NORTHERN PLANNER

Gymns are great for unwinding, but the best bit of training a lot is being able to eat more. This is a good thing since food is my favourite thing in the world, apart from maybe drink, or a good cup of tea.

Food is preparation; it’s relaxing and losing yourself in a task, the joy if creating something and making other people happy (when it goes right). It’s shopping for the right ingredients and imagining what it will all taste like. It’s a quick 20 minutes at the end of a long day or chatting over a glass of wine while the pot bubbles.

Food is about the senses, not just taste but smell, sight and touch – but that’s if your lucky. If your not, food is not being hungry.

Food can say a lot. Food can mean ‘love you’, ‘I’m sorry’, ‘we’re a family’ or sometimes ‘i don’t care’.

Food is culture, tradition and ritual: it’s Christmas, Passover or Ramadan. Food is knowing what fork to use. It can also be new and controversial, like snail porridge.

Food is personal; it’s prefering your Mum’s lasagne, having a favourite chippy or a secret pasta sauce recipe.

Food is about identity, it’s local, regional and national. It’s a different Ragu recipe in every town in Italy, it’s Yorkshire Pudding or Chicken Kiev, it’s Prawn Gumbo or Lamb Kleftiko.

Food can be quick and simple, or taking your time. It can be a quick spaghetti or taking a day to get the perfect balance of flavours in a cassoulet. It can be grinding your own spices in a curry or getting a takeaway.

Food brings a texture to life; the fried Sunday breakfast, the half time pie, peanuts at the bar, lunch at the desk, the family dinner, the mean when he proposed to you the Mcdonalds hangover cure, the guilty pleasure of the pot noodle or the popcorn with a film.

Food feedsthe belly but it also satisfies the soul.

Roast chicken risotto tonight, better do some rowing first.

I’m hungry.