Heidi’s latest book is organized by location, starting with "near" (SF), En Route (nutritious portables to take with you during travel), then moving through "far" places (Morocco, Japan, Italy, France, India), and finally accompaniments. SF definitely is the largest single section of recipes, but there’s plenty of variety in terms of flavors. There are gorgeous, eat-me-now photographs for many of the dishes and also plenty of travel photos, although none of the location photos seem to be described in any way.

As with her blog and previous cookbook, all the recipes are vegetarian and a large percentage of these recipes look delicious yet easy to execute. The recipes are well-written and clear – I really like Heidi’s friendly writing style, she has a way of making me feel as if we’re in the kitchen chatting while cooking. She gives great guidance about what you are looking for as you go. Each recipe has some brief intro about why it’s in the book and this intro might contain relevant notes about how to shop for a specialty item like shichimi (for her Nori Granola) or what you can substitute if you cannot find the major ingredient or it’s out-of-season (as with the Strawberry Salad).

Since the book was just released, I’ve only made the Cucumber Salad (with lemongrass, tofu, red onion, and kale – there’s a kale or cilantro option here, but 1 cup of cilantro seemed like an awful lot to me and I like cilantro). It is the recipe she opens with to "set the tone", so it seemed like a good choice. It is delicious, refreshing and filling, so I am certainly looking forward to testing more of her recipes like the Almond Cake, the Saag Paneer with scratch-made Paneer, the lentil & chickpea-based Harira (a Moroccan soup), and the Rye Pound Cake (which sounds absolutely genius and is full of pepitas, sunflower seeds, black sesame, caraway and orange zest). For me, about 30-50% of the recipes look like something I might actually make, which is not as many as I was hoping for, but still plenty of intriguing new dishes.

My main complaint is I would have preferred fewer recipes for drinks, and more recipes for food. For example, the France section holds 13 recipes; 3 of these are for drinks and 3 are pretty simple tartine recipes. Only a few are recipes for an actual dish. The India section holds 11 recipes; 3 of these are for drinks. I like drinks just fine, but she doesn’t post that many drink recipes and they weren’t discussed at all in the book summary. I was excited about this book for the food recipes, and the drink recipes are mostly wasted on me, but they do give a sense of the location.

I’m a big fan of the earlier cookbooks Super Natural Cooking & Super Natural Everyday and pre-ordered this volume based on my earlier experiences with this author…but this latest volume, in my opinion, is not as good, although the photography is excellent and inspires one to try these regional recipes. However, many of the recipes rely on a liberal use of butter or large amounts of oil (seriously, a half a cup of olive oil for the Fennel Stew??) and some of the flavor combinations just…don’t… work. Tried a few of the recipes already and had to make significant modifications. That being said, the Root Donburi was excellent as was the Simmered Winter Squash (altho i did use a drop lid for the cooking process which was not presented in the recipe). Optimistically looking forward to trying the Easy Little Rye Bread which sounds like it would be excellent with my homemade raspberry jam. Can only give this cookbook 3 stars…maybe a result of unrealistic expectations based on the previous cookbooks…would highly recommend the other books by this author instead of this one…

This book reminds me of a T.V. show I enjoy called Parts Unknown by Anthony Bourdain. He travels the world showing audiences different cultures and their food. Heidi Swanson loves to travel and samples the cultures food on her adventures. She keeps a journal of her travels that include newspaper clippings, photos, stamps, lists, sticky notes reminding her of the trip. The author says, “Every place has its own, always evolving culinary voice…it’s not just ingredients and flavors, but also techniques, traditions and vessels.”

This book seems to be set up as if you were peeking into her travel journals. There are notes and photos woven in-between interesting and yummy looking recipes. This hardback book is filled with color pictures of recipes and those of her travels.

Heidi says, “This book is divided into two major sections – Near and Far. The near section focuses on recipes inspired by my life in San Francisco and northern California. Far is divided into five chapters Morocco, France, India, Italy and Japan…within each chapter recipes are organized starting with lunch, moving on to dinner, drinks and treats…It is understood in many cultures that food is powerful medicine, with whole or natural foods being the most beneficial, interesting and delicious…” She encourages readers to get the best food they can find because it’s worth it. That’s another thing I liked about this book. I can go on her travels with her experiencing the food and different cultures along the way.

I like how the author explains a little about the dish and why it works. I found it interesting that the ingredient measurements in every recipe are broken out in cups, ounces and grams. Most of the ingredients in this book are easily obtainable and her instructions are easy to follow. Many recipes have helpful notes from the author that make the recipe easier and/or give readers an added bonus.

I want to travel but haven’t be able to. This book has helped me take a virtual trip with the author as she shares about her journey and a little bit about the culture and traditions of the countries she’s gone to. This is a book you’ll enjoy reading as much as trying the recipes. It’s a win, win. This book is a keeper.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for Books site. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins! www.bookfun.org
The Book Club Network blog www.psalm516.blogspot.com
Book Fun Magazine www.bookfunmagazine.com