Local authors show great creativity in latest books, writes Diane de Beer
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The Low Carb Solution for Diabetics
by Vickie de Beer and Kath Megaw (Quivertree)
When I first noticed that this book had won one of the most prestigious prizes for best cookbook in the country last year, I was intrigued. A diabetic cookbook as the winner? That’s an unusual choice which meant that this was special and had managed to be creative as well as informative, a rare combination.
When Vickie de Beer’s 8-year-old son was admitted to intensive care and diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, she knew she would have to take charge. “Nothing prepares you for this emotional, life-changing roller-coaster,” she says.
Teaming up with a leading paediatric dietitian, they developed this cookbook packed with information for anyone who needs to make this lifestyle change, especially for a family because this was their target audience. The book is described as a day-to-day strategic document for practically dealing with diabetes.
It starts with Vickie’s story.
The second part shares delicious and easy low-carb recipes for the whole family, divided seasonally starting with a summer meal plan and going through all the seasons, ending with treats, sauces and drinks.
The third part is Kath’s information and everything you need to know from insulin to complications.
It isn’t only the information, although it was the most important thing to get right, it is also the way the book is packaged, in an almost child-friendly manner.
It feels inviting, embracing and not scary. Colours, typography, sketches and pictures all add to the drama of the book in a unique way.
It’s clear that Vickie had a specific mission. She knew exactly what she went through when it first crossed her path and this book contains all the information to help those who bump into this obstacle to navigate a much smoother route.
The thing is: the De Beers have already made that journey. They tested everything and passed all the road tests as they struggled to find a way to keep their son as healthy and living as normal a life as possible. This is their way of giving back, but in the process they have found the best way to impart the information.
It gives you everything from the reason for choosing this type of diet to the way of selling this new lifestyle to your family. Nothing seems unimportant to report on, from finding support groups and networks to zip lock bags to keep the food fresh as well as correctly calculated for school lunches.
Once you have got all the information, it’s time to start cooking and a page-through of the recipes will soon have you excited. This doesn’t look like diet food. It offers you anything from wraps to coconut cookies, steak tortillas to a chocolate mug cake, easy fishcakes to cottage pies and bolognaise.
So if your family is in this fix, there are solutions and in the case of these two authors, they have tried to simplify a life that has to be ruled by the fluctuations of sugar levels.
It also means that finally there will be a better control of glucose, more freedom to live a normal life, improved concentration and performance at school for the diabetic child. This means increased long-term health which is what everyone is looking for, reduced risk of heart disease, strokes and high blood pressure and it helps manage extreme activity strategies for everyday life.
It is in fact an emergency kit for families dealing with diabetes, but one to include as your life coach.
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More Life’s a Beach Cottage
by Neil Roake (Jacana)
From the start, I have always loved Roake’s books, because he injects them with a sense of fun. There’s an artist’s mentality to the appearance and presentation of his cookbooks with the addition of food that has an energy and excitement to it.
How could we not opt for something that turns what to some might be an everyday chore into an adventure?
He starts with house rules which means that there are no rules, he says. Go out and break them if you want to. He invites you into his beach house and tells you to chill. “I’m what you call a flip-flop cook: always in flops and shorts, with a drink close at hand. Don’t call me a chef; that would be putting me on a pedestal (dangerously slippery in flip-flops). I just cook, make mistakes and shrug – or beam if everyone loves the food, with a brief inner glow of triumph (something Taylor Swift has 24/7).”
That’s the kind of guy he is. No cooking with ingredients none of us keep or use in our homes (like glucose); no recipe that says “put in the fridge for 24 hours” – we want our food now-now; always set the table before hitting the beach. This might sound a bit Martha Stewart,” says Roake, but when you get back, trust him, you want to cook and devour. That’s my boy.
