Paola Gavin – författare

Easy-to-follow directions and an introduction explaining the cuisines makes this an enlightening as well as a delicious read. DSBooklist

This stunning book is a collection of over 200 tasty recipes featuring the marvelously varied vegetarian cuisine of France. Represented within are French provincial, regional and local specialties from Flanders to Provence that showcase the vast range of flavors to be found in French cuisine.Vegetarian food is nothing new to France where vegetables have always been treated with great respect. In the Middle Ages, after France suffered many famines; cereals, dried beans, roots, and herbs formed the basis of the peasant diet. French cooking as we know it today did not evolve until after Catherine de Medici married the Dauphin and brought her Italian chefs to France.This book is a personal collection of regional vegetarian dishes from all over France; their influences range from Flemish and German cuisine in the north to Spanish and Italian in the south. Within you will find gratins from Savoie, lentil dishes from Languedoc, wine-based dishes from Burgundy and ratatouille from Provence. These concise and easy-to-follow recipes bring the famed cuisine of France to your vegetarian kitchen.

Mediterranean vegetarian food is one of the healthiest and most delicious in the world. Based on simple, home-style cooking, this mouth-watering collection of over 200 dishes truly evokes the spirit of the region and makes it easy to reap the benefits of eating a Mediterranean diet. Based on fresh produce and readily-available ingredients, the recipes range form starters and salads to a wide variety of healthy main courses, rice, pasta and desserts, as well as all kinds of delicious ways to prepare vegetables. This book includes traditional fare from every country around the Mediterranean, such as potato and spinach croquettes from Albania, Catalan split pea soup, Sardinian aubergine ravioli, Provencal onion quiche, Tunisian couscous with sweet and hot peppers, and Dalmatian cream caramel. The recipes are simple and easy to prepare, with plenty of room for improvisation and flexibility. Much more than simply a cookery book, "Mediterranean Vegetarian Cooking" is also a guide to this beautiful and diverse region, outlining the cultural and historical foundations of culinary specialities and traditions. Food writer Paola Gavin reveals how the pleasures of cooking and eating the Mediterranean way will be treasured by cooks and food-lovers alike.

Food and cooking are at the heart of Jewish life. During their 2,000 years of exile, Jews migrated across the world taking their culinary heritage and traditions with them. Wherever they settled, they adapted the dishes of their country of residence to fit their own dietary customs and laws, and as a result, Jewish food today embraces a vast variety of cuisines and cooking styles.Acclaimed food writer Paola Gavin takes the reader on a culinary journey through more than twenty countries from Poland to Morocco uncovering a myriad traditional vegetarian dishes that play such an important part in Jewish cooking. When Jews arrived in the Promised Land they became farmers and agriculturists, growing wheat, barley, rye and millet. Their diet was mainly vegetarian – based on bread, pulses, goat’s and sheep’s cheese, olives and nuts, vegetables and herbs, fresh and dried fruit. For the poor, food was made more palatable by sweetening with honey or syrup made from dates, pomegranates or carob beans. These are some of the unique tastes and ingredients that are still associated with modern Jewish cooking today.Through 150 recipes Paola leads us from North Africa to Italy, Lithuania, Turkey and beyond, examining the subtle differences and genesis of the dishes of these regions. With lavish, colourful food photography and a meticulously researched narrative, Hazana is a classic in cookbook writing.