Passions: From allspice to Za'atar,

Time was when a few herbs and spices was all you needed. Basil, oregano, thyme, mixed herbs, dill, some chilli powder and a few others and a whole world of culinary treats awaited.

But times have changed since I went off to uni with a now very well-thumbed copy of Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course, which was first published in 1982, to help me navigate my way through learning to cook for myself.

I still use the Delia classic, but we now have a lot of cookery books (we’re talking Theresa May territory) and always seem to find room for a few more each year.

While the world was making sourdough bread during lockdown (yes, we did too), we decided to try a new recipe every week. It forces you to think again about what you are making for dinner each night and new favourites can join the standard repertoire and others can be left as a one shot deal – our version of Thai classic massaman curry left a bit to be desired insofar as it took hours and didn’t taste very special.

So the contents of the herb and spices cupboard started to expand. A lot. The likes of Yotam Ottolenghi, Rukmini Iyer – whose Roasting Tin series is brilliant – and current favourite Sabrina Ghayour, author of the wonderful Persiana Everyday (her new book Flavour also looks great), has meant we now reach for pul biber, nigella seeds, cumin, tumeric, tahini, rose harissa, paprika, garam masala and fennel seeds as readily as we once reached for basil.

And thanks to the fantastic expansion of what supermarkets stock now, we can find most of what we need on our weekly shop (notable exceptions include tins of chipotle chillies in adobo sauce, which we have only found in the peerless Mexican deli Lupe Pintos, which has branches in both Edinburgh and Glasgow).

The downside was that we didn’t have anywhere to put them all, often left scrabbling around trying to track down a jar just when we wanted to cook. Enter these stainless steel shelves, which we ordered online from Displaypro.

I don’t put albums in alphabetical order (by genre if you must know) but these are and now everything is to hand.

Now we just need a home for the olive oils, the balsamic and wine vinegars, soy sauces, pomegranate molasses…

Will Slater is a sub editor at The Scotsman