Loving and Cooking with Reckless Abandon Book

The cover of Loving and Cooking With Reckless Abandon bears a sticker with a quote from Jemima Khan: "Kevin is a food genius." The title derives from an "Instruction for Life" attributed to the Dalai Lama. It is altogether a glamorous, cosmopolitan production. A chapter is entitled Kitchen Yoga. So now we know where we stand. Unlike Kevin Gould's first book, the design award-winning Dishy, this one actually looks at first glance like a conventional cookery book. Appearances are deceptive, though. A 14-line recipe (there are recognisable recipes) for Egyptian Rice with Vermicelli is prefaced with five pages of atmospheric description of the streets and street food of Cairo--and why not? The long chapter called Eating With A Lover kicks off with Consummation Consommé and continues with White Asparagus Wrapped in Ham--the accompanying photograph displays a mound of phallic spears sheathed (no other word will do) with prosciutto. Airily citing the Satyricon as a precedent, Gould gives a set of 12 Signs of the Zodiac Mezze, combinatorial markers of erotic compatibility: "Do your dishes mix?" This is all great fun and certainly adds to the book's chic. The swish, yogic blether and one-world name-dropping may not be everyone's taste, but shouldn't conceal the fact that Cooking and Loving is packed with ideas for the most delicious foods, new and traditional, simple and elaborate, from all round the world. A feast, in short; a celebration of the world, the flesh and, for some of us, the spirit. --Robin DavidsonRead More