Thanks go first to my husband, Paul Breman, who has eaten his way through the book, offering suggestions and advice. He also organised the typescript into presentable form and compiled the index. I much appreciate Kyle Cathieās continuing faith in the idea for this book; since a conversation many years ago she has encouraged me, patiently, to write it.
Thanks to Caroline Taggart for her constructive editing and support; to Jason Lowe for his instinctive understanding of the book and his fine photographs; to Vanessa Courtier for the wonderful design and art direction; to Sunil Vijayakar and his assistant Tanya Sadourian, for cooking and presenting all the dishes for photography; to Vanessa Kendell for meticulous copy-editing. Thanks also to Renata and Raffaele Giacobazzi and to Sabrina Rippon who generously lent dishes, pans and cloths for photography, to supplement those belonging to myself, Vanessa and Jason.