Kim-Joy Hewlett’s foodie loves and hates

The quirky food writer and Great British Bake Off star shares her foodie loves and hates, from lemon drizzle cake to low calorie baking

LOVES

A PERFECT LEMON DRIZZLE

For me, a perfect lemon drizzle has to be flavoured with lemon rind, soaked with lots of lemon syrup, and topped with a lemon glaze. It is exactly what you want with a cup of tea at the end of a long day.

HOMEMADE BREAD
As a child, I loved supermarket bread with its unnatural air-like texture. But now I really appreciate homemade, crusty bread. It is typically seen as being tricky to make, but it’s actually one of the easiest things you can bake! I wanted to include an easy no-knead recipe for this in my book because it’s such a simple and rewarding skill to learn.

SILKEN TOFU
I love tofu. My favourite kind is silken, rather than firm. Sometimes I will steam a block of it and eat it simply with a bit of spring onion, garlic, soy sauce and
sesame oil, with some fried broccoli on the side. It’s such a versatile ingredient, keeps you really full and is so more-ish.

CHEESE
From stinky blue cheeses to mild cheddar, I love it all.

HATES

BACON

I don’t like the taste and texture of most meat. Bacon is the worst for me, even though it’s meant to be one of the foods a lot of vegetarians crave. I hate how it looks, the smell and the taste, and nothing anyone says can convince me otherwise.

BANANAS

I know they’re healthy and this is illogical, but I can’t deal with the smell and the way people leave the skin lying around. I am suspicious of bananas too, because how can you trust a fruit which makes other nearby fruit go off quicker? My partner buys them and we store them on top of the fridge, out of sight!

LOW CALORIE BAKED GOODS

These are okay if they work for you, but I find that I will eat twice as much because it won’t satisfy me. Then I’ll still want the real thing! I’d rather just eat a smaller slice of calorific cake.

AEROSOL WHIPPED CREAM

I love whipped double cream, but from an aerosol can – no! Especially if you order dessert and it comes with a bit of this cream squirted on top. I have to carefully scrape it off but it ruins the experience for me.