Coping with Christmas

With a new introduction by Felicity Cloake

“Fanny Cradock is the Queen of Christmas cooking” – The Telegraph

Keep Calm and Fanny on! A fabulously festive companion to navigating the party season with aplomb.

Stuffed full of jolly recipes, decorations and plans in this new edition of her classic 1968 guide, British culinary icon Fanny Cradock comes to your festive rescue. In her eyes the hostess’s role is as much set designer and theatre director as caterer. She is obsessively thrifty, fierce in her determination to Make an Impression, and just can’t resist taking things too far; if something can be filled, covered in aspic or deep fried, it usually is… Fanny just can’t help herself.

And when times get truly tough, there’s a whole chapter of ‘Slap Happy Crisis Substitutes for Serious Cookery’.

Told with Fanny’s trademark caustic wit and overblown attention to detail, and with a new foreword by food writer Felicity Cloake, ‘Coping with Christmas’ is a waggish wink to help find the magic along the way, and the ideal gift for any host feeling fettered by the expectation of a ‘perfect’ Christmas.

About the author

Fanny Cradock was a British restaurant critic, television chef and writer, who has attained the status of culinary icon for her trademark style and unforgettable quips (‘This won’t break you!’). She came to public prominence in the postwar years, aiming to inspire housewives to find joy and ease in cooking. During a career that spanned over three decades, she appeared in 24 television series and was the author of over 20 books, which sold in enormous numbers. She took pride in elevating British cuisine to Escoffier standards, and famously gave every dish a French name. She frequently appeared alongside her husband, Johnnie. Though she died in 1994, her witticisms and wisdom live on.