. After testing recipes for a new magazine, he first came to public attention as food editor for Marie Claire.

Currently food editor of the Observer, Slater's books are both popular and critically acclaimed. His 2003 memoir Toast won biography of the year at the British Book Awards, his cookbook Appetite won an Andre Simon for Cookbook of the Year in 2000, and Slater himself has won the Glenfiddich Trophy and Cookery Writer of the Year Award in 1999.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Choices

1.

Castaway's favourite

Henry Hall and Val Rosing

Teddy Bears' Picnic

Artist: The BBC Dance Orchestra

2.

The Supremes

Baby Love

Others who chose this artist

3.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

Stabat Mater dolorosa (from Stabat Mater)

Soloist: Felicity Palmer, Alfreda Hodgson & the Choir

Others who chose this artist

4.

The Beach Boys

Do You Wanna Dance

Others who chose this artist

5.

Chet Baker

The Thrill is Gone

Others who chose this artist

6.

Roxy Music

Avalon

Others who chose this artist

7.

The Stone Roses

This is the One

Others who chose this artist

8.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Osculetur me (from Motets, Book 4)

Orchestra: Hilliard Ensemble Conductor: Paul Hillier

Others who chose this artist

Book

Derek Jarman's Garden by Derek Jarman

Others who chose this author

Luxury item

Howard Hodgkin's painting Learning About Russian Music

Others who chose a similar luxury