Mma Ramotswe's Cookbook: The No.1 book for African delicacies
Date: 28 November 2009
By Judy Vickers
A NEW cookbook! A celebrity endorsement! Lots of glossy pics! So far, so Gordon Ramsay – or Jamie Oliver or any of their fellow chefs whose flashy recipe tomes are designed to make us more adventurous in the kitchen – and are guaranteed to have us scouring speciality shelves of the supermarket or local deli in search of some obscure but vital ingredient.
However, perhaps even cooking guru Heston Blumenthal, famed for his recipes' curious combinations, would balk at the idea of including roasted flying ants or dried Mopane worms in his list of ingredients. But then this is Mma Ramotswe's Cookbook – a
ADVERTISEMENT collection of recipes and tales about food from Botswana, home of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the creation of Edinburgh author Alexander McCall Smith.
Being fictional, the "traditionally built" sleuth hasn't written the book herself. Instead, the food and drink of her native country have been brought to life by one of her fans, 38-year-old Morningside resident Stuart Brown.
"Just reading Alexander McCall Smith, I was struck by how many food references there were and how many dishes mentioned – I felt I shared Mma Ramotswe's relish for food and cooking," explains charity worker Stuart. "It just seemed a natural thing to pursue."
Having never written a book, he had no thought of doing it himself – instead he wrote to McCall Smith, suggesting the idea.
"I was surprised when he wrote back saying: 'This is a good idea, why don't you do it?'" he says.
Research included spending time in Botswana this summer, eating with and learning from villagers, including sampling some of the more exotic dishes.
http://www.scotsman.com/books/Mma-Ramotswe39s-Cookbook-The-No1.5866876.jp