This collection of recipes, comments and the quotations that inspired them began with a lifetime study of Noël Coward's written work. His interest in food was evident from the first reading.

Recipes are mostly the writer's own, chosen to suit the quotations from Noël Coward himself and others who wrote about him. The wit and brilliance is theirs.

Many writers include food in their stories, but his use of food and drink is so detailed and exactly right it appears to have had a special meaning for him. Hopefully this comes through in the book. As Noël Coward himself said: 'The most important ingredients of a play are life, death, food, sex and money - but not necessarily in that order.'