Book Review: The World of Street Food: Easy Quick Meals to Cook at Home

My first stop at the library is always to peek at newly acquired books. I have just a few minutes to scan the shelves before I’m dragged into the children’s area. One of the books that caught my eye this week was a collection of recipes called The World of Street Food: Easy Quick Meals to Cook at Home. As a fan of international cuisine and as someone easily entertained by the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservation, I decided to check it out. Overall, I was impressed with what was inside.

This little book serves up 100 recipes from around the world (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa). The term street food refers to local specialties sold in street stall and markets. Color photographs on almost every page provide a visual treat while your tastebuds are taking a trip around the globe. But the best part is that these recipes really are “easy quick meals to cook at home.” All the recipes have been adapted for Western kitchens and there are only a few recipes requiring specialty spices. Some of the yummiest looking recipes are also the most simple (Kashata from Tanzania – coconut, roasted peanuts, sugar and cinnamon).

The World of Street Food is published by NI (New Internationalist) a non-profit cooperative that “exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.”