Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes Book

Falling Cloudberries is filled with the recipes that have weaved their way through the life of Tessa Kiros and her family, from the sweets handed out at Scottish fetes on days off from a Greek school in South Africa to the rice puddings with rosewater and cinnamon made in a shed by her Cypriot grandfather (who also had a fondness for pickling baby birds) and the gravlax with dill prepared by her Finnish mother. In this extensive, dream-like journey across the globe, recipes and narrative merge with images of food and the landscape from which it has emerged and whimsical illustrations. There are approximately 150 recipes, all of them collected and adapted by Tessa since early adulthood, or remembered and recreated from childhood. They are as diverse in style and flavour as the extended family and households through which they've travelled. Some are redolent of roses, cinnamon, cassia and cardamom, mint and citrus, from the Greek side of the family, others are Scandinavian in origin, sprinkled with berries or dill and spread with mustard. Chilli, garlic, oregano, cumin and red onions appear, and there are chocolate, vanilla, cream and pistachio confections from childhoods the world over. A Peruvian housekeeper makes a contribution, and a Thai soup appears, simply because Tessa couldn't imagine her life without it. They will be grouped by region of origin, which also reflects Tessa's travels, from London where she was born and later cooked professionally, to South Africa where she grew up, interspersed with visits to her mother's and father's homelands, and Italy where she now lives. Design; Like Twelve, Tessa's second book has a journal-like quality, with rich layers of text and imagery and food that has been photographed in the environment in which it was created rather than styled and studio-perfect. It opens with a double page spread with an illustrated family tree that sets up the structure for the chapters that follow. The palette is one of nostalgia, drawn from fabrics and wallpapers that reflect a time and place in Tessa's life. Chapter openers continue the theme, mixing landscape photographs with fabrics and illustrations to resemble a journal page. Throughout, Tessa's narrative appears as random jottings.Read More