MagickCat's Full Review: Joetta Handrich Schlabach - Extending the Table: A...
This is not just a cookbook it is a story told through food. It is not a story about anyone one person in particular, or any one country, people or food, but instead a story about nations from around the world and the foods they cook.
In this western world a lot of the time we tend to dismiss food as just well food. It is just something to eat, something from a box or bag and sometimes something that we ourselves don't even have to cook. Something to put in the mouth.
A lot of people worldwide don't have the luxury of eating meat let alone the ability to walk into a grocery store and pick it up already slaughtered, skinned and ready to be cooked.
What do you mean chicken doesn't grow in packages in the grocery store?
Extending the Table takes you into farmers house in Guatemala where the chicken running around when you arrived, is now caldo a spicy chicken soup served to you for lunch. And into a village in Kenya where the goat the children were playing with is now curry, slaughtered especially in honour of your visit.
The stories are excellent. This is a cookbook that makes you think.
Beyond the Cover
The cover is very sparse, but you must remember Extending the Table is written by Mennonites. Despite it's unattractive cover and religious undertones, there are jewels in this cookbook. These Jewels are hidden behind a rock surface and these are jewels that you might easily pass up without an open mind.
Extending the Table is divided into 9 different sections:
1.Extending the Table 2.Beverages 3.Breads 4.Soups 5.Salads and Vegetables 6.Grains, Dried Beans, Stews, and Main Dishes 7.Festive Dishes, Poultry, Seafood, and Meats 8.Appetizers, Snacks, and Condiments 9.Deserts
I won't bore you with explanations about every section of Extending the Table but I would like to highlight some of this cookbooks features that I found helpful.
Extending the Table: The first section tells you a little background behind the making of the cookbook. It also contains a world map and explains the symbols that are beside the recipes. This is very handy as you can quickly flip through this cookbook and if it has a [H] contained in a red box, it means this is spicy food!
Because these recipes are collected from around the world, you may not be familiar with the ingredients called for. So this section of the book also contains a glossary of spices and makes suggestions of where to purchase items.
Beverages: Includes recipes for drinks from around the world like Turkish Coffee, Lassi and Spiced Tea. I love how this cookbook tells you the traditions behind serving many of these drinks. Such as how Turkish Coffee is served sweetest for happy events and bitter for sad occasions like funerals. As usual there are interesting stories and factoids accompanying the Beverages. (Factoids litter each chapter of Extending the Table)
Breads: Learn to make anything from Ukrainian Easter Bread, Kentucky Cornbread, Pitas to Coconut Bread. Extending the Table even comes complete with illustrations on how to braid Butter Tress.
Grains, Dried Beans, Stews, and Main Dishes: Who knew there are so many different types of rice and so many rice dishes! Extending the Table does a fantastic job of explaining the differences between rice and hitting home that it is a staple for so many people. This section also explains how to cook beans, and has a page devoted to a cooking method called "Basket Cooking" used in Zambia. If you were more adventurous then me, the authors suggest using "Basket Cooking" for rice, potatoes and even meat to save on energy.
These are just a few examples; each chapter of this cookbook is full of recipes, stories from travelers, traditions and serving suggestions. Every recipe is easy to understand and besides a few ingredients that are harder to come by, all the food has been a success.
Things to try:
Everything in this cookbook has it's own flavour, to make it simple anything we have cooked from this book has tasted excellent.
These are recipes I really have enjoyed and recommend:
Chick-Pea Curry (India): This is my favorite dish. All the ingredients are easy to find and it tastes wonderful. Mmm Chick-peas.
Sweet Chicken Curry with Yogurt (Bangladesh) When I eat this why am I reminded of warm oatmeal and brown sugar? Perhaps it is the raisins. Just watch out for the Cardamom pods.
Cucumber Yogurt Salad (India): Spicy, yet cool and refreshing. This is nice dish to eat during summer time.
There are many Recipes but these are a few that everyone really seems to like. Whenever we have company over these are the things we make for our guests.
Beyond Your Taste Buds
Our edition of Extending the Table is spiral bound, a very smart move for a cookbook. We picked out copy up at a Mennonite fair. It has withstood 12 years of kitchen abuse and the best part is you don't have to worry about destroying the spine and having pages fall out.
Not only does this book have fascinating stories about how people live over in different parts of the world, but it also has pictures and illustrations of daily lives in these impoverished places. There are black and white photos of women hunched over steaming pots, girls carrying huge sacks of grain and children sitting on dirt floors while their mother's make bread. The black and white photography does not take away from the cookbook but instead emphasize the stark difference between our worlds. There are no pictures of just food.
Despite having a lot of religious references (I'm not religious) I found Extending the Table to be a truly interesting and thought provoking cookbook.
Picture a vast table with room for everyone and laden with taste-tempting dishes from over 80 countries. Peach Chutney from Botswana, Ginger Cooler fr...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Here s an opportunity for cooks to learn about our world and its wide variety of flavorful foods--Peach Chutney from Botswana, Ginger Cooler from the ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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