by Katy Hughes

Created on: February 24, 2009

Food is nearly always on my mind. I love everything about it; the shopping, preparation, cooking, and most of all eating. Many of my best memories have inevitably become linked to the foods that were present at the time, and when compiling this list, I became so nostalgic thinking about times gone by that I had real difficulty narrowing it down to ten. Here are the winners; some classics, some a little more individual.

1. Risotto-I'd always been a firm hater of rice and all its relations, probably due to its association in my mind with school dinners when it was served twice weekly, either with some very dubious curry or a rather unpleasant dish known as Chicken Supreme.

However, two summers ago I shared a flat with a vegetarian friend of mine who introduced me to the wonders of risotto. When I returned to university in the autumn, I continued to cook it in my student house, where it quickly became one of the staples as a low cost alternative to pasta. It also sparked Risotto Wars, a competition which got a little out of hand and eventually led to the exit of risotto from our menu. I've stuck with it. It really is the ultimate comfort food, and it's very difficult to make a bad one.

2. Gingerbread Hot Chocolate-Not really a food, I know. I had to put chocolate on the list as it's one of my greatest passions, and when I tried to pick out one chocolate item that stood out above the rest, I kept coming back to this.

I attended a workshop in Wroclaw, Poland one December; the first time I'd been in Eastern Europe in the winter. Wandering through the beautiful city centre on the last day, entranced by the architecture but feeling colder than we'd ever imagined possible, we chanced upon a little caf which served only hot chocolate, in every form imaginable. I chose the gingerbread variety. I've never tasted it since, but I'll remember it always. It was divine.

3. Broccoli-Broccoli was the vegetable of my childhood. Mushy and overcooked at my grandfather's house, firm and crisp to the bite at my mother's, with shepherd's pie, roast dinners, lasagne or pork chops. Nowadays I like it with cheese or pasta, but really, it goes with everything!

4. Roast Pork-Served with roast potatoes, apple sauce, the ubiquitous broccoli and lots of thick gravy. This is another one from my childhood, and probably the only favourite that I've never attempted solo. The thing that sets the pork roast aside from all of the other meats is, of course, the crackling. Most people recoil in horror from

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