LADIES, A PLATETraditional Home Baking
Alexa Johnston – Penguin - $45.00
It seems to have been a golden year for the history of cooking in New Zealand .
Books that come to mind immediately include The Pavlova Story by Helen Leach, Cooking Times by Kate Fraser, and David Veart’s First Catch Your Weka.
All splendid books to which we can now add another stunner, Ladies, A Plate by accomplished home baker, historian/curator, the multi-talented, Alexa Johnson who has spent the last two years searching through dozens of early/mid-20th century community cookbooks, then testing the selected recipes to come up with over 80 of the best versions of the classics of New Zealand home baking.
Included are Afghans, Anzac biscuits, Belgian biscuits, Ginger kisses, Meringues (of course), Gingerbread biscuits, Pavlova, Trifle, Sausage rolls and so on. It is a treasure trove filled with all the things my Mum and Nanna used to make.
Colour illustrations throughout, with a foreword by top food writer Ray McVinnie, and a super introduction by the author, this book is a little gem, one that is guaranteed to inspire you to get back into home baking.
Interesting to note too that both the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival in May and the Christchurch Writers Festival in August both had very well attended sessions featuring cookbooks and their authors.
In Auckland the panelists were Helen Leach, Alexa Johnston and Ray McVinnie, superbly chaired by Lauraine Jacobs, while in Christchurch the panellists were TV star Richard Till, Kate Fraser, and David Veart.
While at the NZ Post Writers & Readers Week in Wellington one of the stars was former NY food critic, now editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl.
As a foodie and keen amateur chef myself I hope this trend continues.
Pic left shows afghans made by Annie using the recipe in Ladies, a plate. And I can report they were delicious!
Alexa was great at the Auckland Festival, as were all of the panelists!
ReplyDeleteI think the foodie panels at festivals are a welcome respite from some of the more serious sessions (although I seem to recall some of the audience take their food things very seriously) Also the chefs, cooks and foodie writers seem to be gregarious and interesting people.
In this day of uber-health conscious food choices and food police it's great to sit back and listen to some gloriously non pc food addicts talk about food, their memories of meals and family time and the important social glue of eating and dining, with passion and flair.
We'll be getting this book. Mr six-year old will be in his element baking these treats.