Travel and food writer Caroline Eden talks to Janet Christie about her new book Cold Kitchen
Travel and food writer Caroline Eden talks to Janet Christie about her new book Cold Kitchen
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00:00Okay, this is Janet Christie at The Scotsman. I'm here today with Caroline Eden talking
00:05about her new book, Cold Kitchen. And first of all, I wondered if you could tell us, Caroline,
00:10what's in the book?
00:12So it's a book which looks back at my 20-odd years of travel. And what it does is it takes
00:18a year of me cooking here in my Edinburgh kitchen. And through each dish that I'm preparing
00:23over 12 chapters, we then travel out to different lands that are covered within the book.
00:29And can you tell me your favourite food from all of the places that you've been, and also
00:32list some of the places, perhaps?
00:34So the book starts in Uzbekistan and ends in Ukraine. And between those two chapters,
00:39we travel to places like Poland, to Russia, to the South Caucasus. And I would say out
00:46of all of the dishes that are in the book, there's just one recipe at the end of each
00:50chapter. It would have to be plov, which is the Central Asian pilaf-style rice dish. Cooks
00:55in layers, often with lamb or mutton, sometimes with quail eggs. And it's a really delicious
01:00dish.
01:02And is there anything, what role does food play for the traveller, would you say, for
01:07you and for anybody that's travelling?
01:09I think it's really important for people when they travel. I think most people enjoy an
01:14aspect of food and travel, whether it's sitting at a cafe or going to a bistro or eating in
01:18a train carriage. I think food is really good at evoking memories of a place. And I think
01:24it's often our first way in to a country when we arrive somewhere, you know, what's
01:28on the menu, first of all.
01:31And we spoke about some of the things that you have on the table, which are from your
01:35travels. Could you describe them to us?
01:37Yeah, so there's just a small selection here, but this is something I picked up in Georgia,
01:41in Tbilisi recently. These sort of ceramic mushrooms I picked up in Istanbul. These are
01:48some chocolates from Ukraine, I was just there in February. And this is a spice mix called
01:53Svan Salt, which is from the northern part of Georgia.
01:57And we've got scones from Scotland.
01:58Yes.
01:59Made by Caroline herself for us today. Thank you very much.
02:03You can read all about it anyway in Cool Kitchen and one of Caroline's other books. And you
02:09can also have a look at her website, carolineeden.com. Look at events for her upcoming events in
02:15Scotland and elsewhere. And you can read more of my work at scotsman.com. Thank you very
02:22much.