The Little Library Cookbook: A Rave Review

 The Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young is the perfect gift for all book loving foodies.  I have a shed load of cookery books and love to have a big pile of them on my bed to flick through in the mornings with a brew.  But the Little Library Cookbook is so much more than a collection of recipes. It's a magical potion of food memories from fiction together with the author's musings and reminiscences on the importance of food, family and books in her life.  

  

I love the descriptions of food preparation and meals in literature; it's such a sensual thing that seems to really connect us with the characters in the story.  The earliest example for me was probably Enid Blyton's Famous Five, where food always seemed a focal point of their adventures.  I was greedily envious of the marvellous picnics the children had and of the way they would just turn up at a strange farm and ask for food, without fear of being abducted or embarrassment at begging!  Instead of being told to bugger off, they would be invited in for a fantastic spread of home made pies, milk fresh from the udder and lashings of ginger beer!  

Kate includes recipes from many of my favourite books and authors.  Each of the one hundred recipes comes with a quote from the book and a little story to accompany it. I love the descriptions in cookery books; when the author includes stories of their journeys through exotic towns in far flung parts of the world or little glimpses of their childhood memories of food and family recipes.  Kate does this beautifully with her food writing. Some of the recipes from the book include... 


Steak and Onions, the End of the Affair
Treacle Tart and Rosemary Ice cream, The Philosophers Stone
Chocolatl, Northern Lights
Seed Cake, The Hobbit
Pear and Lemon Birthday Cake, Comet in Moominland
A Thousand Pork and Ginger Dumpling, The Kitchen God's Wife
Turkish Delight, The Lion, the Witch, The Wardrobe
Creamed Haddock on Toast, Agatha Christie, Sleeping Murder

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If you have ever read the Hobbit you will know how important second breakfasts are to Bilbo and his friends.  And who can forget the cosy beaver house where Mrs Beaver provides comforting food for the children in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe?  Or the addictive Turkish Delight that the White Witch feeds to Edmund?
Why not buy The Little Library Cookbook as an Easter treat for yourself?  Sounds like a plan to me.

Happy reading xxx