From an Iranian-Italian odyssey to a creativity-sparking kitchen reference book, award-winning writer and cook Mark Diacono picks this month’s top titles
The Flavour Thesaurus: More Flavours
I’d happily read anything Niki Segnit cares to write: a shopping list, a birthday card – and most definitely this, her third book. It follows on from her classic, The Flavour Thesaurus, focusing on plant-based combos and how and why they work. As lively as the writing may be, this is a scholarly resource that should always be near the kitchen. I read it, smiling, in a day.
Recipe I can’t wait to make: Neri miso, a combination of miso, honey and water or sake, with “extremes of salt and sweet… so balanced it’s as if your taste buds have been put into a painful, yet deeply soothing, yoga position”.
I didn’t know that… In Italy during World War II, coffee shortages meant caffe d’orzo (barley coffee) became popular. Bloomsbury £20, out 11 May
THE PEPPERPOT DIARIES
Andi Oliver shares the glorious diversity of Caribbean food, influenced by the islands’ indigenous peoples and “those who have come and gone”. She conveys the experience of a black British woman drawn to her roots, and the recipes – tea-brined spiced chicken, sticky star fruit pork chops – are great. As Oliver puts it, while there’s “a dark shadow in the story… in our food there is light, joy and survival”.
Recipe I can’t wait to make: Aromatic shrimp curry.
I didn’t know that... Short ribs cooked in cola are a thing – and they’re good. DK £27, out 27 April
POMEGRANATES & ARTICHOKES
Born in Iran, Saghar Setareh has lived in Italy since her 20s. Her debut shares the food culture of her two ‘homes’ and the space between, capturing how the migration of ingredients, recipes and people informs and develops food traditions. Laced with sour cherries, anchovies and courgettes, it delivers as fully on photography (her own) and writing as it does recipes.
Recipe I can’t wait to make: Saffron roast
