The celebrity cookbook ridiculed for advising poor people to open cans with an old knife and hammer has been banned by food banks as dangerous.
Jack Monroe tells readers of the Thrifty Kitchen, which is on sale for £19.99, that if they cannot afford a tin opener to use a “small sharp knife that you are not particularly attached to, a hammer or mallet, a bit of vigour, some patience and a very steady hand”.
Critics have also highlighted the danger of other advice including using glass bottles filled with frozen water as an alternative to a rolling pin and a “large clean square of cotton” to drain rice and pasta.
Other advice — written apparently in all seriousness for those in poverty — includes glueing ring-pulls to handbags to secure sunglasses and stuffing cardboard rolls with the fluff from a tumble dryer to make firelighters.
Kathleen Stock, a former professor of philosophy, criticised the book in a column on the UnHerd website saying: “Frugality has been turned into a middle-class virtue.”
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Monroe, 34, found fame as the author of the bestselling book A Girl Called Jack in 2014 and was a host of the BBC’s Daily Kitchen Live during the Covid lockdown. Thrifty Kitchen is promoted with a pledge that for each sold through a network of independent bookshops one copy will be given to the Trussell Trust, the UK’s largest network of food banks.
The charity, which supports 1,200 food banks, said that it would not distribute the book until amendments had been made. “We don’t have any editorial control of the content. The safety of people who use food banks is our priority and food banks aim to help people access essentials such as tin openers if needed,” it said in a statement.
“The publishers have assured us that they’re taking action. The books that will be donated to our food banks will contain an addendum that addresses any health and safety concerns and we will not be distributing any books via our food banks in the current form.”
Critics have highlighted alleged inconsistencies in Monroe’s accounts of her life. When Monroe, who is non-binary, claimed to earn less than workers at McDonald’s, it was pointed out that the Guardian columnist was advertised as a celebrity speaker for between £10,000 and £15,000 per event.
Bluebird, Monroe’s publisher, said it had “amended text in the ebook edition and will do the same for reprints”. It said that the frugal advice came from when Monroe, a mother of one from Southend, Essex, “found herself in extreme circumstances of food poverty, and necessity required creative solutions”.
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Monroe said: “I have a decade-long relationship with the Trussell Trust and am happy to put any measures in place necessary to ensure that my work is as helpful as possible.”
Jim McMahon, the shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, defended Monroe and described the cook as a “tireless and effective campaigner on food poverty”.
