Tasty treat

JAFFA CAKE MUG PUDDING TALKS TO ACTIVIST AND FOOD WRITER JACK MONROE ABOUT THE COMPLEXITIES OF COOKING WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

INGREDIENTS

(Serves 1)

2tbsp marmalade, plus extra to finish 2tbsp Nutella or other chocolate spread, plus extra to finish

3tbsp vegetable oil 3tbsp milk

1 egg

2tbsp honey or sugar 4tbsp self-raising flour Squeezy chocolate sauce, or more chocolate spread, to serve

METHOD

1. First measure the marmalade and chocolate spread into your mug, and pop it into the microwave for 45 seconds to soften.

2. Remove carefully as the mug may be warm, and stir in the oil, then the milk. Leave to cool for a minute or two before cracking in the egg and beating it well. Mix in the honey, or sugar if using, and then the flour, to make your batter.

3. Place the mug back in the microwave for 90 seconds on high. It will rise quite a bit, but it deflates again a little afterwards.

4. Top with an extra smudge of marmalade and chocolate spread, then return to the microwave for 30 seconds more to melt them and finish cooking the pudding.

5. Remove, and allow to stand for a minute or two before tucking in as it will be hot! I like to top mine with squeezy chocolate sauce as well, because I don’t know when enough is enough, really.

It doesn’t keep particularly brilliantly, so it’s best to eat it soon after making it.

WHY is it that when we say ‘comfort food’, we think of ‘treats’ to indulge in every once in a while, or worse still, attach feelings of guilt or shame to comforting ourselves with food?

Some days, you might have the energy and inclination to prepare an elaborate or seriously nutritious dish, but others you might think the only thing that’s going to make you feel better is a stack of toast or a piece of cake – and that’s OK, says Jack Monroe.

“I’m writing my seventh cookbook now and I have days where all I eat are salt and vinegar crisps and buttered white bread. Sometimes even I don’t want to get in the kitchen,” Jack admits.

It’s an admission you won’t hear much among chefs and cookbook authors, but it’s the reality for many of us. And for people living with a mental health issue, the relationship with cooking and nurturing ourselves with food can be especially complex.

“No one really tackles it, what to cook for yourself when you really don’t feel like cooking, or what to eat when you really don’t feel like eating,” says Jack, 32.

Having been open about living with depression, anxiety, PTSD and ADHD for years, the food writer and poverty activist has used her own, very raw experience to put together her latest collection of recipes in Good Food for Bad Days.

“The irony was halfway through writing this book, I suddenly fell into a massive depressive state. I stopped writing, I stopped wanting to look after myself, I ground to a halt,” says Jack. She wasn’t cooking either. “But the people who know and love me the most know that when I stop posting pictures of my meals on Instagram to drop me a text and ask if I’m OK.”

While she knows it won’t work for everybody, “one of the easiest ways for me to start to take steps back towards emerging from whatever dark hole I find myself in, is to get into the kitchen and throw something together out of the cupboard,” Jack adds.

She’s a real advocate for not beating yourself up about what you’re eating though, and says sometimes the purpose of food is simply to make you feel good in that moment, or to get some fuel inside you – and we need to be

OK with that. But for days when you can get into the kitchen, her new cookbook looks to be a real saviour. There’s a whole chapter on food and drinks in mugs – because what could be more comforting than that? Think honey nut milk or a ‘Jaffa Cake’ pudding in a mug. “There’s something really transgressive about it,” she says – plus “you can hold it with one hand, eat it with the other, it’s literally ideal.”

It’s wrapped up in nostalgia for Jack. “During my childhood, whenever I was unwell, my mum would make this magic concoction of boiled eggs, mashed with a sweltering amount of butter and black pepper and salt, and the eggs would still be warm, the butter would still be melting.” It’s about

“cupping a mug full of something warm, feeling loved and nurtured again – even if I have to do it myself [as an adult].”

That’s not to say nutrition isn’t a factor too. Anyone who knows Jack’s books will know she leads a largely plant-based diet: “80-90% vegan these days, [but] I’ve never felt the need to lecture people about their eating choices.”

She includes a guide – a ‘bingo card’ she calls it – of foods that are helpful for maintaining healthy brain function, like bananas, nuts and oily fish.

“But it comes with a massive caveat that eating your way through this list, even if it was exclusively all you ate, is not going to shield you from having a bluesy day or tragic life events.”

So naturally, many of her recipes are packed with plantbased goodness: “It’s always come from a place of budget and necessity, meat is expensive,” she explains. While others are designed to really take your time over – particularly relevant at a time when most of us are spending more time at home.

“Its about giving yourself permission to spend time on yourself,” she says. “I think getting in the kitchen and spending 20 or 30 minutes doing something nice for yourself can feel a bit uncomfortable for some people to start with.

“I use cooking as partly meditation, partly therapy, partly self care, partly an adventure – it’s being able to acknowledge that you have the right to have that time to take care of yourself.” ■ Good Food for Bad Days by Jack Monroe is published by Bluebird, £7.99.