The food writer talks to Ella Walker about the inspiration behind Two Kitchens, and why sharing meals and recipes is so personal

Rachel Roddy has recently been showered in trophies, winning double at the 2017 Guild of Food Writers Awards. But flicking through the 44-year-old food blogger and Guardian recipe columnist's new cookbook, Two Kitchens, she already seems to have attained a kind of foodie nirvana.

A follow on from her 2015 cookbook Five Quarters, its title refers to Rachel's tiny kitchen in her flat in Rome, as well as the big, basic cooking space at her partner Vincento's family home in the industrial Gela, Sicily, where they spend their summers, and it features the "really simple food" that has come from both.

"My kitchen is the kitchen of Rome and England; my Northern grandma, every cookbook I've ever read, every TV programme I've ever watched; every bit of advice I've ever been given - and also, these are recipes that you're going to make your own. It is 'Two Kitchens' but it could be called 'Many Kitchens'," explains Rachel, who was born and raised just outside London.

She has lived in Rome for the past 12 years - arriving one day with just a rucksack and deciding to stay - but England still spools into her Italian life, and her Italian kitchens.

"I've very aware of cooking with my mum and my grandmas when I'm here. I miss them a lot, so they're really in the kitchen with me when I cook," says Rachel, noting that having her son "brought that into sharper perspective" - and means that, come December, Christmas cake always makes an appearance, while fish fingers and cauliflower cheese are certified weekly staples.

Day to day though, her diet is very Italian - "Loads of fresh vegetables, mostly vegetarian, lots of pulses, little bits of meat, loads of fish, plenty of wine; wine with every meal" - while her food shopping is swayed by the seasons and what's piled high in Rome's markets.

Two Kitchens is split into 24 sections, each portion devoted to a specific ingredient (aubergines, ricotta, peas, oranges, etc), typical to her two Italian spheres.

As well as hunks of melon and sweet-grainy figs, Sicily has "the most extraordinary tomatoes".

"Like nothing you've ever seen," Rachel promises. "They make me want to cry, they're so tasty", and she says the best ones are usually sold by locals from the boots of their cars.

"I hope I'm quite truthful about the wonders of it all, but also the complications - particularly in oranges," she adds, explaining how the fruit, from figs and oranges, to peaches and watermelons, is "wonderful" and "so cheap it makes your heart ache", but the low prices are problematic for farmers.

Food eaten in Sicily, she says, is still "overwhelmingly traditional".

"Someone said to me, if you look at a Roman menu in a trattoria [informal Italian restaurant], you've got the best history book you could ever ask for, and the same can be said in Sicily; every dish tells a story of this island."

The most iconic Sicilian recipe is caponata, a sweet and sour aubergine stew that "everyone makes - it's absolutely delicious", but in true Italian style, there can be spats over how it ought to be prepared.

"Italians still think English people can't cook!" says Rachel with a laugh. "They have really strongly-held opinions about how you do things and no compromise from that at all."

"I tend to listen - there's a lot of discussions about how things should be done. I sometimes get involved, but I always regret it afterwards."

That doesn't mean she isn't fascinated with the way other people think about and cook food, though.

"It's always a lovely thing to ask someone to show you how to make something, because it's quite an intimate act, and you often get the most wonderful information from people when they teach you," she explains. "I'm not so interested in the recipe, but people's tips and secrets. I like how everyone has a particular view of how they put butter on their toast before they put the Marmite on - everyone's so different, it's very revealing."

And this is how she writes about food, weaving stories into recipes, and vice-versa. "We all eat all the time, whether it's good, bad or indifferent food - it's very tied up with love and place and need, so when you write about food, you write about life," says Rachel. "It's another way of sharing: The way you share a meal, you share memories."

Two Kitchens: Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome by Rachel Roddy, photography Rachel Roddy and Nick Seaton, is published in hardback by Headline, priced £25. Available July 13.