The recipes vary from traditional British favourites such as Cottage Pie to exotic dishes from the Middle East. Grigson spent holidays in France as a child, so she also includes some favourite home-style French recipes. If you like Italian, Mexican or Thai food, you'll also find examples of those cuisines. And unlike many cookery books, this one features a wide selection of meat-free options. All of the recipes are straightforward and relatively simple to make, with limited numbers of ingredients. Grigson also includes helpful tips about ingredients and cooking methods, and encourages the reader to experiment.

This is the kind of cookery book that I will use both for everyday cooking and for parties. I like its international flavour, as well as the fact that the recipes have stood the test of time and still hold up well. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys good food but doesn't want to spend all day cooking.