It’s no nonsense but the emphasis is on food to enjoy which is easy to make. Check the recipe names right from the start. It is for a big fat birthday spread, so perhaps a bit more fancy than the rest, but I suspect not. From home-made labneh, tomato and chia seed salad, four-melon and prawn salad with Asian dressing, baked liver chicken paté with gooseberries and thyme and crushed hazelnuts, smoked chicken and spring onion paté, bad ass bacon jam, mustard seed and fennel, cucumber pickle, char-grilled pickled aubergines and artichokes, tuna stuffed peppadews and a passion fruit fool. That’s quite a spread but it is bristling with inspiration which this chef, oops sorry, cook, is all about.
The book is packed with recipes, but each one has a special Roake introduction which takes you into the heart of the dish, why it has been selected and all about its specific story.
Roake knows how to capture his audience and keep its attention. He gets my vote every time. This is the third book in this series of beach cottage food adventures and he keeps re-inventing himself, adding to his previous repertoire and never allowing the concept to get tired.
How can you get bored in a book that refers to a recipe as a Kiff Cheese Board with rooibos and nut drizzle. Don’t you immediately want to get this one together?
We need to smile when working with food. It has to be fun so that the fizzle is part of the family or friends’ meal. This is a time to be joyous, to relax and to replenish – even if the sea is just a faint memory.
Accept that the pictures (by Craig Scott) are as inventive as the book. It can’t be any other way. Even these feature Roake’s sense of humour with two dolphins (sketched) breaking through the pictured waves. It’s a blast!
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The Supper Club
by Phillippa Cheifitz (StruikLifestyle)
We have all probably heard of supper clubs? It’s when a group of friends get together and have regular meals at different homes with the accent on whatever it might be that holds that group together – not necessarily food.
But in this chef’s rule of law, it has to be food. She and a group of foodies get together once a season for supper. That’s wise, because who in their busy lives can do it more often than that – four times a year? Cooking together – that’s what they do, and they come up with some stunning meals. One evening she recalls, they nibbled on lemony olives and spiced nuts, still warm, followed by a shaved fennel, Parmesan and rocket salad, with a seafood stew, concluding with crisp apple samoosas with a spoonful of icy apple sorbet.
On each occasion the venue changes but their food dreams are ever extravagant and inspirational. They are the reason for the book, a collection of easy-to-follow recipes that might inspire others to start their own supper club or just use these for dinner parties or special occasions.
As a long-time food writer, Cheifitz knows how to present recipes that work. They’re as good looking as they are delicious – that’s her trademark.
Of course her supper club members are each one extraordinary and that sets the benchmark for the dinners. From her godson’s Indian wife who loves chilli but also presents traditional Hindu dishes and Durban curries, to a friend whose husband imports exotic and fine ingredients travelling the world to source them, a cousin and his wife who are generous and extravagantly so, which completes the list.
Each couple submits a four-course menu – a nibble, a starter, soup or salad, a main and a dessert. They then vote on all the dishes and which go together best – both balanced and interesting.
Each couple then takes care of one course plus a fine wine match and they take turns to host the evening. It sounds like fun and a great raison d’être for this book, something cookbooks, so plentiful these days, now need as a sales pitch among other things.
But there’s no reason individual recipes won’t also become part of a regular home repertoire. Cheifitz is that kind of smart cook.
Yes she will take you on a food adventure, but even if you’re not ready to commit to a full-on supper club, this is still a good one to buy. Listen to a few of the recipes included.
From the curried chicken and vegetable soup with coriander-chilli oil and papadums, smoked duck mushroom and barley soup, bacon wrapped fish with spicy tomato soup, tuna steak with wasabi mayonnaise, pickled ginger and sushi style rice (what a good idea that), prawn and pasta parcels, Turkish lentil soup with mint and lemon, slow cooked leg of lamb with pomegranate molasses and pilaf, herbed red wine chicken with mushrooms and red onion confit, olive oil sponge with fresh figs and finally pistachio brittle. What’s not to love.
It’s left me wanting to dash into the kitchen to try some. Four foodie couples thinking about menus four times a year, that packs some powerful cuisine punch and it shows.