I was contemplating watching the first part of Delia's new series (Delia Through The Decades, BBC2, 8.30pm, 11 January), but she was so wistful about the past in the Christmas special, the prospect of a second dollop of nostalgia didn't appeal.

Not that the Hairy Bikers' latest offering (The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best, BBC2, 8pm, 12 January) transpired to be particularly forward-looking. It focused on picnic recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. Yes, picnic recipes. And, yes, in January.

Hardly a winning proposition, even if the weather hadn't been Arctic (although I suppose folk stuck in cars for hours in the snow would have been thankful for all the Scotch eggs and Victoria sponge they could get).

But despite its questionable timing and the dubious precedent set last week in the pair's mission to "rescue some of Britain's favourite family recipes from extinction" (they went to that culinary hotbed Scotland, where one mum made a vile-looking pile of slop described as cheese pie a recipe you'd only pass on to a family member you wanted to pass on), this was just the thing to warm the cockles on a snowy night.

The premise of the series is to get mums to share their favourite recipes and ultimately showcase them at a recipe fair, rather misleadingly described as the Glastonbury of food (think school fête and you'd be closer).

Apart from the more obvious picnic fodder, there were some really interesting recipes I'd never think of trying normally, let alone for a picnic. Take Chicken Maryland chicken marinated in soy sauce, ginger and honey and served with bananas wrapped in bacon and sweetcorn fritters. Sounds very un-British, but apparently it featured in the last lunch on the Titanic.

The bananas in bacon (which put me in mind of one of my mum's fried bacon and banana sandwiches try it, you won't regret it) went down particularly well. As did the Pakistani vegetable pakoras and chana chaat whipped up by Yasmeen.

That was the beauty of this show. This wasn't just about food you had as a kid, it was about the whole history of British food, which, it turns out, is nowhere near as dull or British as you might think.

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