The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

Book Summary

When Eliza Acton is told by her publisher to write a cookery book instead of the poetry she loves, she refuses. But after her father is forced to flee the country, Eliza must earn a living. 

Despite never having cooked, she is determined to learn. She hires young, destitute Ann Kirby to help in the kitchen - and together they discover a mutual talent and passion for cooking and for recipe writing. But as Ann find a voice of her own, their radical friendship starts to fray.

This is definitely not a book to read while on a diet! I just love the descriptions of food, ingredients and all the different tastes and flavours. Even food I don't like sounds wonderful, the way it is described so lovingly here. It's amazing how pictures, descriptions and memories come to mind with the mention of different foods.

Ann and Eliza are both brought to life wonderfully. They are in such different situations in life but still have a lot of similarities too. Both pretending to have lost a parent, due to the difficult times they are going through. But the love of cooking seems to comfort them and carry them through. Dreaming of different dishes and how to combine things.

There are some very interesting and unexpected twists, keeping me surprised throughout the book. I really enjoyed reading all about Eliza and Ann.

I was lucky enough to be chosen to join the Tandem Collective UK readalong for this book and received this book as part of it. It was a lot of fun reading with others and having discussion prompts plus a few creative tasks to do too. I think reading with others really brings out the enjoyment of a book which is probably why I enjoy buddy reading so much (shout out to Noly!).

Along with the book, I also got some recipe cards and just had to try out the lemon creams, which also inspired me to create my cocktail (see further down for my recipe)

To make Eliza's cocktail, mix the following in a shaker with ice and strain into a glass. 60ml lemon cream (see recipe card above), 25ml gin, 15ml grand marnier

 

As a bonus I used the sugary peel from Eliza's recipe as a delicious garnish for my gin & tonic, which really added to the citrus flavour.