Not all food books are about cooking. Behind an ingredient emerges a world of people, jobs and tasks that make the economy, culture and tradition of a place possible. As the anthropologist Lévi-Strauss said: “Cooking is transforming what is raw (what is natural) into something human (when it is already cooked)”. Eating is a cultural act that transforms biological necessity into a symbolic fact. Therefore, eating is not always the end. It is the push, the stimulation of the intellect, the provocation of curiosity.
In recent months, bookshops have been that showcase where recipe books give way to little stories with a soul. Stories, in many cases in the first person, which try to record in printed ink a journey experienced, a dish enjoyed, a table shared. There is one aspect common to all: the spirit of the gourmet traveller, who is carried away by the scents of a country, in search of the culture of a country through what is cooked or what is experienced in homes, markets, restaurants or stalls.
For chef and writer Sylvain Roucayrol it took two years to take shape Fish. Cooking fish from Marseille to Tokyorecently translated by José Luis Díez Lema for the Cinco Tintas publishing house. An anomalous and beautiful book, halfway between a culinary travel story and a cookbook, where the protagonists are seafood. “The sea was our source of inspiration”, writes the author, “we created these recipes on site, with local products and the energy of the six cities we visited: Marseille, San Francisco, Lisbon, Naples, Barcelona and Tokyo”. Six cities with a common bond, the sea “and which are great ports that are not easily discovered. Therefore, our system was to explore them, embrace them and even marry them before they opened their hearts to us,” he says. So, the story, in the first person, was created first by researching, then tasting, writing, photographing and, finally, cooking. “We have captured the outcome of this process in this book,” the author emphasizes.
But, of all the cities in the world bordered by the sea, why these six destinations? “Marseille is our home; the San Francisco Bay, the home of Delaney – photographer of this book -; Barcelona, the city close to our culture; Lisbon and Naples, they were two crushes; and Tokyo, it could not be missing, it is part of our roots”, explains the author at the beginning of the book.
Thus, these pages delve into the ways of living, feeling and the ingredients of the sea that define local gastronomy. And so, for regions, areas and seas, this very attractive recipe book was born: spider crab with sea urchins and Marseille hazelnut butter; crab topped with yuzu mayo and San Francisco sudachi; Him red thug with lemon and bay leaf oil from Naples; oysters with clams and marinated Lisbon sardines; the prawn bombs of Barcelona; calamari with yuzu miso, asparagus and rayu from Japan.
If the recipes are the result of ingredients passed through a creative sieve, Delaney Inamine’s photographs and illustrations are a beautiful album of real-life stories. On the one hand, the capture of everyday life that reveals cities. A captivating and sincere look that strengthens the story and enhances the attractiveness of the recipes offered. And on the other, the infographics that also help the reader eager to know things like the technique for opening an urchin without filling your hands with spines, the true story of the origin of bottarga or why crab fishing is so important in the life and gastronomy of San Francisco.
Curiously, in 2015, the Lunwerg publishing house published a book with the same title, Fishwritten by Philippe Emanuelli and photographed by Frédéric Raevens, which has a certain parallel in its intentions: on the one hand it is a fantastic and well-photographed book with more than 100 fish recipes, practical advice on purchasing, cleaning and use. A very useful manual for those who want to start cooking from the sea even at home. But, on the other hand, the book is a manifest sense of defense of fish, an invitation to discover its origins and a fight to consume fish responsibly.
As the author underlines: “This is a book of recipes. The technical suggestions, advice and small lessons that accompany them should allow you to get the best from the incredible variety of fish available on the counters. However, I cannot avoid a deeper reflection than expected on the apparently innocent act of eating a fish”, writes Emanuelli. And so it is, the author invites the reader to reflect on the consumption of fish, the ways and means of fishing, health and nutrition related to animal proteins, the price in the markets and even the boom in sushi in recent years. “In my city there is a sushi shop every 500 meters. In any hypermarket you can find sushi prepared for a few euros (…) The consumption of bluefin tuna has been trivialized (…) So what to do? Should we stop eating bluefin tuna? (…) Enjoy other “less noble” fish such as mackerel, bonito or chicharro. (…) Give each other the services of a sushiman and pay the price it’s worth.”
