& DRINK A Master Y

OU will find a brachiosaurus moseying through an asparagus forest, a tiger surveying a field of Szechuan peppers, and a duck bobbing about with a load of cherry tomatoes in Thomasina Miers’ new recipe collection, Home Cook. And they all look so happy. “You can tell I was pregnant when I was making it, can’t you?!” the Cheltenham-born chef and restaurateur yelps with a laugh. “Oh my God, we had so much fun! The designer to begin with was like, ‘What are you doing with all the toys? Get them out!”’

Fortunately the designer caved in, and plastic toys dotting the pages included, Thomasina’s fifth book is all clean lines and straightforward recipes. It pops with colour and is bolstered by Mexican influences – this is, after all, the woman who co-founded popular restaurant chain, Wahaca, which is now in its 10th year of taco slinging.

At its core though, Home Cook is a reflection of “how we eat at home”, says Thomasina, 41, and how having three small children and a restaurant empire affects that.

“The food I cook now is very different to the food I cooked 20 years ago, when I had all the time in the world,” she explains. “I’m a working mother, who comes home late sometimes and just has to get food out on the table, but equally, I want to feed my family good food.”

The collection of 300-odd recipes, she says, is also a “guilt-free joyous approach to food”, in reaction to “all this neurosis about eating and what not to eat” that currently abounds.

“Healthy eating has become such a loaded, almost toxic Thomasina Miers is back from maternity leave with a third baby and a new book. The former MasterChef champ and Mexican food pioneer talks home-cooking and so-called ‘healthy eating’ with subject,” says Thomasina. “I grew up as a teenager full of hang-ups about food and always dieting, and it’s such a bad way to live your life. Over the years, I’ve developed – I never say no to anything.

“The moment I say to myself, ‘I won’t do that’, that’s the first thing I want to do.”

You have to work out what works for you, rather than letting trends and aspirational Instagram posts dictate your diet, she explains.

“Everybody’s bodies are different; we all react to different ingredients in different ways, so it’s nonsense to say one diet can be suitable for thousands of people, it doesn’t work that way. It’s about adapting your own