What makes food so sensual, and meals often integral to romance? This is a question asked by Diane Ackerman in her wonderful book A Natural History of the Senses (Vintage Books), which I came across while writing my novel Love Apples. The answer, she says, is that, whereas humans can enjoy the other senses in solitude, they seldom choose to dine alone because taste has such a “powerful social component”. She points out that in certain traditional African cultures “exchanging food makes a…..
Get it right and panna cotta might be one of the dreamiest desserts on the planet; get it wrong, and it could double as a weapon. My first attempt at panna cotta was a disaster; hard and rubbery, slightly grainy, and not particularly palatable. In truth, if I’d thrown one at a wall, it would have bounced right back at me. With no alternative, I served it up apologetically to dinner guests and the meal ended on a lacklustre note…..
If you don’t want to sweat your summer starter – well apart from some leeks that is – then look no further than this easy-peasy chilled soup. It involves no more than around 15 minutes cooking time, can be made well ahead, is deliciously refreshing and looks beautiful thanks to its vibrant green colour. Of all the recipes in my novel Love Apples, this has probably garnered the most rave reviews, sometimes outdoing a main dish that I’ve laboured over…..
Quick and easy to make, frittata is one of those versatile dishes that works at various times of the day, whether for brunch, lunch or a light weekday supper. This is where it features in in Love Apples, in which the protagonist, Kate, cooks it up for her friend and flatmate, Chloe, after work one night. With some difficult affairs of the heart to discuss, it’s the perfect option since it requires little thought and can be whipped up in…..
A recipe for a fresh, fragrant Middle-Eastern-flavoured dish that’s perfect for summer, plus a bit of background on how food got mixed up in my fiction. Some of my strongest memories from novels are those involving food, perhaps because it engages the senses so fully. I can still almost taste the toffee shocks in Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree, which swelled as you chewed until you couldn’t speak, and finally exploded in your mouth. Later, while studying French at university, I…..
I had no intention of writing a novel when I signed up for a creative writing course in London but the seed was sown when I wrote a short story inspired by a travel assignment in Mauritius for Marie Claire magazine. Still, the idea of cultivating a full-blown 300-page piece of fiction seemed a daunting prospect – Jack’s beanstalk compared to the shrub-like 1,500-word magazine features I’d written to date – and the story was shelved for a while. But…..
Recent Posts
- Recipe for LOVE: why the spicy tomato-based Mauritian dish prawn rougaille might be just the thing to feed your Valentine
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- ‘Have we found the perfect summer holiday read?’ – The South African Newspaper
- Peasy does it: recipe for chilled pea and mint soup
- Slice me nice: caramelised-onion, potato and spinach frittata
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