Welcome to September's Observer Food Monthly

Every morning, after the bowl of yogurt and the piece of fruit, I will eat a bowl of green leaves. A leafy fall of kale, lettuce, watercress and everything around it, and very often ribbons of sauerkraut too. For no particular reason, that silky smoothness of head lettuce and the curly dryness of kale, or because it's simply easier to pick up long stalks of watercress with your fingers than with cutlery. (Or maybe I can't be bothered to get up and walk to the cutlery drawer.) I just know it's a habit. Over the course of a day, I put probably as much food on my lips with my hands as with a fork.

In this issue, Shahnaz Ahsan writes about the joy of eat with our hands, from kacchi biryani to tacos and pizza. A great read for a Sunday morning. It's sort of a practical matter, because Jay is devoting his column this month to his new habit of cleaning while he cooks. I have no idea what took him so long, but it's something I too developed later in life. This belated clean in the kitchen is something I've embraced in part because if I don't wash and wipe as I go, I'll have to spend an hour or more doing it later when I least desire to brandish the rag. Welcome to the tidy team, Jay.

There are also recipes - a collection of Motherland, Melissa's new cookbook Thompson, including Corn Fritters and Guinness Punch Pie. We also have Jay Blades from The Repair Shop, Tom Kerridge and Nisha Katona. Plus, John Whaite, who this time last year blew us away on the Strictly dance floor, reveals his secret cooking ingredient. Welcome to the first of our delightful fall issues.