Jenny- Reads to make you fall back in love with food

Lately, I've been really enjoying exploring books about food. Particularly during lockdown, when everyone's been baking banana cakes (myself included!), I've been in search of books that remind us that food is something to be enjoyed, to be savoured. Two books I have read recently have particularly helped remind me of this.

Priya Basil's Be My Guest is the first of these books. The book is subtitled 'Reflections on Food, Community and the Meaning of Generosity', and this description appealed to me immediately. Basil writes beautifully about food, but in reality, the book is about much more than just food — it is about everything that food has come to mean. The author grew up in Kenya in an Indian family and has since lived in the UK before moving to Germany, and food has been an integral part of her cultural identity. She warmly reminisces about her mother's traditional Punjabi cooking, which sets them apart from other families in Kenya and reflects upon experiences of eating in the Langar of a Sikh Gurdwara, where everyone is equally welcome to come and share in food together. This book is also filled with reflections about the historical meaning of food in different cultures, from the feasts of the Qing Dynasty to the streets of Victorian England. Ultimately, this book is an ode to food as an emblem of culture, heritage, and community.

Former Great British Bake Off contestant and food writer Ruby Tandoh's Eat Up is a similarly joyful manifesto for rediscovering the simple beauty of food. Tandoh doesn't tell us how to eat 'healthily' or how to count calories — instead, she tells us how to eat what we want to, and how to nourish our bodies. She looks into why we eat when experiencing strong emotions and reminds us that loving our bodies is about respecting when they tell us they need nourishment. Filled with recipes, cultural studies, and personal anecdotes, this book is a joy to read.

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