River Cottage Good Comfort: Best-Loved Favourites Made Better for You

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There are people who actually prefer the taste of the healthier versions that are implicitly denigrated by entrepreneurial millennial vegans like Tegelaar and these café owners. The last time I made a cake with the full amount of suggested sugar, I found it pretty unpleasant, and sugar totally overwhelmed the other flavours. The introduction in Good Comfort, when mentioning reducing sugar in their café cakes, at least recognises people like us exist and are worth catering to: "the few guests who notice this change invariably comment positively: 'I really like that it isn't too sweet'".

Ultimately Hugh leads us on a journey to tweak our tastebuds and pamper our palates so that we can take as much pleasure - and ultimately more - from dishes that we know will do us good.It was actually spot-on. (As far as is possible, given they don't have a dairy-free book - although there is a gluten-free baking one.) I also love the presentation and design; neo-70s you might call it. It has tones reminiscent of 1970s to early-80s books, but is glossier and more visually appealing, and with cleaner lines. Therefore more appetising, than, say, my mum's copy of Cookery in Colour by Marguerite Patten, which I used to look through as a kid. It's an early-autumn colour scheme, with lots of green and brown: the start of my favourite time of year, and also when keen cooks are gearing up to make exactly this kind of food.

And Good Comfort is in every way generous, as Hugh makes our favourite foods healthier, not by taking stuff out of them, but by putting more in: the best whole ingredients, celebrated in all their colourful and seasonal diversity. A talented writer, broadcaster and campaigner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is widely known for his uncompromising commitment to seasonal, ethically produced food and has earned a huge following through his River Cottage TV series and books. Ultimately Hugh leads us on a journey to tweak our tastebuds and pamper our palates so that we can take as much pleasure – and ultimately more – from dishes that we know will do us good.

But where this book does fall down is in not giving any general advice in the introduction about preferred dairy substitutes, and in which dishes they do and don't work - and in having very few cakes and puddings with vegan options. I don't bother to find fault with older omni cookbooks for being full of dairy with no substitution ideas; it was just the norm before the last few years. But as HFW and River Cottage have already produced a fully vegan book ( Much More Veg), and even early Nigella books happen to contain a few more dairy free or even accidentally-vegan cakes than this one does, I definitely think they could do better in this area. He has just finished filming his most recent series, which accompanies his most recent book, River Cottage Every Day. The success of the show and the books allowed Hugh to establish River Cottage HQ near Bridport in 2004.

The book begins with an Introduction. It's the usual cook's philosophy section, which in this case is HFW's mission to recreate comfort foods that are not heavy, cloying, too rich or too sweet. His key principle is 'Go Whole: The more whole, unrefined ingredients we can get on to our plates, the better. But he doesn't just mean the grains and pulses we typically associate with the term 'wholefoods'. He means foods that are whole, or very close to it, when we take them into our kitchens. (I heard these described the other day as 'foods your granny would recognise'.) Minimally processed is ok, so he includes dairy foods such as yoghurt and cheese, and some tinned vegetables (such as low-salt tomatoes canned with just water and a little salt.) He stresses that it's important to get the balance right: overdo the pulses and you're in the danger zone of 'padding'. Likewise, full-on wholemeal flour can take you a little far from textures you know and love, so 'half-wholemeal' is a better choice. Okay, look, we're going to have to stop writing this story now and go have a sandwich or something. Buy Hugh's new book. Your tummy will thank you for it. Yeah, that works really well with fish pie," says Hugh, "because that's all quite creamy anyway. So you mash up the butter beans, and you get a bit of pulse in there, and it helps get more protein and fibre into your diet and it tastes really great. It's about 20% butter beans for 80% spud and there's still butter and milk in there to make it all creamy and yummy. So it's not about making comfort food acetic, it's about making it super good by adding a few tweaks."

About the contributors

Titled River Cottage Good Comfort: Best-Loved Favourites Made Better for You, it aims to debunk the perception that the food we love can't also be good for us. So I am pleased to add River Cottage Good Comfort, to our recipe book collection. (That's the British River Cottage TV series with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (HFW), not the Australian adaptation with Paul West.) I asked the River Cottage people online which of their cookbooks they would recommend for a dairy-intolerant omni who enjoys their veg books and who likes cooking soups and stews. The first of their recommendations was this. I was sceptical as it was their most recent publication - maybe they just wanted to shift more copies - but I took a closer look.