FALLING CLOUDBERRIES
A world of family recipes
Tessa Kiros
Published by Murdoch Books Pty limited Australia, H/B $55.00 approximately

Who doesn’t love a book that allows them to replicate the food of their travels? Whilst much of this book is unfamiliar ground it is the recipes of Greece and Cyprus that have given enormous enjoyment, bringing back the memories of the places a particular dish was first eaten. The Halwa (page 141) brings back memories of the exquisite, and as yet unmatched, Halwa at Tsamadou 5 in Exarhia (Athens) and unravels the mystery of its making. We’ve just made the most fantastic dish of Pork with celery and celeriac (our addition) finished with avgolemono sauce (page 82) and made the Watermelon and rose petal jam to go with the Buttermilk pudding on (page 215). We added raspberries to the jam and at the rate it’s vanishing will probably need to make more for the puddings. Everything has been gorgeous with generous and meticulously written recipes that work. Chefs talk about putting the love in as being why some food is better than others. Kiros certainly puts the love in and, as for us, we’re stuck in Greece but are bound eventually to travel further.

THE GREEK COOK
Simple Seasonal Food
Rena Salaman
Published by Aquamarine, H/B $39.95

Greek cooking is like a South American novel full of passion, anecdotes infidelity and love (or lust). It is full of memory because most Australians have either Greek relatives or friends and have travelled to Greece. This memory can make food disappointing because the memory has embellished the dish beyond what it might have been. Location can change the taste of food make it better than it really is. It is difficult for the recipe writer to capture the smell of the bluer than blue ocean, the taste of little fish just plucked from the sea, a real tomato, the handsome young man (or woman) that joined your table (and stayed the night). British photographer Martin Brigdale is master of bringing the experience of life into the recipe with his glorious photographs of food and location.
This is a wonderful book and true to the Greek kitchen it does not complicate or embellish the tastes of memory slotting the produce and subsequent recipes into their season. This is real Greek not the food of the Athens Plakka where a nasty imitation of Greek cooking can be found and will be revival of happy memories of Greece and Greek friends. Brigdale’s photographs are superb.