Islas: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking - 125 Recipes from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean Islands

(Hardback)

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Description

The islands spanning the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans are remarkable places, sharing dozens of ingredients and cooking techniques, including marinating, pickling and fermentation, braising and stewing, frying, grilling and smoking, and steaming and in-ground roasting. Bold flavors drip from the edges of each dish with tastes that represent stories of resistance, persistence, and wisdom passed down from generation to generation.

This narrative cookbook by writer, documentary producer, and author Von Diaz travels across oceans and nations to uplift the shared ancestral cooking techniques of these islands in more than 125 recipes, including intimate profiles of the historical context of each technique, stories from islanders, and step-by-step guides for recreating them at home.

Recipes include:
Coco Bread from Jamaica
Arroz con Jueyes (Stewed Crab Rice) from Puerto Rico
Masikita (Papaya-Marinated Beef Skewers) from Madagascar
Bebek Betutu (Roasted Duck in Banana Leaf) from Indonesia
Lechon Kawali (Crispy Fried Pork Belly) from the Philippines

Bright citrus and vinegars, verdant herbs, slow-cooked and smoky grilled meats, fresh seafood, aromatic rice, and earthy root vegetables: These flavors, found in the meals and recipes across these island nations pair remarkably well together, despite distance and cultural differences. The ingredients and deep-rooted cooking techniques in each of these recipes typify the harmonious, synchronous spirit found in each culture's unique cuisines. Even amid environmental chaos and food insecurity, islanders cook in ways that are soul nourishing and flavorful.

Islas is about preserving the wisdom, values, and resilience of the people who live in some of the most volatile, vulnerable places on this planet. Each recipe, an archive of strategies for persistence, creativity, and ingenuity, provides a path for cooking delicious food. But above all, these stories and recipes acknowledge that cooking delicious food for others is always a selfless act.

Reviews

"Diaz explores the connecting threads that define the culture of islands around the world. Home chefs will delight in the rich history and mouthwatering dishes she has uncovered." -- Booklist
"Whatever you cook or don't cook, this book is a trip to the islands or islas of the world." - New York Journal of Books
"Accompanied by mouthwatering photos, this vibrant collection will delight home cooks looking to diversify their repertoire." -- Publishers Weekly
A glorious tribute to the remarkable ingenuity and brilliance of the people of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific islands. Islas will take you on a breathtaking journey and show you how cooking reflects adaptation to changes and making the most of what's available.

--Nik Sharma, author of The Flavor Equation, and Season.

Everywhere Von Diaz goes, she brings an ear for stories, and eye for connections, and a taste for the delicious. It's always been a special pleasure to explore the food of her family's beloved Puerto Rico through her writing, and in Islas, she weaves the connections between tropical cuisines around the world. Separated by oceans, languages, and cultures, there are still flavors and a spirit common to so much island cooking, and we're lucky to have Von as our guide.

--Francis Lam, host, The Splendid Table

What can we learn from the food of the world's islands, which are on the frontlines of climate change Plenty, Von Diaz's book shows us, while honoring these cuisines' diversity, robustness, and beauty. These essays and recipes combine to form a wildly rich resource for imagining the future.

--Alicia Kennedy, author, No Meat Required

Islas is a culinary praise-song to the fragile environments that populate our oceans and seas. In it, Von Diaz takes the reader on a journey that celebrates the diversity and deliciousness of the world's tropical islands and the ingenuity of those who inhabit them. I dare you to just read Islas. You will also want to cook from this beautifully illustrated book and savor the tastes that Diaz so lovingly explores.

--Jessica B. Harris, Culinary Historian, author of High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America

What a glorious ode to island nations and cultures worldwide. Islas is a lavish and loving chronicle of the distinctive cuisines of coastal people surrounded by water. Von's expansive scholarship on food history and culture is in magnificent display, and matched perfectly with her extraordinary gift as a multimedia storyteller and collaborator. There's no one else I'd rather have lead me on a culinary tour of island eating!

--Stephen Satterfield, Founder CEO, WHETSTONE Media, Peabody-winning Host, High on the Hog

In Islas, Von Diaz has crafted an intelligent and evocative portrait of island cuisines from around the world, lending nuance and respect to the traditions and flavors of cultures far too often dismissed as inconsequential vacation playgrounds. A skilled documentarian with a gift for engaging storytelling, Von artfully adds context to the easy-to-follow recipes with thoughtful essays and fascinating profiles that are as inspiring to the imagination as the dishes are to the appetite. Beyond a collection of beautiful recipes, Islas is a joyful love letter to the ingenuity and wisdom of island cooks.

--Alejandra Ramos, TODAY Show Contributor and Host of The Great American Recipe on PBS

Von Diaz, as visionary, storyteller, curator, and cook, brings to Islas the richness of so many island tales: dignity and ingenuity in the face of hardship; beauty and elegance in spite of efforts to rob these creolized cultures of both. Diaz's dexterous approach makes this compilation seem obvious when in fact it's a new and necessary culinary framing of the people whose skilled work has kept (and will keep) the world well-fed.

--Osayi Endolyn, James Beard award-winning food and culture writer

"Lush and visually stunning, this cookbook immediately draws readers into the tropics [...]. Accompanied by stories and poetry from island inhabitants, the recipes bring to life myriad island cuisines spanning the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans." -- Library Journal, Starred Review

Author Bio

Von Diaz is a writer, documentary producer, and author of Coconuts & Collards: Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South . Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, she explores food, culture, and identity. She has contributed recipes and essays to several cookbooks and anthologies, including Diana Henry's From the Oven to the Table, Julia Turshen's Feed the Resistance, Charlotte Druckman's Women on Food, and Joe Yonan's America: The Great Cookbook, among others. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Bon Appetit, NPR, Food & Wine Magazine, Eater, and Epicurious . She teaches food studies and oral history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and she is also an editor and radio producer at StoryCorps, where she produces radio broadcasts for NPR's Morning Edition.