In this case we are simply describing a sandwich, but some sandwiches are easier to digest than others, and this one is particularly easy.

The first issue to consider is the bread. Artisanal bread, like that produced by a really good traditional baker, is typically fermented for longer before baking, with less sugar and less added yeast. This is especially the case with sourdough loaves, leaving more nutritious contents and heightened digestibility. Even kinder to digestion is bread cooked with spelt, rye or barley flours which are less gloopy and obstructive to the gut than flour from modern wheat varieties.

Add a few aromatic seeds to this mix and we have bread in a different league from typical supermarket offerings. Combined with the bread in this sandwich we use chicken for the meat. This chicken could come from a bake, broth or curry, the main thing being that, as a meat, it is much lighter and easier to digest than ham, beef, bacon or smoked fish.

Having said this, there is still a certain richness to any chicken and bread and we should certainly give our digestive system a helping hand with them. That’s where the chutney and black pepper come in. Combined they are sweet, sour, aromatic and spicy, just what we need to stimulate gut motility and secretion. Use plenty of chutney!

Finally we add some bitter greens. Much more than insipid unseasonal lettuce, cucumber or tomato, a strong flavoured, bitter leaf adds depth of flavour to a sandwich whilst the bitterness also gives much needed stimulation to gut movement in the stagnating depths of winter.