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For John Lincoln and Pippa Whittington who separately, and in their different ways, gave more to this book than we can say.

Of the very many people who helped in the process of making this book, we would especially like to thank the following: Lewis Esson, whose indefatigable and good-humoured quest for accuracy made him our ideal editor; Juliet Peston, whose creative cooking has impacted on many of the recipes; Brian Ma Siy for his extraordinary illustrations; David Gill for his luminous photography; Janey Suthering who proved that making food look as good as it tastes is an art; and, last but by no means least, Anne Fumiss, Paul Welti and Mary Evans for their considerable efforts in making this a very different book.