Author:  Reyna Simnegar

2011. Feldheim Publishers. Hardcover, 374 pages. $34.99. ISBN: 978-1-58330-325-2. 

If ever a cookbook deserved a place on the coffee table as well as in the kitchen, this is it. For those who read cookery books as others read novels or biographies this one is perfect. For those who want sumptuous presentation, graphics and photos, this is a treasure box of delights. And if it’s original and unusual recipes you’re after, tested in a real kitchen with the author’s family and friends as tasters and assistants, look no further.

The first thing you notice about the volume is the stunning photography. The photos themselves, on the left of each double page, look good enough to eat. On the right hand side the recipes appear with clear lists of ingredients and instructions. At the top of the page is an introduction, usually a personal comment from the writer about the food or how she came to learn this recipe and include it in her repertoire. Many pages have a column headed ‘tricks of the trade’, written in the chatty, informal style which is typical of the book. There is plenty of information to enhance your enjoyment of the process of producing this colorful fare and also advice on shortcuts, options and pitfalls to avoid.

Along the way you will learn about the author, a girl from Venezuela who fell in love with a boy from a Persian family and knew that the way to his heart was the traditional way. Wisely, she understood what was important to make her husband happy and became her new mother-in-law’s willing and able student. This was clearly a marriage made in heaven, and she was soon enraptured by the tastes and smells of the Persian kitchen. She was also, evidently, a talented and adventurous apprentice with a gift for writing, from which we benefit as she tells the tale of her personal odyssey and how her life brought her to the point of marrying into a different culture (she had learned at the age of twelve that her family were Marrano Jews) and about how she and her husband came to embrace the religious practices of his home which he had discarded and she had never known. There are pages about the festivals, what they mean, the customs connected with each one and the food typical of each. There is plenty of specific information about the Persian kitchen and the foods associated with it and about the concept of ‘kosher’, for those who might know little about it beyond the bit about not eating pork.

The author and her family now live in Boston, but she writes much about the large Persian community of Los Angeles where her husband’s family lives, and describes how the community strives to maintain and pass on the traditions of its homeland. They know they will never return, but the life they lead is as close as possible to the life they had to leave behind and which still exerts a strong emotional hold.

This book is a joy, whether it is read as a cookery book, a testament to a culture, a record of a life’s journey or as a delight to the eye.

To order email stu@stuartschnee.com or call 054 790 9120.