The cookbook review
Even though I now have my own family and have encountered so many new flavours and tastes on my travels, my mind often returns to the tastes and smells of those carefree early years
Cookbooks are my favourite bedtime reads and I have a rather simple method of rating a new one. My barometer is the time it takes between picking up the book and starting to salivate — and Tessa Kiros’s latest publication, Now & Then, had my mouth watering in seconds. It hit the right spot within a page or two, and got to the point where I was so hungry I could almost eat the words and taste the delectable flavours while drooling over the gorgeous pictures — even running my fingers over the images as if to get the feel of the food.
All this while lapping up Kiros’s words. I so enjoy her integrity, accessibility and passion for her subject: anyone could pick up a copy of Now & Then, cook something really delicious, and feel chuffed. Using her cookbook feels as if you are standing next to her in her charming Tuscan kitchen, with a glass of locally produced vino in hand, chatting, chopping and cooking away like two old friends. And that’s the same feeling I got when I talked to her a few days later. She’s warm and engaging, oozes enthusiasm and
is flattered when I share my sentiments of Now & Then.
It is her 11th publication, which she describes as “part memoir, part recipes, a collection for always”. And yes, for Kiros’s fans, she still loves lemons and roses. This time, the rose has pride of place with a whole chapter of rose recipes — say rose milk pudding with rose syrup. Yum ...
I learn that the manuscript has been on her computer for many years when she started collecting the recipes and ideas she loves. “This is how I approach a book, it’s like a gift to myself, adding to it as I go along,” she says.
It’s the South African connection that resonates, as Kiros moved to the country from London with her Greek Cypriot father and Finnish mother when she was four. She kicks off the cookbook with the chapter aptly called “Things That Stay”, which covers her time in South Africa. It includes wonderful memories and recipes of local dishes, which she’s cherished and cooks regularly in her Tuscan home.
She says: “I remember all the details: memory of the African sky, sunshine, piles of prawns, smell of the tuck shop, steakhouses and going out to dinner in our pyjamas and falling asleep in the back of the car on the way home.” It was her wanderlust that saw Kiros leave South Africa in her late teens, journeying to exotic destinations, working, learning and collecting recipes that reflect her travels. After many years, she settled in Tuscany because of her “spontaneous instinct to study Italian and the food”, where she’s lived for more than 20 years with husband Giovanni, who is a chef, of course, two adult daughters and four cats.
Now & Then is a collectable because it’s so much more than a recipe book. Beautifully designed, I pick up unexpected and delightful nuances every time I page through it. Kiros is not the type of author to hand over the manuscript to the publishers and move on; you can feel her involvement in every aspect of it.
“I always work closely together with the publisher,” adding a heap of praise on the book’s designer, Lisa Greenberg. And not forgetting her Greek photographer, who she calls the “light wrangler” and whose creativity has brought Kiros’s food to life. Now & Then by Tessa Kiros, Murdoch Books (Jonathan Ball)
R695