Kitchenella: The secrets of women: heroic, simple, nurturing cookery - for everyone

Kitchenella: the heroic feminine cook.

The continuing story of the rise and fall of good food finds us at the end of a decade of exceptional growth and opportunity, yet once again in crisis. We believe in food icons and celebrity chefs, but their philosophies are no longer convincing, because they cannot possibly understand the predicament of the average family, living through recession and trying to do it right in the kitchen. Where are the cooks with wit, who work out the budget and plan an easy dish that efficiently feeds family and friends?

Full of logical, economical and imaginative recipes that solve the modern cook's dilemma, Kitchenella will teach you the skills of those teachers who work without books, the 'mothers' and the cooks who subsequently learned from them, to decisively show you the easy way to cook and shop.

Promoting a modest, simple way to cook, Kitchenella shows cooking is not about showing off and extravagance, but generosity and kindness; a subtle and intelligent way to nurture. It is cooking that is economically sustainable and achievable. It has its roots in the learned, spirited cooking of generations, food that can claim to have helped win wars and saved lives; a style of cooking that is still relevant today, by practically addressing the struggles of modern cooks, both men and women.

The ambition to cook is a fantasy for many, yet Kitchenella shows how the everyday struggle to put food on the table can be transformed into cooking that is clever and beautiful.