Grandmére's Awesome Family Cookbook Book

You would think that the one thing the world doesn't need is another cookbook. Surely, every imaginable cuisine, from traditional to trendy to dietary, has been covered ad nauseam in text, pictures, recipes and reference tables. So, you can understand my reluctance when yet another cookbook, this one entitled Grandm re's Awesome Cookbook, by Pierette Lili Camps, flew onto my desk. Frankly, it was the book's charming front cover illustration that seduced me into parting the cover from its pages, thus saving it from certain obscurity. Thank goodness for that-and I mean that literally!-because Madame Camps' bouquet of culinary delights is not only a treasure, but quite a unique one. Forget designer cuisine and trendy art cooking that should be photographed rather than eaten-this is a first-generation virtual bible of authentic, cross-cultural, home cooking recipes, authored by a seasoned world traveler, her multi-nationally rooted, cottage-spun creations as tantalizingly tasty and pallet-pleasing as they are satisfying. From hearty, unpretentious, hungry-tummy dishes, to piquant, aromatic, exotic yet simple, delights, your dinner guests will be so enchanted by the diverse, albeit synergistic, textures, flavors and scents, that they will most likely keep you hostage in the kitchen for a long time to cook more and more of where that came from . . . No, the world did not need another cookbook-except for this one (a MUST-get)! If you're not a cook, this book will make you into one (while amused by Madame Camps' delightful stories and anecdotes). And if you are one, it will make you an even better one. So, get your copy, turn on the stove, call everyone to the table, then enjoy thejourney!

Happy cooking and bon appetite! -Mark Wirtz, former food critic for Connect Magazine