Book Review – Sri Lanka: The Cookbook

What I said two posts ago, while reviewing Mira Manek’s first book Saffron Soul, holds true here as well. The guys at Quarto are seriously, seriously (yes, it’s a double) getting things right. I was very curious and very nervous about Sri Lanka: The Cookbook, thinking that I would not be able to give an objective review. Perhaps ‘objective’ is not the right word to use here, but let’s leave it. When I received it a few days ago, what I saw when I opened the package just made my day.

I wrote to Jessie at Quarto almost immediately with a ‘how beautiful this book is’ e-mail, which I normally don’t do, at least not that quickly. This time round though I couldn’t contain my excitement. It just looks stunning. (As I write this I might take a photo of the book myself, just to show you the texture of the cover – another good excuse to bust out my macro lens. And I did.)

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Book Review: Saffron Soul

I just love how the books piling up on my desk at the moment are so vibrant, both on the cover and on the inside. Beautiful in every sense of the word. They really and truly reflect the brilliant and kaleidoscopic food they carry inside. All the photography is gorgeous and make me want to spend more time in the kitchen.

Saffron Soul: Healthy, vegetarian heritage recipes from India (out on Monday 24th April) is also an example of this. British-born Mīra Manek is of Indian heritage. She is an advocate for healthy cooking, and spends most of her time tweaking and adapting her family dishes to make them lighter, debunking the idea that Indian food is necessarily unhealthy. Mīra collaborates with restaurants and cafes, encouraging them to promote and serve healthier options, as well as running supper clubs, cooking classes and wellness events.

Book Review: Cleanse, Nurture, Restore with Herbal Tea

It’s always fun to get something new in the post. This month the people at Quarto sent me not one, but two very interesting books that I thought deserved a special mention. I’ll start with one called Cleanse, Nurture, Restore with Herbal Tea written by Sebastian Pole, co-founder of Pukka Herbs in 2001, which is of course the same company that makes the very well-known Pukka teas.