If you are going to have a burger, rather than getting one from a fast food outlet or buying ready-made burgers, aim to make your own using good-quality organic free range meat from a reputable source.

Grill your burger or fry it on a low heat in olive oil and have it with a whole grain bun or bread, plenty of salad, and use a low-sugar, low-salt mayonnaise or preferably home-made salad dressing or mayonnaise.

Try using sliced tomatoes rather than tomato ketchup and herbs and garlic to add flavor and nutrients.

If you want to have a steak or roast beef sandwich, a healthier option is to use good-quality organic free range meat and combine it with plenty of salad vegetables, home-made dressing or mayonnaise, and whole grain bread.

This dish from Campodimele is one of the most delicious soups EVER, and so easy to do. It is almost impossible not to feel good about life after eating this soup. Use the best-quality pork you can find – grass-fed if possible for a better fat profile.

Approx 9 ounces diced organic pork
1 can chopped organic tomatoes or 4 fresh chopped tomatoes plus 1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 fat cloves garlic, chopped small
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 tablespoon organic vegetable stock powder or stock cube
1/2 stick celery, chopped small
3-1/2 ounces (by weight) pasta (you can also use brown rice pasta or corn pasta)
2-1/2 ounces (by weight) cooked or canned beans (e.g., black beans, cannelloni beans, fava beans, aduki beans, kidney beans)
2-1/2 ounces (by weight) green beans, sliced 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon mixed Mediterranean herbs
Parmesan, feta, or hard goat’s or sheep’s cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Gently heat the olive oil in a heavy-based pan and add the onion and celery. Stir for 2-3 minutes then add the garlic and stir for a minute. Add the stock powder or cube and a splash of water and stir.Add the meat and cook for about 5-10 minutes, or until the meat browns slightly, stirring from time to time. Add the tomatoes, herbs and seasoning and simmer for 4-5 minutes, then add approximately three quarters of a liter of water. Put the lid on the pan and simmer for 45 minutes.Add the pasta, replace the lid, and simmer until the pasta is 5 minutes from being cooked. Add the green beans and the cooked/tinned beans and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Serve with the grated cheese and enjoy with a glass of wine. Serves 4.

Dashi is a sauce used as the basis for many Japanese and Okinawan dishes. It is very easy to make, but tastes authentically subtle-yet-complex; delicate-yet-satisfying.

For the dashi:

2 strips kombu seaweed
Approx. 1 tsp. bonito flakes (available in sachets from oriental grocery stores)
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Boil the kombu for 3-4 minutes in about half a pint of water. Remove from the heat. Add the bonito flakes and return to the heat. Remove the pan from the heat again just as the water comes to the boil. Leave to stand for 5 minutes or until the bonito flakes sink. Strain and reserve the liquid. Discard the solids (they can be reused if you are making a second batch of dashi the same day). Add the soy sauce.

4 oz pork, sliced in thin strips
1 tablespoon groundnut oil (peanut oil)**
1/2 clove garlic
1 tablespoon dashi
1-2 teaspoons soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon sake, mirin or sweet white wine
I cup pork stock (you make this first with the pork)
4 oz Asian noodles such as buckwheat or udon noodles
3 stalks spring onions (scallions), chopped very fine

**Groundnut (peanut) oil is the safest oil to use when cooking at high temperatures which is also suitable for Asian cuisine. Traditionally, pork lard is the cooking fat of choice. Other oils used in Japan are rice bran oil, soybean oil and sesame oil. Keep cooking times short and avoid using too much oil so as to limit consumption of trans fats.

Boil the pork in about half a liter of water for 25 minutes. Skim the fat off the top of the stock and put aside – you can use it for the next step. The rest of the stock goes in the soup.

While boiling the pork, cook the noodles in a separate pan, strain, and set aside. Alternatively, if the noodles are quick to cook, you can cook them in the soup at the end.

Heat the oil or 1/2 tablespoonful of the pork fat in a wok or frying pan. Add the garlic and fry gently, without letting it brown. If using oil, you can add a spoonful of stock to keep the temperature down.

Add the pork and stir for a few seconds. Add the dashi, soy, sake and stock and bring to the boil. Add the noodles and heat through (if pre-cooked) or cook. Garnish with the onion and serve. Serves 1-2.

A version of this, known as daudo, is eaten on special occasions in the Hot Spot Hunza, only using strips of chapatti rather than pasta, and their own similar version of feta cheese. There are lots of good things in here, and the fat is removed from the meat juices, as is the custom in most of the Hot Spots. If you don’t want to make this with pasta, use quinoa, brown rice, or barley instead, served on the side.

7 ounces chunks of lamb
2 onions, one whole and one chopped very small or shredded
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped very small
6-8 tomatoes, chopped very small
2 tablespoons tomato purée
3-1/2 ounces (by weight) pasta (tagliatelle broken into shorter pieces works well)
2 teaspoons oregano or mixed herbs
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3-1/2 ounces (by weight) organic feta cheese
A glass of wine (optional)

Boil the lamb in a pan of water with the onion for about an hour to create stock.

When the stock is almost ready, heat the olive oil on a fairly low heat in a heavy-based saucepan. Gently cook the onion, garlic and celery until soft. Remove the meat from the stock, add it to the vegetables, and cook for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes with the tomato purée and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Skim the fat from the top of the stock and add enough to the vegetables so that the liquid level is about an inch above the solids.

Simmer with the lid on for about an hour. Add more juice if necessary. You can also add a glass of red or white wine.

Add the pasta and cook until it is al dente. Add the herbs and season with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Serve with the feta cheese crumbled over the top. Serves 2.