Hayley Anderton

Hayley Anderton

Blogger at Desperate Reader

https://desperatereader.blogspot.co.uk
I grew up in an old house on a remote Scottish island. It was a beginning that gave me a keen appreciation of where food comes from, it's seasonality, it's cost, and the effort that goes into getting it on the table. My working life has been spent in kitchens, none of them glamorous, around books, and in the wine trade, it's all experience that has built on those early lessons. I started blogging as Desperate Reader in 2009 - it was always going to have a foody element given that I've never been able to resist a good cookbook, or sharing my enthusiasm for them.

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Hayley's favorite cookbooks

Salt, Sugar, Smoke

Salt, Sugar, Smoke

Diana Henry

All her books are excellent but this one makes preserving in all its forms seem so accessible to the home cook as well as being full of things that are easy enough to make but hard to buy off the shelf.

Picnics

Picnics

Claudia Roden

I love the way it changed my idea of picnics from oranges with sand on them and hard boiled eggs to something less reminiscent of a 70's childhood.

Available on ckbk now
Seasonal Cookery

Seasonal Cookery

Claire Macdonald

When I first came across it around 1990 the idea of going back to seasonal and local food had a bit of novelty to it. As someone just developing an interest in cooking at the time it was really inspiring. The way it break things down into menus was great too, for a beginner it really helped with working out how a meal goes togeth