Kitchen Memories
A Legacy of Family Recipes
from Around the World
by Anne Snape Parsons and Alexandra Greeley
Capital Books, 2007
$24.00, paper
392 pages
Was your mother a tuna casserole and cake mix kind of cook? Did your Grandma's culinary prowess extend only as far as the can opener? Then Kitchen Memories will allow you to adopt one or many kitchen legacies from around the world.
Prompted by a culture that leaves little time for cooking family meals and spending time at the table, and the expanding prevalence of prepared and industrialized foods around the world, Parsons and Greeley realized dishes and traditions would be lost unless they were recorded.
They have sat at many family tables and spoken to hundreds of people, cooks and eaters, to gather family recipes worth saving, those worthy of being a legacy. That's a serious role for a bowl of pasta or a warm scone, but whether you treat these recipes as endangered species or an excuse to dine, entering into someone's family feast is bound to be interesting.
The recipes are an excuse to eat, but the recording, cooking, and eating are also an excuse to remember and reminisce. Special occasions marked by dishes, or when a dish appeared, making everyday a special occasion. When Granny is gone and the family is scattered, a single bite of Tzimmes, Beurek, or Madame Lafleur's Laurentides Pie can bring them back, at least in spirit.
The book begins with a brief history of man's relationship to food production and the development of table traditions - from the apocryphal piece of raw meat that fell into the Neolithic fire to the intricacies of court cuisine, finishing with a lamentation about the cold comforts of convenience food.
Then the feasting begins, alphabetically with Argentina and continuing around the world to finish in Wales. Not every country is visited, Africa is represented only by Morocco and South American just Argentina and Bolivia. Nonetheless, the book is almost 400 pages and attention is given to places with less trendy menus, like Iceland and Scandinavia.
But fundamentally, this is home cooking, so even the most exotic recipes are cookable. In fact, you may be let in on a few secrets, for example, just how to get the crackly rice, called tadiq, at the bottom of a skillet of steamed Iranian rice. Your choices range from Bunty Fernon's Ginger Wine and Chinese Candied Potatoes to the more familiar pleasures of Dad's Pancakes and Passover Brisket.
Whether you're after memories or dinner, you'll find them here.
© 2007 Claudia Kousoulas
