A book a week: Around the world in 120 Recipes

Hey everyone, as I sit down here getting ready to type and talk about this book all I can do is smile and sip my coffee. I had to read the book over this week, just to refresh me with what I really liked about it.

Around the world in 120 Recipes is pretty awesome. Allegra McEvedy is an English female chef and is brilliant. She gives you a long introduction about herself, her childhood and her journeys and her obsessions with knives (which every chef should be). After reading her introduction it’s almost as if she sat down across the table with you giving you her story in person. Based off of the title of the book you can assume what she has done. She traveled and ate across the world and pretty much scribbled and saved her food thoughts, ideas and got the recipes from the cooks/ restaurants.


These stories and recipes aren’t about Michelin star restaurants. A lot of them are simple recipes that you can cook at home yourself. Everything looks rustic, and fun to eat; keep in mind eating is the best part of it.

I think the best part of the book would be the Caribbean section. We are such a small region yet I am sure everyone reading this knows very little about other Caribbean cuisine. I was very pleased to see Buljao in this book.  I had no idea that it was a Grenadian thing because my Trinidadian family always made it. Which left me wondering, is it really from there? or is that the Amerindians from one country that were taught it migrated and just continued cooking food their way. It’s funny how so many cultures and cuisines are so similar or even the exact same with different names.

There is a recipe I did try one time and it was pretty yummy. The Rabbit Lasagna, it was a long a recipe and took some time. One main reason is you have to brown the meat; if you have a smoke detector that goes off a couple of times (I eventually just pulled mine out of the ceiling when I was in NYC) you'll understand. Once you had cooked the rabbit in the broth you have to strip it of all its meat. You have to be very careful because Rabbits have fine bones and if you’re not careful and miss a few I can guarantee that swallowing or choking on them can leave a bit of a scare. In the end it was totally worth it.

If you want a bit of knowledge of some local food from countries around the globe, this is the book to get. Allegra does a really good job at making you smile and enjoy her book.

My mother has been one of the many supporters in my dream and firmly believes that if you want something bad enough it will happen. Whether it was pushing you because you lost sight of the end goal or just giving you some wisdom and guidance. I thank her for this book and continuously supporting me