Carol Dance

NISTISIMA : THE SECRET TO DELICIOUS VEGAN COOKING FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BEYOND

‘Nistisima’ translates to Lenten, or fasting foods. This vegan recipe book includes the history of the various cultural fasts and the stories of the cooks who prepared the foods to be eaten while fasting. The recipes are from the Mediterranean, including North Africa, Greece, Cyprus and the Balkans.

Let us be bold and embrace the new tastes and new ways of sharing food. In this food-conscious age of cholesterol, salt, gluten and other dietary concerns, serving a large variety of dishes from bowls and platters arrayed in the middle of the table allows everyone to take from what bowl they want, and how much they want. More and more of us are going bowl crazy. That’s a sensible tradition that goes back thousands of years. The recipes in this wonderful book are passed down from hundreds of years. 

Vegans eat no animal products – no milk, ice cream, yoghurt or eggs. Some vegans do not eat honey. Vegetarians don’t eat meat or seafood. They do eat milk products and eggs. Nistisima is loaded with wonderful recipes for vegans – soups, breads sweets, salads, pulses, grains, drinks, fermented foods and condiments. Author Georgina Hayden explains what can be eaten during a fast, and what can be eaten to break the fast – all vegan dishes. The directions are easy to follow. The colour photos of the foods let you know what it is supposed to look like once you’ve made it. Fingers crossed it does! Smokey red pepper and walnut flatbreads, wild mushrooms with garlic in wine, grilled chicory with spelt and pomegranate. … just some of the over 200 recipes. There’s also a glossary, instructions on how to store grains and how to stock your pantry. 

Sitting down to a table laden with bowls heaped with breads, pulses, vegetables, salads and dips is so much more exciting than the old two veg and chop. And, as the bowls are passed around the table, the ice is broken. The party has begun. We can always be more adventurous cooking new recipes, eating new foods and having a new way to serve… big bowls all around a big table with lots of friends and family.

Nistisima, by Georgina Hayden

Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, $53

ISBN: 9781526630681

Featured image : Georgina Hayden

 

Published by Carol Dance

Carol Dance reviewed plays for her local newspaper in Sydney while working as the editor at the University of New South Wales Press. Then, as CEO of the Australian Commercial Disputes Centre, she observed the full spectrum of human emotions and decided to write plays. She has had 14 plays produced in ten-minute play festivals, three full-length plays produced, and three plays published. She is also the Artistic Director of Scene Theatre Sydney.