Restaurant review, GrEAT British, North Audley Street, London.

In late 1945, the British Council commissioned George Orwell to write an article called "British Cookery". Though it was never published, in it Orwell captured a peculiar mood of English despondency. Rationing, the drudgery of war, and the Depression of the inter-war years had voided our diet of its previous lustre, so that many classic dishes and wonderful ingredients became the preserve of the aristocracy.

Now the national cuisine, reflecting the temper of the people, was exhausted. Orwell described it as "simple, rather heavy, perhaps slightly barbarous". The article, though variously positive, is studded with gloomy statements: "British pastry is not outstandingly good." "Fish in Britain is seldom well cooked."

Five years later, Elizabeth David published a book which did much to deepen the gloom. Though, perhaps more than any other writer of her generation, she created the dinner party, giving great swathes of people the confidence to cook spectacular dishes. David's A Book of Mediterranean Food implored this nation of middle-class cooks to raise their horizons and be inspired by the exquisite dishes not of England, but the European south.

Read more at http://www.independent.co.uk/