Globetrotting through your cookbook library

This weekend is one of administrative work but the urge to write had to be answered. While I believe my love of cookbooks started from wanting to be better than what had been drilled into me as a child, it blossomed due to my need to explore other cultures that interested me. I didn’t want to become a close-minded recluse like both my parents were.

While I may never be able to visit all the spots I have marked on this wonderous globe, I can experience those areas through books that bring me into the lives and kitchens of these destinations. Today, I’ll share a few books that can help check off places on our cookbook passports as well as books that will take us back in time historically.

A Taste of Adventure: A collection of recipes from around the world by Exodus Travels contains a selection of authentic recipes from Vietnamese pho to Spanish paella. The team at Exodus Travels, who take over 32,000 people on holiday around the world every year, curated this collection from the communities that were visited based on the data of traffic from their website. This book is a beautiful little tome filled with recipes and photos that will whet your appetite for adventure.

Palate Passport by Neha Khullar fits this post perfectly. The author traveled the world collecting experiences and food memories. The photographs are lovely and plentiful. The recipes each share an experience. For instance, the South Indian tomato chutney tells the tale of hotel breakfast in Mumbai and a French dinner in St. Martin inspired the Cauliflower shooters. We are lucky to experience these memories through Neha’s beautiful narrative, and we can immerse ourselves further by creating these dishes and memories for ourselves in our own kitchen. We are indexing this book to bring you a full promotion.

Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen: Traditional Ghanaian Recipes Remixed for the Modern Kitchen by Zoe Adjonyoh shares an updated collection of Ghanaian dishes for today’s cook in this gorgeous book filled with beautiful photographs. Zoe lives in South-East London and her pop-up restaurant and supper club has been all the rage in the foodie scene both in London and Berlin. Recipes from Lamb cutlets with peanut sauce, Jollof fried chicken to a Honey & plantain ginger cake will have you craving Zoe’s Ghanaian cuisine bringing the traditional flavours of Ghana to our kitchens. (for more books on Africa see this post). 


Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus With over 80 Recipes by Carla Capalbo is a collection of recipes and gathered stories from food and winemakers in the stunning but little-known country. Both a cookbook and a travel guide to such a special place on the world’s gastronomic map. It is a gorgeous book that captures the beauty of the area in photos and recipes. We are indexing this title to bring you a full promotion.

Taste of Persia: A Cook’s Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan by Naomi Duguid delivers another world to us by journaling her travels. The countries that encompass the Persian region while a mix of centuries old religions, cultures, and politics, are connected by food traditions. The food shines with jeweled pomegranates, the golden hues leached from saffron, and the bountiful fresh herbs that all add life and vibrancy to the meals of this region. I, for one, am grateful to Naomi Duguid, who for decades has been unearthing fascinating recipes and haunting tales from those areas of the world where most of us have not yet traveled. Taste of Persia contains 125 recipes, blanketed with narrative and photographs of the people and landscapes that bring this far-away world closer to the reader. To read more about this title and try two recipes, please see my review and recipe post.

The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin presents more than 150 black cookbooks that range from a rare 1827 house servant’s manual, the first book published by an African American in the trade, to modern classics by authors such as Edna Lewis and Vertamae Grosvenor. The books are arranged chronologically and illustrated with photos of their covers; many also display selected interior pages, including recipes. This book is truly an historical masterpiece and must be in everyone’s collection.

Michael W. Twitty’s The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African-American Culinary History in the Old South is also a must read on this important subject that is often overlooked.

Be sure you have entered our promotion on I Love India, a beautiful book about the warm, soulful food of India. More information and a recipe from that title can be found at the link indicated. 

A few other books to note:  We are indexing The Immigrant Cookbook: Recipes That Make America Great  by Leyla Moushabeck to bring you a full promotion. This book is everything that shares a diverse bounty of recipes by immigrant chefs from around the world. This title is a reminder of where some of the greatest culinary minds originated just as The Sioux Chef reminds us of the indigenous people whose country this originally was, and of course, still is. 

You can always explore regions that interest you here at Eat Your Books by typing in a location and see where you land. Other posts that share books that will bring you closer to the magnificent world that surrounds us include:

• Cookbooks of the Middle East and the World
• Indian Cookbooks a World of Spice
• Meditteranean Cooking
  
  

Update: As I was doing some work Monday morning, I came across a few other interesting titles: At the Table: Food and Family Around the World, Sweet Treats Around the World and Street Food From Around the World. I hope to bring you more information soon.