26 Mar Something smells good at 10 Pomegranate Street!

Delicious, actually! Is this a board book review or should it be one for recipes?

Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street—a collection of recipes to share

Written and illustrated by Felicita Sala, (Scribble Australia, HB RRP $27.99)

This delightful book will provide fun for young and old and the age old theme of cooking and their smells is encapsulated in the homes in 10 Pomegranate Street.

In each apartment, someone is preparing a special dish to share with their neighbours. Mr Singh is making coconut dahl with his daughter while Maria mashes some avocados for her guacamole. Will everything be ready on time?

Writer/illustrator Felicita Sala says, “this book is a homage to all the people who have shared their food with me and who have instilled in me a love of food: My mother, my neighbours, my friends, people I’ve met on my travels.

“The inspiration for the individual recipes and characters came from a variety of sources, but mainly this: the memory of migrating to Australia as a seven year old kid, and those first experiences with different foods and people of different backgrounds. I grew up in Italy in the 80s, which was a very homologous culture of Italian people eating Italian food. From Italy are my earliest memories of big tables full of people eating together.

“And then I came to Australia.

“I remember the first time our Vietnamese neighbours came over with spring rolls, and the first time I tasted an Indian curry at a friend’s house. It was a revelation. The same aspect of sharing applies to every corner of the world.

“Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street is a book about the act of feeding others, of being fed, of sharing what made us from the places that made us.

“The recipes are mostly old classics, not my own, that I adapted slightly. These are the things I cook for my family, or that are simple and comforting to make and eat with children. But beware, this is not a ‘kid’s food’ book. I believe in kids eating what we eat, and learning about food in the same way they learn about the world, with curiosity and wonder.

Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street is available online from all good book shops and any of the distributors below: