I always meant to go back and travel and width and breadth of Portugal. Search for some of my roots, perhaps. Today I was able to do so through Tessa Kiros’s wonderful book Postcards from Portugal: Memories and Recipes* that I discovered through my friend Fernanda.The book is simply gorgeous, a journey through Portuguese cuisine, a product of a colonial past that brought Portuguese merchants to every corner of the world, bringing with them many spices and techniques from far away lands. This spirit is conveyed in the book’s opening page:

My appreciation of Portuguese food started in South Africa, where it seemed through from Mozambique to the many restaurants and homes. Plus, all the greengrocers were Portuguese – a testimony to their love of the land. But mostly what intrigued me was the stretching out of Portugal to so many other and varied lands.

My travels took me through all of mainland Portugal and to the island of San Miguel in the Azores. I was charmed by the old-fashioned way of doing things in this ancient kingdom of Europe – so humble, unobtrusive and majestically beautiful. A land of many flowers and of charming homely tables laden with food marinated in spices picked from  far-off lands. From the lands where the intrepid navigators once sailed in glorious caravels, through boiling oceans, past fabled monsters and battling with contrary winds and currents. Collecting spices to bring back to their cooking pots, they sowed seeds of their own spices and children in foreign lands and women. Exchanging between far-flung locales, pieces of language, gold, gems, recipes, architecture, porcelains and silks, they carried them right back to Belém on the banks of Lisbon’s River Tejo. They brought a bit of the world – its people, religions and ideas – back to Portugal. And they accomplished all this largely with ships and men on the open oceans of the globe.

(…)

This created a fascinating cross-pollination of people and places – Cabo Verde, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Principe, Goa, Macau, Guinea, the Azores, Madeira – that all go to make up the culture of Portugal past and present. This leads to surprise elements and ingredients in the food with interesting combinations: cinnamon and cloves, fresh coriander used in abundance, peppers, feijoada, coffee with steak, and, of course, the wonderful piri piri. Many times I felt the Portuguese had been given a challenge – something similar to ‘conundum’ where you have to find as many short words as you can from one long one. The Portuguese were given bacalhau [cod fish] and eggs to make as many tings as they could. And so they went ahead… and invented a thousand recipes for bacalhau, and made all their desserts with egg.

Although the empire has faded, the result today is a land rich in the diversity of its people, food, art and respect for the faraway places it once dominated. And the soulfoul fado tunes are draped with the melancholy of splendid days gone by…

That is just the beginning. The book is simply gorgeous – pictures leap from the pages, many of which are framed with the ubiquitous white-and-blue tiles of Portugal. Starting with a brief description of the Portuguese kitchen, Kiros takes us on a gastronomic journey to the soul of Portuguese cooking including traditional dishes such as pastéis de nata, the ever present Bacalhau, caldo verde, and grilled sardines but also moving beyond to delicacies such as Port Ice Cream, Prawns in Beer, and gazpacho à Portuguesa. Definitely worth a read. Expect some Portuguese dishes here in the future.

*Apparently, the original title was Piri Piri Starfish: Portugal Found, a much nicer title.

I’ve had this book for a few months now and it’s really great when you just want to look up an ingredient, or discover some basic ways of cooking any kind of vegetable. But beyond the basics, Bittman offers great variations for cooking any kind of dish from the most basic mac and cheese to Indian dhals to making your own cheese and yogurt. The book is clearly organized, with lots of recipes that can be made in less than half an hour for those busy weekdays. But what I like most about this book – and Bittman’s recipes in general – is that the recipes are always very flexible. He teaches you the basics and allows you the freedom to change ingredients at will. This is great when you are trying to cook with what you have available at the house or at the market.

In the process of researching How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Mark Bittman discovered the incredible effects, both for his own health and that of the planet, of eating more fruits and vegetables and reducing the consumption of meat. After much research, he wrote this short but insightful guide on how to take a minute to consider where your food comes but also how to step beyond the conflicting advices of nutritionists and scientists and simply start eating as if food matters. Michael Pollan goes into more depth in many of the issues Bittman raises, but I find this book is a better introduction to the issues to those who are not yet invested on the issue.

This next book is my favourite cookbook this year. Everything I’ve tried from it has been incredibly tasty and I’ve learned some very helpful tips from it such as how to reduce phytic acid, a substance that interferes in the absorption of zinc, calcium, iron, and other essential minerals, from rice and other grains and how to add extra minerals into food by simply cooking them by simply adding an inch of kombu. The recipes are beautifully organized according to seasons and since the author lives in New England, I can find all of the ingredients here in Ontario.

Another feature I love in the book is how it is structured. Recipes are divided according to seasons, starting with Spring and making its way to Winter with a section at the end for Anytime recipes. They tend to be simpler, uncomplicated recipes that really highlight the best that each season offers. Since Walters lives in New England, the produce she highlights pretty much matches what is available locally here in Toronto. I’ll probably be posting more pictures and recipes in the near future since the book has really inspired me. I confess I was a little uninspired after the end of the summer season and this book has really got me back to trying new tastes and colours in the kitchen.

1. Eat fewer animal products than average
2. Eat all the plants you can manage
3. Make legumes part of your life
4. Whole grains beat refined carbs
5. Snack on nuts or olives
6. When it comes to fats, embrace olive oil
7. Everything else is a treat, and you can have treats daily

Numbers 1 & 2 are the hardest for those in a strict meat-and-potatoes kind of diet. But you can cut down gradually, making dishes that combine meat and grains to reduce the proportion of meat. Number 7 will depend on how you feel. If you are feeling fine, losing weight and your doctor is happy, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t indulge on your daily dessert but if you are not getting the results you want, it might be better to reduce the treats.

His plan is not really a diet in a faddish sense. He doesn’t preach we must eat all organic although he admits that eating what is produced locally and in season would be best not only for us but for the environment. And this is where all this eating sanely leads to – better health for us and for the earth we live in. Bittman started becoming more conscious of his eating habits after he read a scientific report that showed that the meat industry was responsible for producing one-fifth of greenhouse gases, much more than the transportation industry. At the same time his doctor raised the red flag telling him his cholesterol and blood sugars were out of wack. By switching the proportions of animal and vegetable products, cutting junk food and prossessed food (anything with more than 5 ingredients or with ingredients with more than five syllables), he lost 15 pounds in the first month, his lab work turned out normal in the second month, and within four months he slept better than ever before, lost 35 pounds (his weight eventually stabilized) and he felt confortable and well with his new eating style.Without counting calories, nutrients, feeling hungry, or rebounding.

Makes a lot of sense to me and I do try to follow many of these tips in my daily life.

Worth a read if you feel your health is below optimal and/or you are concerned about the environment.

Check the Globe and Mail review of the book.