Australian-born Jill Dupleix was the food editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Melbourne Age for six years from 1994 to 2000 until she was offered the coveted position as The Times Cook in London. This is a plum food-writing role; there have only ever been three previous Times Cooks since the position was created in 1955. It's easy to see why Jill was poached by The Times because her simple, relaxed style of recipes has earned her a well deserved following and less than eighteen months into her weekly columns she was voted Cookery Writer of the Year by The Guild of Food Writers. Favourite Food was the follow up to her ground breaking first big colour cook book, New Food, and Jill says of Favourite Food 'I wanted to do a 'sequel' that applied the same modern, light touch to the best old, authentic, regional 'grandmother's' recipes of around the world. We shouldn't lose these great old recipes - you should try the Ancient Roman Baked Custard - it's incredibly modern - but we do need to reinterpret a few to be easier and lighter and healthier and more relevant. Also go for the Pad Thai noodles, drunken peaches, and pasta with peas.'