Award-winning writer Eleanor Ford's recipes and stories explore how centuries of spice trading and cultural diffusion changed the world's cuisine.
Award-winning writer Eleanor Ford's recipes and stories explore how centuries of spice trading and cultural diffusion changed the world's cuisine. A unique and enlightening guide to cooking with spice, the book looks at their flavour profiles and how they can be used, combined and layered - how some bring sweetness, others fragrance, heat, pungency, sourness or earthiness. There are 80 spice-infused recipes in this collection following the trails of ancient maritime trade through Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Iran and the Emirates. Eleanor combines historical research with a travel writer's eye and a cook's nose for a memorable recipe. Interwoven are stories that explore how spices from across the Indian Ocean - the original cradle of spice - have, over time, been adopted into cuisines around the world.
About the Author
Eleanor Ford is a British cook and food writer. Having lived in Indonesia and Hong Kong, she set off to travel and learn about the world's food cultures and traditions. Her first book, Samarkand, was named a book of the year 2016 by The Guardian and Food52. It also won the Guild of Food Writers Award for Food and Travel 2017. Her second book, Fire Islands, received two Gourmand World Cookbook awards; was named 'Food and Drink Book of the Year' at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards; won Der Deutsche Kochbuchpreis Bronze; and was awarded the Regional Cookbook first prize at The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2020. Eleanor now lives in London with her young family and an unreasonable collection of spices.
