Reviews of foodie books

Idea: If you love your food, why not read about it and get some inspiration

One of the great things about having your Birthday and Christmas in the one month is the fantastic presents, the endless great food and the non-stop parties! Naturally, quite a few of my presents involved the theme of food. I was given some great cooking and food related books, and here they are:

Sushi & Beyond by Michael Booth (Vintage):

Every time I picked up this book to have a bit of a read, I became insanely hungry. And not just for any type of food. It was a hunger for Japanese food alone. I admit to going just a little bit crazy whilst reading this novel. The premise of the novel being that Booth sets off with his family to find out "what the Japanese know about cooking," and focuses on the health benefits of the traditional Japanese diet.

As I read this, I began to spurt interesting facts about the history of sushi, the deadly fugu fush, unami (two unami rich ingredients being konbu and katsuobushi, which are both in dashi), the production of miso, soy sauce, saki and more. I found out that it is almost impossible to find real wasabi (wasabia japonica) served outside of Japan. This means that most people will never know what real wasabi tastes like. It is a lot sweeter than that green stuff served in a tube here and does not produce that burn in your nose. I also discovered that chanko nabe is the traditional hotpot prepared and eaten by sumo wrestlers and Osaka is the home to the world's largest cooking school. By the end of reading this, I'm pretty sure that everyone around me was sick of these facts, but I couldn't get enough.

This novel reiterated the importance of colour in Japanese food, the use of the seasons and their desire to use the natural flavours of their ingredients. Booth's novel has only increased my desire to return to Japan and try out even more traditional Japanese food. In particular, there's a restaurant called Mibu that you can only visit on invitation (ie. somewhere I would never be able to get into). In this tiny restaurant the food served was "seasonal, fresh, local and simple." The food worked on "so many levels: visual, cerebral, in terms of flavour, and viscerally." I can still feel my stomach rumbling thinking about the food described in this novel.

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who has a love for Japanese food. It's one of the few food related novels that I've read, which is well written, researched and makes you insanely hungry. You can tell that Booth has a great passion for food.

A little taste of... Japan recipes by Jane Lawson, photographs by Alan Benson and Gorazd Vilhar, additional text by Charlotte Anderson (Murdoch Books):

It seems only right to go to another Japanese themed book. A little taste of... Japan continues this idea ofJapanese food as seasonal food that is "prepared with a light hand" to emphasise their natural flavours and textures. The flavour being "delicate... and never overpowering." Each chapter begins with pictures and a brief history and explanation of food types in Japan, eg. noodles. Each recipe has one large image and a few smaller ones down the side of the page. The recipes are clearly set out and easy to follow. There is enough white space on the page and the photographs made me want to prepare everything in the book (as well as take another trip to Japan).

This cook book also mentions the origins of sushi, which "lie in the ancient Asian custom of preserving raw fish in fermenting rice." This type of sushi, or zushi, is called nare-zushi and can still be eaten today in Japan. Although there is always the East way of doing things in Japan or the West, this cookbook only claims to be a little taste of, which it is. It would be impossible to summarise the whole of Japanese cooking in such a slim book.

Lucio's, Ligurian Kitchen by Lucio Galletto and David Dale, Photography by Paul Green (A & U)

Lucio states that he draws his inspiration from both Australia and Liguria, drawing similarities between the two, such as "mellow climate, closeness to the sea, great produce and regular infusions of new ideas from other places" making for interesting eating. Some of the key ingredients of Ligurian cooking being olive oil, herbs, garlic, onions, mussles, cheeses, tomatoes and pasta. If you haven't been to Lucio's restaurant in Paddington yet, I would highly recommend doing so. You can taste the influences of Liguria, where he grew up and spent half his life, as well as these Australian influences.

I love the special touches in this book, such as the page titled "the equipment," which details all of the equipment in the kitchen that is needed for the recipes. This saves you time later on when you realise that you don't have some vital implement halfway through a recipe such as a mezzaluma, slotted spoons or a cooking thermometer.

I also enjoyed the section on wines, and the best ones for the recipes in the book. Being a wine lover, this section is a great addition to any cookbook. The photographs in this book are also amazing, both those of Liguria and of the food, making you want to both eat and travel at the same time. They make a great addition to the well researched book and fantastic recipes. I love the pesce al cartoccio (whole fish baked in parchment), an easy to make recipe that I've made versions of before. The presentation is always amazing and it's difficult to mess up this recipe. Another fun to make recipe is the ravioli di carciofi alle erbe (artichoke ravioli with herb sauce). This is partly because I find making ravioli so fun and partly because artichokes, herbs and parmesan taste fantastic together.

The contrast of Japanese to Italian cooking (although there are of course some similarities, such as their appreciation for fresh flavours) was quite intense, after my last two Japanese reads (and the food that I cooked from them). Next up was a cookbook (the name of which everyone in Australian is familiar with) that looked at food that is "fast, fresh, simple." Her name of course being Donna Hay.

Fast, fresh, simple by Donna Hay (4th)

For me, Donna Hay's book is one of those ones which you flip through for inspiration. I don't always follow these recipes ingredient for ingredient, and the photograph of the meal is always a starting point. Take the barbequed lamb, eggpant and haloumi for example. Essentially telling you to barbeque all of the ingredients. When I looked at this, I decided to look in my fridge and see what was in there that I could barbeque and applied a similar sauce. But this isn't exactly the type of cooking that is so difficult that it will fluster you in the kitchen.

The torn pasta with chorizo and peas was also a great starting point for a recipe, which tasted fresh and tangy, with the mint and lemon in the sauce contrasting nicely. I love the photos in this cookbook, many of them filling up the entire page, with beautifully positioned food and simple white plating. This is why everyone has at least one Donna Hay recipe book in their kitchen.

Now, I've really got to go and make something to eat. All of this talk of food is making me hungry again...