Acookbook from an under-represented nation or region is generally a good thing. About time, we say, diving in with our minds open and bellies hungry, ready to learn. But often this creates a burden for the author – not necessarily by those who are completely new to the cuisine, but those who love it.
They may be people spending their hard-earned cash on the book hoping it might finally reveal the secrets of their grandma’s stew. Or perhaps that it might finally enable them to recreate that dish they once had on holiday 19 years ago and have thought about, daily, ever since. It means that, should the recipes in the book differ to what they remember, woe betide the author.
I say this to partly give insight, but to also remind myself of the nuances around food and our memories of it. Because Simon Bajada’s Malta: Mediterranean Recipes From The Islands is a book ripe with hope and excitement for me given my precious memories of Maltese food, which also makes me nervous that perhaps the recipes won’t match them.