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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Book Club - not just about the books

Our book club has been meeting intermittently (though trying for monthly) for about 18 months. Our rules are simple: Each member has a turn of choosing a book for all others to read. No-one is allowed to complain (beforehand) of the book's choice or try to dissuade the chooser's opinion. The book chooser has to lead the discussion the following month and provide supper.

Those last two words are key. Within our book club there are more than a few keen cooks. It's not like the book club that my mother was part of in the late seventies, where each month a different member would host a lavish, intricate sit-down lunch for all the other "ladies" and the book was very incidental to the whole affair, probably because the hostess didn't have time to read it in the build-up to preparing lunch.

As I said our rules are simple for example, not reading the chosen book does not exclude you from attending book club or freely speaking your opinion about the book you haven't read. Supper has to be provided, but it is up to the leader of the night what to bring, and that's where it gets interesting as some supper providers like to match their supper to the book they have chosen.

I admit I am as guilty of this as anyone else. When I chose "The Time Traveller's Wife" (loved it) by Audrey Niffenegger, I made brownies because they featured (tenuously) in the story. Lee chose "The Secret River" ( a little disappointing) by Kate Grenville and made a delicious fruit cake with corn meal, as the main character had spent much of the book trying to grow corn on a stubborn piece of land by the river. Nick's choice was "Kafka on the Shore" (interesting in a Japanese way) by Haruki Murakami and instead of going the obvious route and having sushi, did home-cooked chicken nuggets in homage to the KFC references. The most inventive so far was probably Tineke, who made sword fish skewers when she chose the book "A Perfect Storm" (not my favourite) by Sebastian Junger about a fishing boat that flounders in a big storm.

Juliette's choice this month just gone was "A Study in Scarlet" (also interesting, but not brilliant) by Arthur Conan Doyle, the first Sherlock Holmes book. And for supper, she brought some traditional Victorian-era treats:



For sweet tooths (teeth?): Scones with lemon curd and clotted cream (she included the not-as-traditional jam in case others did not like lemon curd) and for savoury, how could you go past cucumber sandwiches?


Juliette prepared them with a cream cheese spread made with dill and lemon on wholemeal seeded bread (as white bread is a relatively modern invention). They were served with their crusts cut off and a nice cup of tea.


We have tossed around the idea of choosing a cookbook, perhaps something like "Secrets of the Red Lantern", by Pauline Nguyen, Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen that combine an autobigraphy and delicious recipes. Or maybe "Garlic and Sapphires" by Ruth Reichl - a story about her job as a restaurant reviewer.

Books and food - what a great combination.

Apart from recipe only cook books, what's your favourite food-related book, or book-related food?

1 comment:

  1. Love the idea of combining a book club with related food as I love reading and I love food! :)

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