The London Reading List No.4: A Foodie Bookshop

The Great London Reading List! Essential London books that Londoners should take away on holiday to remind them of home… books visitors should read before arriving in London… fact, fiction, poetry, all genres welcome. If you’re in the mood to recommend a great London bookshop, too, we’d love to hear it!  All suggestions to the usual address, please, or leave a comment below or get in touch via Twitter @londonwalks.
LW’s Foodie Expert Ann chips in (no pun intended) with her recommendation for a great London bookshop…
Every night the tv schedules are stuffed full of food. The theory is that people watch this as a kind of gastro-porn, while tucking into their microwave meal. But if you actually enjoy cooking, then you should head over to Books for Cooks, in Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill. Here you will find floor to ceiling shelves of wonderful cookery books - and not just the latest glossy being promoted with its tv programme. Plus, there is a tiny test kitchen where each day some of the recipes from the books are cooked for lunch in the equally tiny cafe.
And if you are a foodie - even if you're not a chef- you should join one of my foodie walks, and explore Londoners' fascination with food - past and present. The walks are on Saturday mornings – next one is July 13 at 10.45 at Embankment tube.
Books for Cooks 4 Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, London, W11 1NN Tel 020-7221-1992 Fax 020-7221-1517
Open: Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00am to 6.00pm We are closed on Sundays, Mondays, Bank Holidays, the last three weeks of August, and ten days over Christmas and New Year, including Christmas Eve.

Ann Ann – quondam BBC journalist and current star Blue Badge Guide – knows everything there is to know about food: its history, where to buy it, how to cook it, how to enjoy it and, into the bargain, how to keep your figure! Of which she's an exemplar!! And al dente, here's a "bite" – of the sound variety – from her wonderful Foodies' "kitchen". And here's another