Some further observations to augment Stephen Bush’s lessons about cooking on holiday (Don’t trust the hob, Cook, 29 July), gleaned from an ongoing trip and mostly relevant specifically on holidays involving young children:
1) However tempting local varieties of fruit and vegetables may seem to the grownups, asking the child what they would like to eat results in one of two answers: pasta with pesto, or the more daring alternative, pesto pasta.
2) Ambitious plans to buy exotic ingredients rarely available back home and turn them into dishes of exquisite flavour rarely survive contact with threadbare utensils and cooks under pressure to produce said green sauce.
3) On European trips, bring sugar and salt in small ziplock bags – they’re only sold in wholesale quantities.
4) Breadsticks and Hula Hoops (the latter packed in checked baggage) are an acceptable lunch, as are melba toasts sneaked out from breakfast with a pouch or two of Nutella.
5) Ice lollies costing cents beat ice cream costing several euros on the hottest of days.
6) You can always eat out, in which case an addition to lesson 1 applies: any restaurant offering pizza margherita is allowed.
Prateek Buch
Woodford Green, Essex
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