My stories are not something we discuss over dinner, and I don't put dinner into my stories. It irritates me when I read a book and there is a whole paragraph describing a meal. All I can think is, 'This is a bit of filling', so I've always veered away from including a lot of food descriptions. Writing does make you jolly hungry though. If you put in two to three hours of intensive work, the brain does require feeding.
When I was growing up, my family was fantastically poor. My father died when I was nine, so my mother had to bring us up on a war widow's pension and very basic food. I got a scholarship to a private school, which taught me to eat what I was given. Now it's hard to persuade my student sons to eat what I was trained to like (treats such as oxtail stew and liver), so we usually have quite 'normal' food.
For dinner we might order in chicken balti or perhaps a duck dish from the Chinese takeaway. Or we'll have rare fillet steak with lots of butter or a baked potato. We always eat quite late, at about 9pm, which is why I'm not hungry in the morning. At 7am, my husband and I grind our coffee beans (delivered from Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate) to make a strong cafetiere, and that serves as our breakfast. I start working at 8.30am and spend the rest of the morning drinking Gold Blend and smoking.
My husband manages our estate in Dorset - he's a farmer really. By late morning we both come to a natural break and cook lunch. We'll have lamb chops, or a steak with mashed potato. I'm a great meat eater, but I'm very keen on humanely reared produce. We grow all our own vegetables, so eat seasonally. Favourites are runner beans, but we are also trying squash and aubergine. I'm a huge fan of salads with everything in them, such as parmesan shavings, tomatoes, onions and organic bacon. I may have been working on a particularly difficult scene but that won't affect lunch: writing is a bit like acting; you have to be able to switch on and off.
· Minette Walters's most recent novel The Tinder Box is published by Macmillan (£8.99).
Instant coffee
Although coffee is not seen as a healthy brew, more than one study has linked it with a reduced risk of diabetes. However, some benefits are likely to be eroded during the processing of beans from ground to instant form.
Liver
Organ meats are more likely to be tainted with chemical residues. Opting for organic will offer some protection - and I rate liver because it is a rich source of iron.
Watercress
Containing isothiocyanates that help nullify the effects of carcinogenic chemicals, watercress may help Minette, as isothiocyanates can protect against the cancer-inducing effects of smoking.
Chicken Balti
Minette is keen to eat animals that have been humanely reared, but the chicken in a takeaway is unlikely to fit that bill.
Runner beans
A major plus of growing your own vegetables is that they can be eaten in their freshest, most nutrient-replete state.
Fillet steak
Although red meat is often vilified because of its high saturated fat content, we've been eating saturated fat for centuries, so we should have adapted. And half the fat in steak is monounsaturated (heart-healthy).
Parmesan
A relatively salty food that will benefit from some counterbalance from the salad that accompanies it.
Organic bacon
Going for organic will help cut down on Minette's intake of chemicals. However, the bacon is still very high in salt.
Lamb chops
Sheep do not lend themselves to intensive farming, which means that lamb is a good bet for those concerned about the rearing of the meat they eat.
Baked potato
A relatively glycaemic food, particularly old as opposed to new, potatoes tend to raise sugar levels and cause an excess of insulin, which can cause hunger and fatigue.
