0:00:02 > 0:00:05Now on BBC News it's time for Meet the Author with Nick Higham.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07Mary McCartney is a photographer and food writer.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10She's also a member of a famous family, sister of fashion designer
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Stella, daughter of Paul, a musician of some repute.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17At my table is her second food book.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20It's described as a selection of vegetarian feasts
0:00:20 > 0:00:24for family and friends.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Mary McCartney, this is a book of vegetarian recipes
0:00:40 > 0:00:43for all occasions, particularly celebratory occasions,
0:00:44 > 0:00:46family feasts and so on.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49There's an element of making a case for vegetarian cookery about it.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Are you frustrated as a lifelong vegetarian that you still have
0:00:52 > 0:00:55to argue the case for being vegetarian and cooking
0:00:55 > 0:00:57in a vegetarian way?
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Luckily I actually don't feel these days that I have do argue my case.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Growing up I very much did, I would go to dinner,
0:01:03 > 0:01:07the person next to me would find out I was vegetarian and harass me
0:01:07 > 0:01:09for most of the dinner.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Now I find it is a good place for me, people are asking
0:01:12 > 0:01:15for vegetarian recipe ideas, that is why I have done the book.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17You were brought up as a vegetarian.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Did you ever think of rebelling?
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I never needed to rebel, because my mum was a great cook
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and we all talked about food and ideas to fill that gap
0:01:26 > 0:01:28in the middle of the plate.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32When I did try, maybe a bit more fish, went I left home and started
0:01:32 > 0:01:36cooking for myselfand buying my own food.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40I was working as a picture researcher in Soho and I'd go
0:01:40 > 0:01:42and get a tuna sandwich.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Then I realised I didn't feel good about it because I know how to eat
0:01:46 > 0:01:48this way and I prefer it.
0:01:48 > 0:01:49I enjoyed it.
0:01:49 > 0:01:50I love cooking vegetarian food.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53So, you prefer it and you love vegetarian food.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Is the preference partly because you have an ethical
0:01:55 > 0:01:58disapproval of meat eating, or is it merely pragmatic?
0:01:58 > 0:02:04It started off for not wanting anything to be killed for my plate,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08and then it's turned more into, for me now it's more
0:02:08 > 0:02:11about the industry worries me, the big meat industry,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13the big fishing industry.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16It seems to be damaging the environment.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20It makes me feel better not buying into any of that.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22You can also make an economic argument for eating more vegetables.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Yes, it's not practical.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Feeding vegetables to animals is a very inefficient way
0:02:27 > 0:02:29of processing food for a growing world population.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30Exactly.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32It just doesn't seem practical to me.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36I realise I'm in quite a privileged position to have grown up
0:02:36 > 0:02:39as a vegetarian so for me it's not difficult.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43If you're a meat eater and you want to eat vegetarian food
0:02:43 > 0:02:46it can be a bit daunting, and it can be a bit like,
0:02:46 > 0:02:47what do I eat?
0:02:47 > 0:02:48So that's the reason for this book.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51And it's for celebrations, but it's actually quite
0:02:51 > 0:02:52casual, quite home-cooking.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Mainly I cook for friends, very low-key, I like to get a group
0:02:55 > 0:02:58of people over, but I like to do a variety of things,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00show the variety.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03I cooked a couple of recipes out of this, I cooked the warm mushroom
0:03:03 > 0:03:06salad, very tasty it was, too, and the courgette and leek fritters.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09One reason I liked them is that what I ended up with looked just
0:03:10 > 0:03:13like the photograph in the book.
0:03:13 > 0:03:14That doesn't happen very often.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17You took the photographs yourself?
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Yes, and what happened was, I would write the recipe,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24I would think of ideas for recipes I thought sounded nice,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27like a warm mushroom salad for a dinner for two,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31you want it to have a bit more of a wow factor.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34So I thought it sounded nice, warm mushroom salad on a bed
0:03:34 > 0:03:35of lettuce with new potatoes.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38So I test the recipe, check the timings, and then
0:03:38 > 0:03:43I would photograph it on my kitchen windowsill very close-up.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46You're best known as a photographer of people, ballet dancers,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49fashion models and so on.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Portraiture, yes.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53What are the particular challenges of photographing food?
