Life and Food in the Basque Country [Paperback]

Maria Jose Sevilla (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 1998

Ask any Spaniard where you will find the best food in the country and the answer is invariably the Basque provinces. In this beautifully written book, Marìa José Sevilla describes the region through the eyes of men and women whose lives embrace every aspect of its cooking and culinary traditions, and records the recipes she has learned from them. The author takes us from market to caserìo, or farmstead, and shows how the strength of Basque cuisine comes from the quality and range of local produce: superb fish from the Cantabrian coast, cheeses and wild mushrooms from the mountains, and vegetables and fruit—including apples for cider-making—from the caserìos of the valleys. Through her portraits of a fisherman, a craftsman of wooden cheese-making utensils, a wine producer, and a young city housewife, the author shows the historical influences and fierce regional pride behind this distinctive culinary repertoire. Finally, three professional chefs take us into their kitchens, and show us how their superb cooking is based on rich popular traditions. More than eighty authentic recipes punctuate evocative descriptions of cultural and culinary traditions, making this an ideal book for the inquisitive traveler who enjoys good food.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Despite its title, only the Spanish-Basque region and cuisine is discussed in this combination cookbook and social commentary. The difference between Spanish- and French-Basque cuisine is that the latter is based on fruits of the land, meat and maize, while fruits of the sea are more prevalent in the former. This explains the preponderance of fish dishes in the 80-plus recipes here. They are interspersed with the narrative, which describes the traditional life of market and farm, fisherman, craftsperson, wine producer, city housewife, and chefs. There is a necessary glossary, a good general index and one for the recipes in both English and Spanish. Best suited to the specialist in Basque customs; the ingredients and cooking methods would be hard to duplicate elsewhere.
- Sondra Brunhumer, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Charming and unobtrusively scholarly. (Kirkus Reviews )

Sevilla creates portraits in miniature. (Publisher's Weekly )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: New Amsterdam Books (April 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561310352
• ISBN-13: 978-1561310357
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Travel > Europe > Spain > Basque

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No ordinary cookbok, June 24, 2003

By 

Charles Augustine Ferrin (Sarasota, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Life and Food in the Basque Country (Paperback)

I've been wanting to practice European cooking for sometime, so I decided to start with Europe's first family, the Basques. This is a continent that takes pride in its sophisticated culinary tastes, and this cookbook shows that the Basques are no exception. The section on wild mushrooms alone demonstrates the refinement of Basque cuisine. The recipes are excellent (although they can be quite difficult), but I was most impressed by the author's prose apart from the recipes. This is one of the few cookbooks I've read that qualifies as good literature, and it deserves to be reviewed and appreciated as such. Moments of lyrical excellence shine through even in translation, and Sevilla should be commmended for crafting such a unique work. Its almost an anthropological study, but in the new style that shies away from dry exposition in favor of a more personal engagement. I recommend this book to cooks and readers alike.