An artist, experimenter and passionate traveller, Josceline Dimbleby's lifetime of experiences, influences and cooking is captured in this entrancing memoir packed with flavour, humour, adventure and irresistible recipes. Josceline was 7 years old when she began to learn about flavour. An itinerant childhood with a diplomat stepfather opened her senses to the world of spices. She spent much of her time in the kitchen watching cooks, in a succession of different countries, transforming food with spices, herbs and seeds. From Syria to Peru, from Turkey and Iran to Morocco and Lanzarote, from North America to Burma and Vietnam, Josceline's adult life has built on and broadened the gastronomic experiences and excitement of her extraordinary childhood. She found, as a student, young wife and mother, that she had enough memory of tastes and natural food imagination to be able to recreate very personal variations of dishes that she had eaten around the world. An oriental shepherd's pie, for example, flavoured with the same spices that she had discovered on her first visit to the souk in Damascus, milk puddings scented with rose water and orange flower water that reminded her of dishes eaten near the docks in Istanbul, and fish cakes spiced with saffron and nutmeg influenced by visits to Lanzarote. Josceline's reminiscences are enlightening and absorbing. Illustrated with photographs of her travels as well as mouth-watering food photography, they take us into a complete world of spices. Unique in their breadth and range, Josceline's recipes combine inspiration with everyday accessibility.
