The Soul Of A New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa Hardcover – September 1, 2006

I bought this book because I was interested in learning how to cook a few of the staples of Ethiopian cooking. Although this is not a book about Ethiopian cooking, it does contain a handful of good Ethiopian recipes. There is no recipe for the Ethiopian staple ingredient known as shiro. And the recipe for the ubiquitous (in Ethiopian terms) flat bread injera is definitely tailored to western ingredients and techniques. There is a recipe for the spicy chicken dish Doro Wat. Beyond Ethiopian cooking, recipes that caught my attention include Jerk Chicken, Harissa Roasted Turkey Breast, and a curry style Lamb Dish. These dishes hale from other parts of Africa.This is book about African cooking, with recipes from Ethiopia, Morocco, Senegal, as well as the African diaspora in the West Indies and Brooklyn. The author, Marcus Samuelsson, was born in north Africa and was adopted by Swedish parents. He went on to own the restaurant Aquavit in New York. This book is, in one sense, a cook book: it has over 200 recipes. But it is more Samuelsson travelled to many parts of the African continent to collect information about dishes and cooking techniques, and he tells his travel stories in this book. So at another level way we find the book as a story about a chef reconnecting with his roots. The theme of food and cooking as a connective social activity weaves a tight underlying structure in the book, making it somehow richer than it would be as just another list of recipes.I find it all but impossible to cook recipes exactly as I find them in any book. Instead, I use them as jumping off points for new recipes in my own kitchen. I consider a cookbook especially good if it contains at least one recipe for a food that I love to cook and that I commit to regular practice. Few cookbooks manage to do this. I expect this one to yield at least two or three - and that would put it far above average.I can recommend this book to any cook who likes to take on new ideas and integrate them into their own cooking life. The recipes are clearly explained and the techniques are completely accessible to any cook. Those who don't like new things or who hate exotic spice mixes may find the recipes to feel strange. Still, anyone who wants to be reminded about how food, cooking, and eating can serve to bind us together is likely to find this book a source of inspiration.

I am obsessed with this cookbook, especially now that I have had a chance to make some of the recipes. If you are looking for new flavors and interesting and challenging new foods to cook then I highly recommend you buy this book. Unlike some other reviewers, I did not buy this book for the travelogue aspect. I wasn't looking for an in depth encyclopedic knowledge of any specific country's cuisine. I was just looking for something new and different and delicious. I'm a cook and a foodie and I love ethnic cooking. This book is a great introduction to the trendiest new food in the US. My favorite so far has been the Crab Burgers, which feature easy black bean crab burgers topped with pickled cabbage and chili mayonnaise. I can still taste how unique and delicious they were. Everyone who tried them was blown away by their flavor, which can't really be imagined before you take a bite. While making all the components was a bit time consuming (but really not that bad) none of the recipes were terribly difficult. But I would say this book is geared more to more experienced home cooks and adventuresome eaters. Those with mundane palates probably should stay away.In response to an earlier critique, I think that reviewer missed the gist of the book. The idea was to take the cuisine of various African countries and get the basic idea of it but then to expand that idea to something bigger. So the recipes keep a common ingredient but fix it in a unique way or use a technique with a unique combination of ingredients. I love this about the book. Samuelsson keeps techniques, such using a morter and pestle, that can't be matched with modern methods but uses modern technology, such as the mandoline, when it performs the needed task more easily, and in this case if your knife skills are lacking, with better results. I do agree, however, that the photographs that go with the recipes can be misleading. I'm still not sure what the Stir Fry Beef Stew is supposed to look like. The pictures on the pages with the recipe are vastly different and not labeled but both could be the stew in question.All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves cooking and ethnic foods. The flavors are out of this world and the recipes are highly inspiring.