FEED ME, FEED ME

Fran Mazza, Random House, $50

This enticing collection from pastry chef Fran Mazza – who with husband Aaron Carson is responsible for raising the bar on Auckland’s cafe scene – is a club sandwich of a book, many-layered and heartily satisfying. Some of the dishes are from their iconic eateries, all embrace their ethos of ‘highquality, accessible food’, and many are multicultural in influence. As well as sharing the stories behind the cafes, including Winona Forever, Sugar, Major Tom, Rude Boy, and Hello Friends + Allies, it’s a book about global collaboration. Fran, who grew up in an Italian family in New Zealand, explains how Hello Friends + Allies was named as a thankyou to Kiwi soldiers who liberated her father’s town, Rimini, from the Nazis. “That blending of communities and peoples from opposite sides of the globe, who found a mutual respect for each other, still colours the Italian perception of Kiwis in Rimini today”. From Winona Forever, there’s a Kiwi take on the French classic, Pavlova French Toast – “one of the most Instagrammed food items of 2017”. From Rude Boy, the Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich with Putanesca Sauce. From Salvation Kitchen, shiny, plump, glistening Beef Empanadas. There are the homegrown classics too, like the fat, fluffy lamingtons that grace Fran’s café cabinets, or the Pork, Apple and Fennel Sausage Rolls – a slightly fancy take on the Kiwi favourite.