A round of reviews of new books on the shelves for novice wine tasters and those aspiring to more conscious eating.
Love your wine – get to grips with what you’re drinking
By Cathy Marston
Bookstorm
Popular wine writer, John Platter’s taster and wine educator Cathy Marston has just released her first book, which takes readers on a casual introductory wine course.
Accessibility, not snobbery, is the key word, though this 200-pager is packed with advice for anyone with an interest in wine.
Separated into 21 chapters of wine know-how, which includes eight “wine tech” segments, from the “absolute basics of winemaking” (the bare minimum of winemaking you need to know) to dealing with wood, wine faults, “fizzing it up”, dessert wines and fortified wines, this guide will teach you the basics – and then some.
It’s pocket-friendly, not only in terms of price but also in size, so you can even slip it into a bag should you feel the need to consult it at odd times. Included is a helpful glossary of wine terms and an index, should you lose your way.
Cathy, who writes a wine column for News24 and teaches the inter-nationally recognised Wine & Spirit Education Trust courses in South Africa, wants her readers to know more about wine – because knowledge is power. Who hasn’t been perplexed by a winelist? Felt intimidated by a sommelier? Or wondered about food pairing?
Love Your Wine unpacks some of the more challenging issues for novices without dumbing down any of the material.
Discussions with a few of her friends in wine – Stellekaya’s Ntsiki Biyela, Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick/Vilafonte, Danelle Conradie of Van Loveren, chef Pete Goffe-Wood, Pieter Ferreira of Graham Beck and Nico Grobler of Eikendal, add other voices to some interesting perspectives on a range of interesting subjects. R175
Retreat – the joy of conscious eating
Daniel Jardim
Jacana
Daniel Jardim started his cheffing career as the head chef at the Ixopo Buddhist Retreat, and now teaches hands-on courses at cookery retreats across the country. The travelling Buddhist chef places a strong emphasis on consciousness, of the food and the eater. This, his second book but his first solo project, is a collection of more than 80 delicious vegetarian recipes, offering a glimpse of what his lessons are about. His easy, generous style of cooking makes vegetarian cooking more accessible – and flavoursome – than is often the case.
Creating dishes so packed with taste that you forget you’re not eating meat, Jardim plays with Thai, Japanese, Moroccan and Indian flavours.
He mixes it up too – with a caldo verde reflecting his Portuguese heritage (his mother is the renowned chef Mimi, author of the Cooking the Portuguese Way in South Africa and the phenomenal Regional Portuguese Cooking recipe books), waterblommetjie penne, watermelon and chilli soup, and aduki bean and shitake shepherd’s pie. Try the spicy black bean dip: a variation on the hummous theme, this is brilliant slathered over just about anything. Superb, seasonal recipes. If you want to go the meat-free or perhaps vegan route, this is a must-buy. R240.
Mealtimes made fun – for babies, toddlers and the whole family
Debbie Wareham & Kim Jurgens
Struik Lifestyle
Mealtimes are all too often parents’ worst nightmare – children simply don’t want to eat or insist on eating the wrong things, which makes something that ought to be pleasurable, a pain. In Mealtimes Made Fun, sisters Kim and Debbie target the whole family. How I wish I had more exposure to such books in the dark days of trying to feed a fussy child!
The book follows the baby-led weaning approach, with suggestions and info on how to make the transition from milk to solids easier for both mom and baby. By making baby part of mealtimes rather than a side act, it encourages them to finger-feed in the high chair while the rest of the family enjoy their dinner.
Debbie’s a trained chef and owns a restaurant in Durban. Her sister, Kim, is a La Leche League (the breastfeeding support network) leader, helping moms who want to breastfeed. She has a BCom in industrial and organisational psychology and a public relations practitioner.
Recipes are enticing for both adults and children, which is a huge consideration for time-pressed parents who believe children should eat what their parents do. And who has the time or inclination to make special meals?
You really don’t need to channel your inner child with recipes for banana muffins, leek and potato soup, strawberry and macadamia bread, chicken, feta and avo wraps, mango frozen yoghurt lollies and spaghetti bolognaise. And when they’re ready, introduce them to more adventurous foods – a mild chicken curry, stywe pap with tomato and onion gravy, sweet and sour pork and the like. Attractive pictures, appealing recipes, sound advice and a diverse range of foods add up to an enticing book. R240
The Little Book of Chocolate – 50 recipes celebrating the bestselling novel Chocolat
Joanne Harris and Fran Warde
Random House
The very idea of this book sends quivers down my spine. As a chocolate – and Chocolat – lover, it’s impossible to say no to great chocolate. Which is precisely the market they’re aiming at. Yet co-author Joanne Harris explains in the foreword that she was born in a sweet shop in Barnsley, not Vianne Rocher’s chocolaterie in France, about which she famously wrote in Chocolat.
Strangely, she was also not a chocaholic till she embarked on this little book, but says she became increasingly fascinated by the history and folklore of chocolate – “its capacity to transform and evolve; and of course the emotional resonance that chocolate holds for so many of us, something that transcends mere taste and becomes a spiritual journey”.
Warde, a trained chef, worked on an Australian prawn trawler, ran her own cookery school and then moved into food writing.
Did I hear someone say sugar rush? If you love chocolate but fear weight gain, steer clear because this little book is so decadent it’s just a tad evil. There’s the Sisters of Mercy profiteroles, chocolate pudding with fleur de sel; Grimm’s cherry cake (a version of the classic Black Forest, but with a sweet-sour tang); a Sachertorte (which was originally created in the 1800s for the Prince Wenzel von Metternich by Franz Sacher, a 16-year-old apprentice chef whose creation has become one of the world’s most beloved cakes); chilli chocolate ingots with sea salt flakes and “spiced nipples of Venus” – sexy little truffles. R285
Saturday Star