Clarissa writes: It is a joy what a difference fresh vegetables make. Charlie Cowan, master gardener of Inveresk, tells me that except during his time in the army he has never eaten shop-bought vegetables. Oh how I envy him. Those terrible vegetables, all characterless, pristine and tasteless, that the supermarkets foist on us barely deserve the name. I believe the Americans have now bred a cabbage that doesn’t taste of cabbage – I expect it tastes of nothing, so what’s the point? Last summer I stayed with that doyenne of food tastes, Lynda Brown, and we went madly round her garden plucking whatever came to hand and flinging it on the barbecue. It was an exhilarating experience.
