God, I hate gastropubs. What with all the twice-baked goats' cheese soufflés and geranium-scented panna cotta there's nowhere to put your pint down any more. And what was wrong with a good ploughman's lunch anyway? We don't need all these Michel Roux wannabees behind the bar. We need someone who knows how to pull a pint and make a decent sandwich. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a pile of salty oysters, a fresh crab sandwich or even a nice plate of local cheeses and some home-made pickles with my drink, but do we really need beetroot risotto with blue cheese beignets and wild garlic pesto?

Alastair Sawday begs to differ and has compiled his top 25 pubs for food. He shuns the lookalike gastropubs with their lookalike clientele and points us in the direction of real food in real pubs. Just what we need now that summer has finally decided to appear. We also get the hit list from a few of our favourite people including Erin O'Connor and Ian Rankin.

Me, I'm putting my feet up this month and have gone through my files to hunt out 20 of my favourite recipes for summer eating. It's all simple stuff, just right for eating outdoors. For those who prefer being indoors (so much better for your skin) then we have asked round our mates for their top 10 greasy spoons. In this month's edition, you can find out where Gordon Ramsay tucks into fried eggs and brown sauce.

There's no great surprise where Jonathan King is dining nowadays, (Sorry Mr King, chicken's off) but he actually rates the food at HMP Maidstone better than the stuff he used to eat on Concorde. We find out what's on his tray.

Greasy spoons, prison food ... I think it's time for a bit of glamour. One always suspects, well, at least I do, that most of the fashion world hasn't eaten since 1985, but in fact many of them love good food - think Bruce Oldfield, Jasper Conran and Betty Jackson - and to prove it, Kathy Phillips, ex-health and beauty director of Vogue let us photograph the brunch party she recently gave for the country's most high-powered beauty bunch, including the top brass from Vogue,Tatler, Elle and Harpers and Queen. Surprisingly it's not so much a question of 'do they eat' as 'do they ever stop'? OFM picks up the crumbs.

And talking of babes, our own Kate Flett switches off her TV just long enough to take her 22-month-old son Jackson to lunch at Giorgio Locatelli's fabulous Mayfair restaurant. See what treatment the Babes Who Lunch get at one of Britain's (very) best restaurants. We also have the low-down on supermarket vegetarian food, Howard Jacobson's favourite dining area, Moscow's It girls and go roaming with pigs with Britain's dishiest farmer.

· Nigel Slater is The Observer's cookery writer

To order Toast by Nigel Slater (Perennial £7.99) with free p&p call The Observer Book service on 0870 8360885.

There are two OFMs this month. Tim Atkin and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall return on June 27th in OFM's special Italian issue.