0:03:53 > 0:03:54The lack of spontaneity.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57I like to...
0:03:57 > 0:04:00As a portrait photographer, I like to create moments and plan
0:04:00 > 0:04:04it, and then leave something to collaboration and spontaneity.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07But food photography, I enjoy doing it because I loved
0:04:07 > 0:04:10coming up with the recipes for this, but it is not
0:04:10 > 0:04:14going to become my career.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18It is too exact and planned out.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20There's one shot of maple syrup being drizzled over
0:04:20 > 0:04:23a pile of pancakes.
0:04:23 > 0:04:24You only get one go at that?
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Or you have to have an awful lot of pancakes.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28It was one go.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30It's true.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34I was kind of doing most of the whole menu plans
0:04:34 > 0:04:35in each sitting.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39So I sort of had them prepared, I had the plate prepared,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42and said, you start drizzling.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44So I had it drizzling, and then I had it drizzled.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45We had a choice.
0:04:45 > 0:04:46I work fast.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48You do!
0:04:48 > 0:04:52One hears a lot about the tricks that food photographers use,
0:04:52 > 0:04:53spraying glazes on and so forth.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54Do you do that?
0:04:54 > 0:04:56I have never witnessed it.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57I wouldn't know how to do it.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59No.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Because, as I say, when I do these, I am testing the recipes at the same
0:05:02 > 0:05:05time, and then we would eat them and discuss how they taste.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07This is a book which majors on family.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Family celebrations, there are pictures of your children
0:05:10 > 0:05:13in it, pictures of you as a child.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16That makes it a very warm book.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18When I was discussing with the publicist this interview,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22they said don't ask her about her family, which seems,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25now that I have seen and read the book, an odd thing to say.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26Why did they do that?
0:05:26 > 0:05:30I think they probably said it in that if you're an intellectual
0:05:30 > 0:05:33journalist you can ask, but I think they're used to some
0:05:33 > 0:05:34ridiculous questions, so they were probably trying
0:05:34 > 0:05:36to protect me.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39So if I...?
0:05:39 > 0:05:40That's what I imagine.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44You can imagine that some of the things we get asked
0:05:44 > 0:05:46are really not relevant.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49So I think with the cookbook it's completely relevant to talk
0:05:49 > 0:05:52about my family and how I have grown up as a vegetarian,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55but I think they probably meant don't go off-piste and asked me
0:05:55 > 0:05:58something completely unrelated and gossipy.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00I will ask you one question about your family.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02You grew up in an extraordinarily creative family, your mother
0:06:02 > 0:06:04was a photographer, your father a musician,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06your sister has become a fashion designer.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10There are two ways someone in that environment can go.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13One is to turn their back on the creative world entirely,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15and the other is to join in themselves.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Did you ever feel inhibited, or were you always clear
0:06:17 > 0:06:20in your own mind that you wanted to be a photographer?
0:06:20 > 0:06:21No, I wasn't clear at all.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24I always knew I loved photography, and my first job
0:06:24 > 0:06:25was as a picture researcher.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30But I never thought to become a photographer until my early 20s.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I think growing up in a creative family made me think that everyone
0:06:33 > 0:06:35could be creative.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I was around a lot of artists and would see a lot
0:06:38 > 0:06:39of great artwork.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41And it actually took me going through one of my friends'
0:06:41 > 0:06:44holiday snaps to see how badly they were taken to really realise
0:06:44 > 0:06:47that not everybody could do it and give myself the confidence
0:06:47 > 0:06:51to take it up as a career, ironically.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53She hates me for telling that story.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55We don't know who she is.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59I'll tell you after!
0:06:59 > 0:07:01If you had to pick out one favourite recipe and why,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03what would it be?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05It's so hard.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09It really depends, because it depends what time of year it is.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12I usually think about who I've got coming over.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14We're talking in May.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17In May, probably the Mexican, because that Mexican menu plan has
0:07:17 > 0:07:23got tostadas, it's got corn bread, it's got avocado side dish,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26it's a real sharing table.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29So I would pick that menu plan.
0:07:29 > 0:07:30Mary McCartney, thank you very much indeed.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35Thank you.