Monday, May 26, 2008

Book #38: Curry


Title: Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors
Author: Lizzie Collingham

In Curry, Lizzie Collingham uses traditional Indian restaurant dishes (korma or vindaloo, for example) and uses them as chapter headings for her explorations of the history of food across the subcontinent.

Curry is pretty similar to The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, but with a much more scholarly bent. If the Fortune Cookie Chronicles is Newsweek, Curry is more The New Yorker. It's still very interesting (I actually think I liked it more) but it wasn't a quick read. Instead, it's more of a slow simmer. But it, like just about everything I read these days, made me hungry for some Indian food...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I'll skip. Curry is in my top three foods that I hate. And since it has a scholarly bend, that won't help my cause at all. LOL!

Blue said...

i am obsessed with curry. in fact, i need to figure out how to make the coconut-flavored kind...because i had it last week and have been jonesing for more ever since. can't afford bombay house often enough to satisfy my penchant, so i need to master the art of making curry.

i loved the book The Hindi Bindi Club. you'd probably enjoy it too. i can't remember if i ever mentioned it before, or if i just thought of telling you about it. sorry if this is a repeat. it's got recipes in it too, and is a fun story.

i love india stuff!

Shelah said...

Blue--

You need to check out 660 Curries, the new book by Ragavahn Iyer. I'll bet it has something to help you. I have it on reserve at our library right now. Iyer is coming to give a cooking class at a local grocery store here in town, and I would SO BE THERE but it's the same night as Eddie's fellowship graduation. Hmph!

I'll have to check out Hindi Bindi Story. Sounds good!