The chance to meet Elisabeth Luard, one of our most distinguished food writers, and to find out how her peripatetic life has influenced her work, could not be passed up. The publication of her latest book, Saffron and Sunshine, provided the occasion for our meeting at Villandry, the food lover's haven in London.

From her travels and sojourns in several countries, Elisabeth has gleaned an immense knowledge of Mediterranean cuisine. She has been able to step back from it all, assimilate the information and then share the results of her insight, pointing out the links between countries in ingredients and cooking methods. It is this that forms the backbone of Saffron and Sunshine. She speaks several languages and it is not surprising to learn that when researching for her writing, she gets taken back to people's homes and shown how the authentic dishes are cooked.

Early Influences
Her love of food began as a child and her informative years were spent in South America and Europe. It is to these times that she refers to as a turning point in her life. She used to while away the time in the kitchens below stairs and was able to look, listen and learn. She has fond memories of the local staff whom she befriended and more importantly, the food was much, much better – comforting and regional, whereas above stairs, it was staid and lacked vibrancy.

A Spanish Calling
At the age of 21, she married Nicholas Luard, the co-founder of Private Eye and novelist. In 1972, with four children in tow, they left London to live permanently in the hills of Andalusia, where they enjoyed a lifestyle, free from the constraints put upon them by city life. The children were able to run with the wind, learn about plants and living life at first hand. They went to school on a donkey, spoke Spanish and soaked up the midday sun. They kept a pig, pigeons and rabbits and not just for aesthetic purposes.

Elisabeth arrived in Spain with copies of Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson under her arm and worked her way through these, teaching herself to cook. She made friends with locals, who let her into the secrets of cooking Spanish dishes.

The Family Pig
Every year saw a fiesta for killing the family pig, (or as Elisabeth puts it as 'Any excuse for a party'). The killing is man’s work and the men then disappear to soak up the local wine. The women are left with the task of cutting up the pig and finding a use for virtually every body part. To prepare the tripe and intestines, both needed to be washed through with fresh water and salt. This was usually done in a stream but alas, there was quite a hike to Elisabeth's nearest stream. A woman of lateral thinking, she suggested putting the whole lot into her washing machine on a cold wash with salt. Hey presto, the job was done and reputedly, you will still find this being done in the hills in Andalusia.

Researching recipes
When on a quest for new material, Elisabeth arms herself with a basket and heads for the nearest market. She advises never to go to a market without one, as you will be eyed very suspiciously. She will then proceed to buy some things to put in it, something irresistible that she probably will have to throw away later and then the talking starts. It is here that she is able to break the ice and mingle with locals. Invitations to homes usually follow and off she goes.

Elisabeth is careful about the type of questions she asks. She says that 'When talking about a type of food, you can easily offend people'. She remembers a time when discussing snails. They may be food fit for kings as far as she is concerned but start talking about them to certain Greeks, and some will be reminded of the Civil War and they retreat hastily back into their shells. Knowledge of local history is essential. All in all, to achieve what she has done, you have to be pretty clued up.

Artist or Craftsman
I asked Elisabeth whether she considers herself an artist when cooking. After all, when you have your ingredients before you, you then paint a picture by cooking them and the results are different, even if we all follow the same recipe. She answers immediately ‘A craftsman, but a good one. It is the chefs who are artists, creating masterpieces on a plate’. You can understand her unwavering response. The food she likes to cook is for people sitting informally round a table, digging into this and that. The regional peasant food of the Mediterranean is ideally suited to this kind of eating and it matches her character, generous and warm-hearted.

Celebrity chefs
We talked about the impact of food and cooking in the media and I asked her what she felt about it. Sadly as cooking in this country is no longer a skill handed down through the generations, we now have to rely on television icons to show us what to do. ‘I have real hope in Jamie Oliver, providing he doesn’t sell himself out. The food hype is fine providing it encourages people into their kitchens to cook fresh food.’ We both agree that Jamie Oliver will have won if he can get more men into the kitchen. He has shown that it is cool to cook, and that the kitchen is no longer the domain of the female sex.

What hope for British food and Farmers’ Markets
She feels that we are slowly getting there with our Farmers' Markets but at the moment Elisabeth laments that 'Each one, even if at different ends of the country, sells the same produce.'; It is similar to visiting a National Trust shop, they sell and smell of the same things wherever you are. She is a great advocate of organic food and the small supplier.

The Internet
Needless to say, I had to ask Elisabeth if she uses the Internet. She is very much into e-mail but that is where it ends. However, if she could source something in particular, like Serrano ham on the bone and order it from home, she would do so. She told me that various producers of olive oil she has come across have their own websites now. It is possible to order from them but sometimes you have to order a huge amount and then delivery is expensive. All this will be refined as the years go by and we all become accustomed to online shopping as our confidence in the system grows.

Love it or leave it
No interview would be complete without running through a list of questions, the answers of which we are all interested to know. Greek Kalamata olive oil is her favourite. Edouard de Pomiane, the French writer whose work was first published in the 1930s, rates as one of her all time cookery reads. Cooking with Pomiane is being reprinted by Serif at the time of writing. Another is MFK Fisher, the American writer of gastronomic literature. She says you can’t go wrong on books written on specific cuisines, Elizabeth David on Mediterranean food, Jane Grigson on all things English, Claudia Roden on Jewish and Middle Eastern food, et al. Her hates are headed by a Spanish dish of stuffed marrow, which she had to suffer as a child and now loathes with a vengeance.

Here is a woman who can write effortlessly, illustrates her own books, is a friend to one and all and most importantly, catches people and carries them off with her enthusiasm. She is such fun. Despite being dealt several blows during her life, she is a bright light. Her name is indeed illuminated, along with the classic food writers of times past and present.

To read our review of Saffron and Sunshine, or to sample the recipes click here'); ?>