-ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-

ALOT OF people have helped with this book in one way or another and I am very grateful to them all. Those to whom l owe most, however, are the team of students who tested all the recipes promptly and with humour but in a truly critical spirit. The team was headed and organised by Polly Freeman; other members were Rob Kenney, Helen Leech, Danielle Power and Louise Simpson. Other testers were Julia Mitchell, Synda Younson and in particular Alex Freeman, who not only tested but also retested recipes, often many times, with patience, accuracy and remarkable flair: without him, a numberwould not have been included.

I also want to thank Jill Norman, authorof The Complete Book of Spices, Clara Tomasi, formerly of Frith's Restaurant and who now runs Turnaround Cooks, Piero and Henrietta Amodio of the Coffee Gallery and Mauro of Mauro's Delicatessen for contributing recipes; the Milk and Potato Marketing Boards and Marks & SpencerPLCforinformation; the MinistryofAgriculture, Fisheries and Food, who kindly donated their latest publications on nutrition; my publishers for invaluable editorial advice and assistance, notably Sarah Bloxham and Ruth Baldwin, who have made every stage in the production of this book a pleasure; and last but most rather than least, my husband Michael, who has eaten his way through it despite not being a vegetarian and unfailingly commented constructively, besides giving positive help in very many other ways.