Friday, September 25, 2015

"Eat Mexico"— A Book Review


I know Lesley Tellez as an enthusiastic writer and cook, deeply dedicated to Mexican cooking. I followed her blog, "The Mija Chronicles" from its inception. Lesley has brought the same enthusiasm and dedication to her first book, Eat Mexico.

The book is very personalized in its point of view, and in no way pretends to be a comprehensive work on all the regions of Mexican cooking. Instead, it focuses on Mexico City and the surrounding Distrito Federal, the area in which the author lived for four or more years. But it is in México, D.F. that the best of the nation's cooking converges, and Lesley has given us a delicious sampling of that convergence. The accompanying text bears the distinct stamp of the author's personality. It's definitely not written by a committee.

This is demonstrated in a couple of esoteric recipes in the book, notably, the highly imaginative and creative (but, I must admit, not appealing to me) "Dark Chocolate Chicharrón Cookies".

I have so far made only two, simple, more mainstream recipes from her compendium; Guisado de Acelgas, and Agua de Piña con Perejil. Both were clearly written, easy to follow and successful. I'm looking forward to trying more complex recipes, when an opportunity presents itself.

I recommend Eat Mexico for readers and cooks who want to experience the vibrant flavor of Mexican cooking of the capital city, México, D.F.

This review first appeared on Amazon.com, where the book is available for $16.63.

No comments: