New cookbook offers healthy Lent lunches

A cookbook inspired by a Scottish great-granny has been tested in the most rigorous of circumstances over a number of years.

Written by Margaret Walton, a member of the congregation of St Andrew's Church, Chippenham, who for many years organised an annual series of lunches, Lent Lunches Without Tears has been published to inspire others to produce wholesome and healthy food for sharing.

"Lent Lunches Without Tears is the bringing together of those years of experience," says Margaret. "Traditionally a time of giving up excess, we used the lunches to raise money for aid charities and to bring people together in a convivial setting to enjoy a simple meal.

"Simple doesn't have to mean poor quality, though. I got my inspiration from the
methods used by my great granny in making the soups she gave me for lunch
when I was at infant school. They were delicious and healthy, and were made
without any written recipe, from what was available.

Margaret, now a retired grandmother, lives with her husband John in Calne, Wiltshire, but was brought up in Inverness. In her early teens her mother, a very plain cook, became very ill and she was faced with the task of looking after the family. She says that she had to learn quickly how to feed them well on wartime rations and a low income.

She remembered her great grandmother's method of making soup and sought advice from friends and helpful shopkeepers. She also used the strip on cookery in the Daily Mirror called Patsy's Reflections which was designed to help people make the best use of their rations. This was eventually produced in book form and she still has a treasured, if battered, copy in her kitchen library.

"Using fine local ingredients and thinking about people who might have special dietary needs is not as hard as it sounds," says Margaret. "For the Lent lunches, each week I made the soups and the bread at home the day before and took them to the venue on the morning where each member of the group of volunteers was given a designated task so that the meal was ready to serve in an hour."



Lent Lunches Without Tears by Margaret Walton is published by Athena Press at £5.99 [ISBN 978-1-84748-345-4]. The book contains 16 soup recipes and useful organisational charts and notes.