Jack Monroe is reluctant to refer to the current situation as ‘unprecedented times’, but she’s struggling to come up with a more original term for the coronavirus lockdown.
“It’s such a strange time for everyone,” says Jack, who lives in Southend, Essex, with her 10-year-old son Jonathon and partner, TV producer Louisa Compton.
“Every day throws up a new challenge. It’s whether you decide to sulk about it or face up to it. I’ve done a little of both – but we’re getting there.”
Jack, 32, the budget chef famous for her thrifty recipes, is currently dealing with anxiety brought about by the lockdown.
Over the years the food poverty campaigner has openly documented her struggle with depression and alcohol, and her diagnosis with autism and ADHD.
But one thing she has learned is whether facing a depressive slump or corona-related anxiety, getting into the kitchen and cooking nourishing food is the key to putting her back on the path to recovery.
It was this realisation that resulted in her latest cookbook Good Food For Bad Days. “I came up with the idea after being in my own depressive slump,” says Jack. “I had stopped cooking and was living on salt and vinegar crisps and white bread.”
Despite cooking for a living, Jack knows how it feels to be unable to put a meal together. “In my worst phases I can sit there belligerently staring at cookbooks thinking they’re all complicated and full of things I don’t have to hand.”
For Jack, these periods of depression happen a few times a year but it was a particularly bad episode that inspired the book. “I remembered one of my best friends telling me that the times I least feel like cooking are the times I need it the most. She knows me well enough to know I find it therapeutic and restorative.
“But I don’t want people to think this is a book where you have to be depressed to cook from it, it’s for anyone who wants easy meals you can make in a hurry.”
Jack knows better than anyone the healing power of food, and after two years in therapy she’s worked out a formula for catching herself before she falls too far into depression – including the discovery that if she eats a good, balanced diet then she tends to have a better day.
“My therapist describes it as being on a long car journey and not knowing what you’re going to face. But if you keep your car in good working order and your fuel topped up, you’re ready for anything. So I deliberately started to look after myself, making sure I ate green vegetables, protein and oats, drank eight glasses of water each day, as well as other things such as taking my medication.”
In the book, Jack has provided a checklist of basic foods that have mood-boosting qualities. While she is under no illusion that diet is a cure-all for mental health, she is adamant it can help.
“These foods aren’t going to take away the black depressive spells or feelings of uselessness,” she says. “But they are scientifically proven to give you a toolkit you can use to start digging yourself out of a hole. If you include these things in your diet over time you may see an improvement in your mood and coping abilities.”
Jack doesn’t promise a miracle cure but wants readers to know they’re not alone.
“I’ve been in some of these holes you might be in. I can’t give you the answers, I’m not a doctor and I can’t cure things for you. But I can gently guide you to the kitchen and get a meal inside you. Which for me is usually the first step to recovery.”
Top five feel-good foods
1 BANANAS contain tryptophan which is converted into serotonin, a hormone that regulates mood and sleep.
2 CHICKEN is a source of tryptophan as well as tyrosine, another amino acid that supports production of serotonin.
3 CHOCOLATE contains a natural derivative of caffeine called theobromine, which can give you a little lift.
4 LENTILS are high in folate, which may help prevent depression.
5 OATS help keep blood sugar levels stable, which has a positive impact on mood.
Recipes extracted from Good Food for Bad Days by Jack Monroe (Bluebird, £7.99)
