Feast: Food That Celebrates Life - Softcover

Lawson, Nigella

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0676974139 ISBN 13: 9780676974133

Publisher: Knopf Canada, 2006

Synopsis

Containing over 300 recipes and more than 200 photos, this title talks about families and food, about public holidays and private passions, and about how to celebrate the small pleasures. It includes almost everything from Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Eid, to Passover and Easter; from Meatless Feasts to Midnight Feasts, and more.

About this title

Review:

If you consider eating with friends and family a joyful, indulgent celebration chances are you love a good feast. And who better to carefully guide you through the daunting task of preparing that Feast than the domestic goddess herself Nigella Lawson. Written in the tradition of Nigella Bites and How to Eat, Feast is a cookbook for the sensualist that wants to eat very well, but also wants to spend time enjoying the company of their guests instead of struggling with the creation of the meal. What sets Lawson apart is not that she's a good cookbook writer, but a strong writer period. Similar to her other books, Nigella's Feast is presented as part personal memoir, part educational, and part recipe presentation. There is a nice blend of occasions including the obvious (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Easter), a few culturally specific ones (Rosh Hashanah, Georgian Feast, and Venetian Feast), feasts for kids, for vegetarians, and an elegant cocktail party. Each chapter begins with an overview of that particular "Feast." Generally, there is a personal story and experience told, an overview of the cultural importance of the feast, and a description of foods that are associated with each occasion. Impressively, every recipe begins with a personal anecdote giving that impression Nigella didn't just throw it in the book, but is experienced with the recipe and has used it with success. Take her twist on the decadent Chocolate Guinness Cake for example: "I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting to echo the pale head that sits on top of a glass of stout. It's unconventional to add cream but it makes it frothier and lighter which I regard as aesthetically and gastronomically desirable." Who can argue? The cake is to die for. So next time you need to prepare a dinner party let the goddess be your guide, and remember: Keep the preparation simple, use easily available ingredients, and take time to enjoy your guests and your meal. Feast may not be the most advanced cookbook you will own, but if you want to create excellent food with relative ease in a short amount of time, you can not beat Nigella. --Rob Bracco

From the Inside Flap:

Feast is written to stand alongside Nigella's classic and best loved book, How to Eat. Comprehensive and informed, this stunning new book will be equally at home in the kitchen or on the bedside table.
A feast for both the eyes and the senses, written with Nigella Lawson's characteristic flair and passion, Feast: Food that Celebrates Life is a major book in the style of her classic How to Eat, applying Nigella's "Pleasures and Principles of Good Food" to the celebrations and special occasions of life.
Essentially about families and food, about public holidays and private passions, about how to celebrate the big occasions and the small everyday pleasures -- those times when food is more than just fuel -- Feast takes us through Christmas, Thanksgiving and birthdays, to Passover and a special Sardinian Easter; from that first breakfast together to a meal fit for the in-laws; from seasonal banquets of strawberries or chestnuts to the ultimate chocolate cake; from food for cheering up the "Unhappy Hour" to funeral baked-meats; from a Georgian feast to a love-fest; from Nigella's all-time favourite dish to a final New Year fast.
Evocative, gorgeous, refreshingly uncomplicated and full of ideas, Feast proclaims Nigella's love of life and great food with which to celebrate it. Packed with over 200 recipes from all over the world -- and from near home -- with helpful menus for whole meals, and more than 120 colour photographs, Feast is destined to become a classic.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Canada
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0676974139
• ISBN 13: 9780676974133
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480