NJ SPICE

Tree of Life cookbook event at Labyrinth on April 27

Turkish and Lebanese cuisine formed the basis of many of my own family’s dishes, as my readers know. And, even as today’s political situation in Turkey heats up, their delicious cuisine brings people from many countries together. At the table, we are all family.

A new book celebrates the foods of Turkey and, as is often the case in our area, we’re lucky to have a local co-author – and other interesting participants! – involved. Here’s the information I received about this event:

Join Wild River Review co-founder Joy E. Stocke and West Coast Editor Angie Brenner on April 27 6:00pm, at Labyrinth Books, Princeton, for mezes and conversation to celebrate the publication of their cultural and culinary cookbook, Tree of Life.

Stocke and Brenner will be joined by Cocktail Whisperer Warren Bobrow who will make and serve Bosporus Fizzes, which he created for Tree of Life.  Poet and Translator Edmund Keeley will be reading his poem Moussaka, which asks the question: To use Béchamel sauce or no?   The cookbook’s Spice Route Moussaka recipe has one answer.

Tree of Life: Turkish Home Cooking not only features more than 100 accessible and delicious recipes, it also tells a larger story about culture, immigrants, traders, and the domestication of such ingredients as chickpeas, wheat, and pomegranates.

When career journalist Stocke and former independent bookstore owner Brenner met on the balcony of a guesthouse in the small resort town of Kalkan in Turkey, they discovered a shared love of history, literature, cooking, and local food traditions. They set off on a cultural adventure through Turkey that spanned more than ten years. Returning to their respective American kitchens, they recreated the flavors of Anatolia as a culinary souvenir and incorporated that sensibility into the food they cook every day for themselves and their families and friends.

Stocke and Brenner also celebrate Burgess Lea Press’s unique publishing model, which focuses on food-related books and cookbooks of the highest quality while supporting worthwhile food-related causes. All after-tax net publishing profits will benefit Wholesome Wave, a not-for-profit organization, which works to make fresh produce affordable for low-income families.

Wild River Review is an online magazine, which in a climate of repeated media flashes and quick newsbite stories curates, edits and publishes essays, opinion, interviews, features, fiction and poetry focusing on underreported issues and perspectives.