Tag food

Welcome to Our Table

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Welcome to Our Table
Laura Mucha & Ed Smith, illustrated by Harriet Lynas
Nosy Crow

Poet, Laura Mucha and chef cum cookbook writer, Ed Smith, will make your taste buds tingle with their food related descriptions of dishes from all around the world. Inevitably there are some that didn’t make this vegan reviewer’s mouth water for, in addition to the fruits – several double spreads are devoted to these and tomatoes get an entire page – vegetables (green and otherwise), spices, herbs, nuts and sweets, there are eggs, fish (including the dangers caused by over-fishing) and meat of various kinds.

After a look at the various tools people in different parts of the world use to eat their food, followed by a consideration of taste, smell

and texture of foods, the authors focus our attention on staple savouries: ‘Remarkable rice’, ‘Amazing Maize’ ‘Brilliant Bread’, ‘Noodles, Noodles’, among which are not only spaghetti and vermicelli, but also Ukrainian lokshyna.

As well as entrees

and side courses in abundance, the authors look at milk including non dairy kinds, sweet pastries and puddings and ice creams. Foods of the future – those grown in laboratories are pondered upon, as is the possibility of more people turning to insects and seaweed for food.

On the final pages children wearing national costume demonstrate how to give appreciation for what you have eaten and how to say goodbye to those who have shared your food; there’s a world map surrounded by flags of some of the countries whose foods were mentioned; the countries and places featured are listed and then it’s ‘The end’ in 20 languages.

Harriet Lynas images are brightly coloured and every spread includes a child or children – a diverse lot – interacting in one way or another with the food presented thereon.

A lovely celebration of difference, showing how we are all linked by the fact that we eat and for the most part, enjoy so doing.

Are You Hungry? / Lois Looks for Bob at the Seaside & Lois Looks for Bob at the Museum

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Are You Hungry?
Janik Coat and Bernard Duisit
Thames & Hudson

There’s a veritable feast contained within the few pages of this new addition to the ‘Flip-Flap-Pop-Up series from author/illustrator Janik Coat and paper engineer extraordinaire, Bernard Duisit.

Starting on Monday, we move through the week with an animal per day sharing a culinary delight or two with us. Or should I say that perhaps not all have such mouth-watering allure.

and, while some will meet with parental approval, others probably will not.

Sunday brings a wonderful pop-up spread of treats to keep one little bear going for several days; let’s hope he remembers to brush his teeth like the rabbit on the final spread.

Playfully interactive, each spread has either a wheel to turn, tab to pull, or pop-up to unfold.
Hours of fun for small hands guaranteed from this sturdily built little book.

Lois Looks for Bob at the Seaside
Lois Looks for Bob at the Museum
Gerry Turley
Nosy Crow

Those who have met Bob in previous books will know that he likes nothing better than a game of hide-and-seek with faithful feathered friend, Lois, a game in which toddlers can take part by lifting the variously shaped flaps he might be hidden under.

The beach is the setting for the first story where we also meet, seagull Geoffrey, turtle Maureen, Victor the crab and wait for it – fish Dolores, Mike and Fay.

Where can he possibly be?

Raf (15 months) is eager to find Bob …

In the second book we visit a museum and once again Lois looks for her elusive pal even starting her hunt before entering the place. He’s not behind the curtain, or the painting; he’s not among the vases, nor in the broom cupboard.
We do discover a variety of other creatures in those places but not Bob. Then, what about the café? Could he be there perhaps?

There’s plenty to amuse and involve young listeners in these two additions to the series, although adult sharers will likely have a good giggle over the wry humour, not least in this spread.

Canine Capers

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Fred
Mick and Chloë Inkpen
Hodder Children’s Books
Hooray! More from Fred.. I fell in love with this mischievous puggish pup in I Will Love You Anyway and now here he is, bouncing right back to delight us once again with his prankish behaviour. In fact now it seems he can tick off a whole lot of ‘can do’ items from the list of accomplishments one might expect of a little dog. He can fetch a stick, come when called, sit and stay. There’s one word though that still eludes the little chap; he doesn’t understand the meaning of Fred – a word often on the lips of his young owner. And something else puzzles him too: another dog upstairs that looks just like him –mmm!

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Could he perhaps know what this strange ‘Fred’ word is all about? Strangely enough he seems to be popping up in other places too, places like the park and he has his paws on a certain ball belonging to our narrator …
After a very wet awakening, followed by a scream, a dash, and a jump, another face appears, a face that whispers a certain word over and over and then – light bulb moment …

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Adorable!

Another canine has recently won a place in my affections; he’s the Boston terrier that stars in:

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Harold’s Hungry Eyes
Kevin Waldron
Phaidon
Harold is a real foodie; he spends almost all his time either eating or day dreaming about his next meal. His dreaming is done lying in one position or another on his favourite chair – a chair he loves almost as much as he loves food. One day though, this super comfy chair is no longer where it should be when he goes to eat breakfast. A devastated Harold sees it being loaded onto the rubbish cart.

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Without another thought for his meal, he takes off in hot pursuit and is soon lost and even worse, his tummy is starting to rumble. His food obsession kicks in and Harold begins seeing things of the edible kind wherever he looks …

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Happily though, his wits and those hungry eyes of his finally lead him back home where he finds a satisfying breakfast and a delicious surprise … a new place whereon to relax.
With smatterings of edible humour, this stylish book is a wonderful visual feast that’s more than likely to have young audiences chuckling and perhaps, drooling.

The Doughnut of Doom

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The Doughnut of Doom
Elys Dolan
Nosy Crow
Confronted with a cover like that of this doom-fuelled tale what is one to do? Suck it and see, or run away screaming?  This reviewer did the former, first stop the front endpapers over which I spent a fair bit of time chuckling and chortling at the multitude of visual and verbal foodie fun puns.
Now on to the main story: we’re in the office of (among others) trainee reporter, Nancy McNutty (her name is significant in the whole saga) who is endeavouring to get her first big break – a tricky thing with a boss like Big Cheese, so she tells us. Yes, Nancy is our story-teller here and she’s convinced there’s something fishy afoot at Lemon Labs. Now this isn’t a shot in the dark; she has a mole on the inside. Her boss however, has other ideas – of a rather insulting kind you”ll surely agree.

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But when the phone rings and it’s Nancy’s Lemon Lab ‘sauce’ on the other end, she hot foots it straight over there, only to learn that disaster had already struck …

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panic has set in and rumours abound. In a flash, Nancy has hitched a lift and is hot on the trail of the ‘monster’ and pretty soon has tracked him down – kind of!

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The fire service appears on the scene but almost in an instant the fire fighters meet their doom. Next come the military …

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Ditto yes, even the green ones are guzzled.
An announcement is made – and hastily retracted or rather altered almost before it’s uttered to “It’s unstoppable! We’re out of options! Evacuate the city! PANIC!”
And that’s when Nancy makes a crucial, possibly life-changing decision, and after a consultation with Prof. Nutcase, decides to ‘stop reporting the action and be a part of it.’ Will the doughnut meet its demise, or will Nancy?
I’m not going to spoil the finale by telling you what happens thereafter; but it involves a challenge, some chomping and …

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but that’s not quite the end of everything and I’m happy to report that Nancy hits the headlines well and truly … There is just SO much crammed into this amazing tale that a short review with a few photos just cannot do it justice: you need to get out there, seize – or preferably buy – a copy for yourself and immerse yourself within. I’ll guarantee it will be some considerable time before you emerge; and one helping will definitely NOT be enough.

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