Paying tribute to Marguerite Patten, one of the original stars of the cookery world

A very special lady died last week. At the grand old age of 99, Marguerite Patten finally left us after a long lifetime of brilliant, perfect advice. One of the original media cooks, she last appeared on Woman's Hour on Radio Four only a few years ago and I, for one, will miss her sensible, sage (please pardon the pun) opinion.

Marguerite was one of my heroes. She wrote an incredible 170 cookery books. Despite never becoming one of the 'sexy' media stars, she was a staple in early TV, first presenting on the BBC in 1947, appearing on TV eight years before Fanny Craddock and later even appearing on Ready Steady Cook. Despite always moving with the times and technology, including the microwave, she eschewed nutritionism, recognising that people with little or narrow knowledge (which includes many scientists who generally specialise) draw damaging conclusions based on a public desire for miracle cures. In her words, nutritionism "allows all sorts of extraordinary people to mount on soapboxes". She promoted the consumption of a varied diet in order to ensure a balanced one.

She was an intelligent realist who recognised that there are certain basics in life that we ignore at our peril. She lamented the fact that not enough people could cook nor understood food as a subject: “We kept fit during the war. We had to give a lot of time and thought to cooking because we had such a poor and monotonous range of ingredients. But the children born then grew up strong and healthy. I’m not at all sure that they will be as strong and as healthy today and I think that’s iniquitous when you think of the range of food available.”

And it was her wartime experiences that made her abhor waste. One of her more well known quotes was: "There are 10,000 things you can do with leftover foods, but under no circumstances put it in the bin!" How many people would throw away a packet of biscuits that are obviously completely broken without using them in something like today’s adjacent recipe? What proportion of home cooks can swear that they never throw away any food that could be reused and eaten? Surely a reduction in the cost of our daily food bill by the reduction of waste, along with a greater understanding of our food and how to cook it, would somewhat reduce part of society's reliance on food banks?

We should reexamine the thoughts of Marguerite Patten because there's a lot we could learn and for that we owe her a debt of gratitude. And I further loved her because, on top of everything, she refused to condemn ready meals. Because I bang on about it being essential that we can all cook, some people find it odd that we, at Oldfields, produce and promote a range of readymade meals. But these are frozen and contain nothing more or less than the meals we serve in the restaurant and so hit all the buttons when meeting the mantra that we should all know what we’re eating. Having lost her father when she was 12, Marguerite later said: “I grew up with a working mother and I know what a tough thing it is to have three children and a job and a limited income" There's nothing wrong with the occasional convenience dish, but it’s essential that you have the ability to understand what it comprises, and not become too fond of other people preparing your food elsewhere.

Marguerite Patten understood the importance of understanding your food and its place in everyone’s life. Delia Smith did pick up the cudgel and Jamie Oliver goes some way towards filling the void. But a void it is. Marguerite's going to be missed.