I CAN’T help asking questions – maybe I am just naturally curious but my latest enquiries have been about the eating habits of friends on Portland and in Weymouth.

I am not a cordon bleu cook nor do I have a cupboard full of exotic ingredients and I was quite pleased to find that the people I asked are more or less the same – plain, wholesome fare, no ready meals, fast food only occasionally with the more exotic meals reserved for when on holiday or dining out for a special event.

I didn’t only ask around among those of my own age group for many of them are a bit more adventurous with their cooking than I am and the question I put to the various generations was: “What is the essential in your food cupboard, the item you just cannot be without?”

I thought this would give me a good insight into their culinary preferences.

Being a bit of a know-it-all in my own opinion, I was quite convinced that pasta would be the top answer as it seems to me that practically everyone has it on the menu.

Not on your life! Without exception everyone said ‘salt and pepper’.

Curry powder also finds room on some shelves along with stock cubes but voted tops for whipping up a meal at any time of day are eggs, cheese, flour, sugar and that perennial favourite – baked beans!

My essentials are simple, salt, vinegar and iceberg lettuce – I am quite addicted to the latter and for salt and vinegar – well it’s not only for the flavouring qualities but for all the other things they can be used for.

Put salt in your bath to ease tired muscles, rub it into slightly damp hands to keep chapping at bay, salt and baking soda make a soothing gargle for raw throats and sprinkled on the garden path it could prevent slipping in icy weather.

Vinegar is useful as a hair rinse, for window cleaning, stain removal, itching and stings among other things.

For one male friend, one word describes the essential ingredient in the cupboard as ‘food’ – obviously he is no Gordon Ramsay.