Cookbooks highlight underrepresented cuisines

As EYB Members know, one of the joys of cookbooks is discovering something new, whether it be an ingredient, technique, or cuisine. The best cookbooks allow us to get a glimpse into a region or culture that we may never get to visit in person, gaining an understanding of it through its food. Recently Saveur profiled five such cookbooks, each exploring a different country around the world.

First up is Soomaaliya: Food, Memory, and Migration by Ifrah F. Ahmed, only the third major cookbook to dive into Somali cooking. Ahmed came to the US as a refugee in 1996, and was inspired to write a cookbook because she feels she has “a responsibility to share my culture and this ­cuisine—and a real sense of not wanting this knowledge to be lost.” Somalia’s role in the spice trade due to its strategic location in the horn of Africa yields flavors like xawaash, a blend of cumin, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and turmeric that’s used in everything from marinades to stews. The town where I live has a large number of Somali immigrants, and I can attest to the warmth and vibrance of Somali cooking.

Staying on the African continent, another book that Saveur draws our attention to is The Sudanese Kitchen: An Introduction to Local Food and Drink, written by British-Sudanese chef and food archivist Omer Al Tijani. This is the first English-language cookbook covering Sudan, and Al Tijani wrote the book in part to counter the narrative of Sudan as a “troubled” nation. He says that his home country’s multicultural influences “provide substantial ­contributions to the art of global gastronomy.”

While these two cookbooks sit on just a few Member Bookshelves, the other three books in the article have been claimed by hundreds of Members, and all have an EYBDigital Preview so you can peek inside. First is The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them by Karla T. Vasquez [EYBDigital Preview]. This book celebrates the vibrant culture and community of El Salvador through recipes and stories from twenty-five Salvadoran women.

Up next is My Cambodia – A Khmer Cookbook by Nite Yun [EYBDigital Preview], which is filled with the historical context of Cambodia’s Golden Era, cultural fun facts like the rules of rice, and introspective anecdotes on using food as a tool to connect with community. Finally we have Pakistan – Recipes and Stories from the Country’s Home Kitchens, Restaurants, and Roadside Stands by Maryam Jillani [EYBDigital Preview], which sits on the most Member Bookshelves of all the books covered in the article.