To Take the Trouble

Elizabeth David on taking the trouble (from A Book of Mediterranean Food), trouble with food and trouble as applied (by the reviewer and list complier) to writing:

Finally, all her work expresses a credo about cooking that, with equal justice, might apply to English prose at its finest and most natural:
"Good cooking is honest, sincere and simple, and by this I do not mean to imply that you will find in this, or indeed in any other book, the secret of turning out first-class food in a few minutes with no trouble. Good food is always a trouble and its preparation should be regarded as a labour of love, and this book is intended for those who actually and positively enjoy the labour involved in entertaining their friends."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/22/100-best-nonfiction-books-no-30-book-of-mediterranean-food-elizabeth-david
Paul Bertolli would recall this notion of taking trouble in the introduction to his cookbook Cooking by Hand. A thought worthy of passing on. Now not only about cooking.

And so for day 1688
28.07.2011