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Announcing Novel Food #39

Spring is steadily moving towards summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it is time to launch a new edition of the culinary/literary event Novel Food, the 39th to be precise. Novel Food is a voyage of literary discovery and a delightful party featuring literary-inspired dishes contributed by event's participants. I hope you will join. I am looking forward to learning about a published literary work (a novel, novella, short story, memoir, bio, poem, etc.) that provided you with culinary inspiration. Here are the simple rules for participating in Novel Food: Prepare a dish of your choosing that has a connection... Read more →

carrot, radish and turnip salad with microgreens / insalata di carote, ravanelli, rape e micro verdure

pretty salad for one Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman1, our current Cook the Books Club selection, offers a wide historical view of nutrition in recent decades, with a particular focus on foods that moved from being consumed by a relatively small number of people to becoming mainstream. Each chapter introduces a varied cast of characters each of whom has contributed one or more threads to the complex tapestry Kauffman weaves as he describe the evolution of eating habits from the 1960's to the present. As with a previous Cook the Books selection, The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone, the interest is... Read more →

Novel Food #38: the finale (readings and recipes)

Between the day I announced the 38th edition of Novel Food and today, the world we live in has changed. One of the side effects of the sheltering in place, something a lot of us are doing now, is a renewed attention towards indoor activities, like reading and cooking. It is therefore a pleasure for me to contribute a set of suggestions for both. A group of book-loving food bloggers has contributed posts, each describing a work of written words and the dish that the reading inspired. You are invited to join me on a literary/culinary tour. For each contribution, I... Read more →

chia pudding with blueberries / budino ai semi di chia con mirtilli

breakfast treat or dessert? The novel Winter Cottage by Mary Ellen Taylor is set in Cape Hudson, a coastal town in Virginia. I have never visited that part of the US, so reading descriptions of the landscape was one of the book's attractions. I also liked how the three connected stories unfolded chapter by chapter. In the present, Lucy Kincaid, still grieving for the recent death of her mother, Beth, inherits Winter Cottage and upon arriving discovers that it is actually a mansion. In a relatively recent past, Beth, then a senior in high school, interviews Mrs. Buchanan, the owner and... Read more →

Persian herb and greens frittata / frittata persiana di verdure ed erbe

green to celebrate spring (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our Cook the Books Club selection this time brings us to Ireland (Irlanda), yet the flavors are those of Iran (whose cuisine we savored also in a recent edition1). The novel Pomegranate Soup, by Marsha Mehran2 (zuppa di melograno), follows the adventures of the three Aminpour sisters, who escape from political turmoil in their native country to the UK and ultimately settle in the small Irish town of Ballinacroagh, where they open a small café serving dishes from their home country. The novel's cast includes the sisters' landlady, the town's priest,... Read more →

Announcing Novel Food #38

And before we know it, spring is around the corner. I know, it may be a bit premature, given that the spring equinox is not yet happening, but the end of February still means most of winter is behind us in the Northern Hemisphere. It also means it is time to launch the 38th edition of the culinary/literary event Novel Food, which is a voyage of literary discovery and a delightful party featuring literary-inspired dishes contributed by event's participants. I hope you will join. I am looking forward to learning about a published literary work (a novel, novella, short story, memoir,... Read more →

bean, fennel and mushroom stew / stufato di fagioli, finocchi e funghi

a delicious combination of flavors (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our Cook the Books Club selection, the novel The Language of Flowers1 by Vanessa Diffenbaugh takes place in places familiar to me: San Francisco and Napa Valley. The book tells the story of young Victoria, who, after bouncing from one foster family to the next, ages out of the system and ends up homeless. The novel goes back and forth between the present and a time in the past when Victoria's foster mother was Elizabeth, a winegrower in Napa, who wanted to be a caring mother for Victoria, though the... Read more →

eggplant and yellow split pea stew / stufato di melanzane e piselli gialli decorticati

eggplant meets split peas (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our Cook the Books Club selection this time brings us to Iran, thanks to Jennifer Klinec, author of the memoir The Temporary Bride.1 The book starts with the story of Klinec's upbringing in Canada, her move to London to follow her corporate career and her decision to leave such career in favor of opening a cooking school out of her apartment. That is the background to her trip to Iran: Persian food called out to her and dissatisfaction with her life added its weight. In Iran, she meets a young man... Read more →

Novel Food #37: the finale (readings and recipes)

It is time to come to taste the contributions made to the 37th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I created in 2007. Novel Food is about prose or poetry works that inspire the preparation of dishes. I continue to host this event with great pleasure, as it brings together two of my passions: literature and food. Every edition delivers a precious reading list and a lovely set of recipes, and this one is no exception. A group of book-loving food bloggers has contributed posts, each describing a work of written words and the... Read more →

fresh beans in fresh tomato sauce / fagioli freschi al pomodoro fresco

so good, even the kitchen towel smiles (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) While Andrea Camilleri is probably the most famous contemporary Italian author of mystery novels, he is certainly not the only one. Among the good number of writers who have created engaging characters in recent years, Antonio Manzini is one of my favorites. Four of his novels have been translated into English, all featuring Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone1: Black Run, Adam's Rib (aka Cold Death), Out of Season, Spring Cleaning (four more have been published in Italian, plus two volumes of short stories). In the first novel of... Read more →