Informed Eating

When it comes to food literature, the most credible foodies are unanimous. Nothing makes for a palette-stimulating read like an imaginatively written book with its own distinctive flavour.

Foodies tell us what books are nourishing their culinary skills

When it comes to food literature, the most credible foodies are unanimous. Nothing makes for a palette-stimulating read like an imaginatively written book with its own distinctive flavour. With gourmet-lit growing in demand over the last few years, every bookstore in town has expanded their 8216;Food and Drink8217; shelves to serve the burgeoning demand.

The trend points to a rising sophistication of the Indian palate caused by a glut of foreign food into our markets combined with the mushrooming of specialty cuisine restaurants in the city. But what exactly have our foodies been reading? What gastronomical delights out of those pages have found their way onto their kitchen fires?

Suggestive writing has titillated imaginations for time immemorial. And to ad-man Prahlad Kakar nothing could be more provocatively evocative than food. 8220;Isabelle Allende8217;s Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses is the most remarkable food book I8217;ve read in a long time. It makes for sensual reading, drawing an intrinsic link between food and sex. Such a beautiful woman and she writes such a sexy book,8221; he chuckles. Allende8217;s book subtitled, 8216;The love of food and the food of love8217; discusses the aphrodisiacal effects of everything from a rhino8217;s horn to the sight of a man cooking. The book also sets a high standard for passionate food writing. A curious finding is the lacunae that most gourmets felt in Indian food-writing. Kakar blames this on the lack of articulation skills among food specialists in India. 8220;Writing about food requires passion for food and language. You need the right vocabulary to capture the essence of cooking.8221;

Elsewhere, Betty Crocker8217;s a ready-reckoner not just for recipes, but the foundation of food for city-based nutritionist Aditi Mehrotra who for years has been referring to the British food author. 8220;My grandmother, mom and now I depend on Betty from the basics to the ultimate and Betty8217;s apple pie is simply superb,8221; Aditi has the book on a CD-rom and the author is her all-time favourite for desserts, salads and pies.

If there8217;s one book that city8217;s restauranteur and educationist Sanjeev Verma always finds himself flipping, then it8217;s 8216;Prashad: Cooking with Indian Masters8217; by Jiggs Kalra and Pradeep Das Gupta. 8220;This book is a celebration of what is best in Indian cooking, and aims to introduce the foods of India through the culinary genius of some of the finest chefs in the country. Jiggs Kalra presents wonderful collection of recipes, both old and new from the repertoires of these master chefs,8221; Verma tells emphatically. But if someone8217;s looking for 8220;everything you need to know8221; when it comes to Continental cookery then Sanjeev lists out 8216;Practical Cookery by Kinton 038; Cesarani8217; to keep for years to come.

Farzana Contractor, editor of Upper Crust magazine, feels the same way. She8217;s turned to what many around the world consider the bible to gastronomic wizardry 8211; The Larousse Gastronomique. 8220;The book really is a veritable storehouse of food history, cooking terms and recipes. The subtle difference in terminology across cultures and languages is fascinating. For example, the Americans term 8216;trotters8217; as feet,8221; Contractor exclaims.

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Chef Nachiket Shetye swears by Kitchen Confidential 8211; travelling-chef Anthony Bourdain8217;s free-wheeling writing about his experiences as a Manhattan Chef in the 8216;70s. Bourdain combines great travel with tremendous insight into various cultures and cuisines. His latest work, Nasty Bits candidly reveals his misadventures with meals in foreign lands. 8220;Madhur Jaffrey8217;s memoir, Climbing Mango Trees is another good read because it combines personal experience with food,8221; says Shetye. Though the lack of Indian names from listings is telling, there have been signs of hope. Kakar recommends Cooking at Home with Pedantha 8211; a gem on traditional Andhra cooking by an 87-year-old granny who brings to life some of Andhra Pradesh8217;s lost recipes.

Kunal Vijayakar discovered Niloufer Ichaporia King8217;s 8216;My Bombay Kitchen8217;, which is a treatise to traditional Parsi cooking. 8220;It8217;s aimed at a foreign audience. So it explains things well. If your knowledge of Parsi cooking is limited to Dhansaak, Sali Boti and Patrani Machchi, this book will certainly be educative,8221; recommends Vijayakar.

BIG BYTES
David Remnick8217;s Secret Ingredients 8211; a compilation of the New Yorker magazine8217;s food essays and excellent cartoons
Michael Pollan8217;s The Omnivore8217;s Dilemma which traces the origin of food in a fast-food world and its implications for the environment
British Chef Jamie Oliver8217;s Jamie8217;s Italy about his travels through rural Italy, exchanging recipes and cooking with the locals
Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel End of Food by Paul Roberts are crucial books on the international food crisis
Peter Mayle8217;s A Year in Provence, Hotel Pastis and Toujours Provence are just delicious