Good eating and big money rarely seem go hand in hand. But I guess the mega-rich have to eat somewhere where they won't rub shoulders with the rest of us. But how can they be sure we won't get into their glitzy, jet-set world? Let me tell you. They go to places such as the Eagle Club in Gstaad - a restaurant that costs £25,000 even to walk in the door. Roger Moore and his restaurateur son Geoffrey are members and we managed to blag a meal with them to see just what nosh that sort of money can get you.
It has been less than 10 years since the image of organic living involved little more than a VW Camper, roll ups, dungarees and a diet of endless brown food. If there were any greens involved you can bet your last wholemeal roll they would have been a bit tired and riddled with holes. Few lifestyles have changed quite so radically. Now organic living is about purity, wellbeing and more than a little luxury. The basic principles of sustainability and respect for the environment remain the same but the trappings are almost unrecognisable.
It is fair to say that Craig Sams and Jo Fairley have played no small part in dragging the organic movement into the twenty-first century. Possibly the most organic couple in Britain they are as far from the traditional muesli and sandals stereotypes as you could ever imagine. Check out the face of modern organic living.
I think it is fair to say that the hippest ingredient right now is nostalgia. I am sure it is partly what has kept my book Toast, The Story of a Boy's Hunger in the bestsellers list. Well, that, and of course being on Richard and Judy 's Book Club. A love of the food we grew up with is universal, that much I know from your letters, but what do other people remember of their childhood food? We asked three great writers what they remembered most fondly. Max Hastings tells us how he thought that all food came in a Harrods van until he was 18. Robert McCrum recalls summer holidays spent in the rain on the beach eating a cornish pasty, (yep, been there too, Robert) and Vicki Woods tells us of her transition from a silver service waitress in Morecambe to a life of nibbling canapés for London's top society magazine.
We also have the wonderful Deborah Harry on what she eats now she has given up her cheeseburger habit; Peter Mayle sits at his favourite table in Provence and we learn how one of the country's top chefs, Henry Harris, lost lots of weight last year (see his low carb recipes on page 7). Oh, and many congratulations to John Carlin who won best food and drink writer of the year at the press awards for his articles in Observer Food Monthly .
Nigel Slater is the Observer's cookery writer and this month his book Toast won Best Autobiography at the British Book Awards
Dr John Briffa's column returns next month
