In Glasgow to term something 'mince' is to say it is rubbish.  In the north west of England to term something 'mint' is to declare its brilliance.  Idiom and accent can cause confusion.  This has not a lot to do with today's random post, except that I guess the theme is 'mince is mint'.

Way back in the early 1980s, long before the cult of celebrity chefs, Sainsbury's began to publish little softback (and later hardback) recipe books sold at the checkout for (if I recall correctly) 99p.  As a student and as a young adult I collected several of these, but notably absent was one my Mum had bought called "Marvellous Meals with Mince" by Joceline Dimbleby. 

Last week as I cooked up a pack of mince that had lain in my freezer for rather a long time, and divided it to make different meals, I recalled this book and wondered if it was possible to find a copy via Amazon or Ebay.

What I found was this hardback edition:

At a cover price of £9.99 (discounted to £6.09) I guess it is not too inflated after thirty years!  Republished this year, at a time when economically the situation is similar, I hope it find the same level of popularity it did when Sainsbury's first published it - evidently their version was reprinted no less than eight times!  So now, a little older than my Mum was then, I have my own copy of this classic!

The message of the book is simple: mince is mint!