My childhood home in Bombay always smelt of filter coffee. If you ask me what else it smelled of, I would certainly smile and without a doubt of hesitation say Dosa.

Making pickles, especially mango pickle, was a ritual at home in Bombay. Today, on an unusually hot summer day in the UK I was transported back to my grandmother‘s kitchen in the midst of all those flavours, smells and sounds. 

Parkinson’s disease robs you of many things. Of ALL the things that Parkinson’s has stolen from me, I would most certainly put food right up there in the top five - the other contenders being spontaneity, independence, movement and dignity. 

I do sympathise with those who ardently hate on the small plate. It’s easy to feel conned when a £14 dish arrives on a plate the size of a coffee coaster, and you realise you could easily devour the morsel in a singular bite. Or - a small plates favourite - when you dutifully order the recommended ‘2-3 plates per person’, wind up £50 lighter - and still leave the restaurant hungry. This modern phenomenon of small plates is an extremely fine line to balance, and let's be honest, some restaurants aren't quite getting it right.

Cooking can cause all sorts of anxiety, stress and some embarrassment not because you can’t cook but perhaps, you feel like others will judge you. Maybe you have a favourite snack which is just combo mad, perhaps you’ve never even heard of hummus or don’t know how to use a microwave!

Christmas is just around the corner and with recent trends showing a consistent rise in plant-based eating. Statistically speaking a recent survey shows that 19.6% of Brits are expected to choose vegetarian or vegan food this Christmas and in 2021 82% of people who tried Veganuary had drastically cut meat intake, according to a 6-month survey carried out by Veganuary.

According to the ONS, one in eight adults were left unable to buy essential goods in their local supermarket in October due to the shortages we’ve seen in recent months. Politicians have spoken about a potential “winter of discontent”, with rising energy bills, increasing prices and a critical shortage of workers resulting in significant food and fuel shortages due to supply constraints.

It is Ruby Tandoh’s Eat Up: a small, green sliver of magic that encourages us to eat for joy, and the recipes that are sprinkled throughout were the first time I felt seen when faced with cooking.

Our leading biodiversity experts predict there will be more pandemics in the future unless we stop the senseless destruction of the natural world. If you have ever considered changing to a plant-based diet specifically to save the planet, you have to do it now.