The second 'best food writer you've never heard of' is the late Laurie Colwin, and she is the one we would have chosen (and reprinted, if we had been able to do so but she is in print with other publishers). 'She was an American writer born in 1944 who wrote beautiful essays about food. They usually have a recipe in, or two, and are always very funny... You go to Colwin because she is the best friend you want to call when you don't know what to cook... Read Home Cooking (1988) and then More Home Cooking (1993), they are perfect books.' Laurie Colwin died suddenly of a heart attack in 1992; I can remember where I was when I heard she had died, it was a tremendous shock because once you have read Laurie Colwin you feel she is your friend.