The Latin American Kitchen: A Book of Essential Ingredients with over 200 Authentic Recipes

In Latin America, centuries of collusion between peoples-indigenous tribal cultures, European conquerors, slaves from Africa and the Caribbean-and complex patterns of immigration have produced a fabulous fusion of flavors. Renowned food writer Elisabeth Luard meanders across half a continent and its distinct island cultures, surveying all the essential ingredients and 200 regional recipes in this delicious introduction to Latin American cuisine.

Elisabeth Luard spent much of her childhood in South America and cut her culinary teeth in Montevideo. On the river Uxumazintla she learned how to pluck and roast a parrot; in the plains of Guerrero she found out how to ferment the juice of the maguey cactus. Elisabeth's previous books include Saffron and Sunshine, The Rich Tradition of European Peasant Cookery (made into a 13-part series for BBC2), Flavours of Andalucia (Glenfiddich winner, 1992) and Sacred Food (Gourmand International Award for Best Culinary History Book, 2001). The Food of Spain and Portugal, published by Kyle Cathie, won a 2004 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Foreign book.