A Bahrain-based writer will next week launch a collection of recipes sourced from around the world.
Briton Glen Stansfield said the cookbook, titled Around the World in Eighty Dishes, was inspired by his appreciation of Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days coupled with a love of cooking.
Mr Stansfield, who has lived in Bahrain for four years and works in the aviation industry, released his first novel in 2015 and has published other works since.
“I realised there were not many cookbooks in the market that are not by celebrities or well-known chefs,” he told the GDN.
“I chose dishes for the book that can be cooked by ordinary people and although they may seem exotic to us, with a little effort, they can be achieved by anyone.
“There are some well-known dishes such as Thai Green Curry, but there are many that are likely not known, however, they are easy to cook.”
Mr Stansfield has produced two versions of Around the World in Eighty Dishes; one containing halal food and the other non-halal.
Research
The recipes were sourced from extensive Internet research as well as the author’s own cookbooks and travels.
“I wrote the book in 80 weeks, one recipe a week which was cooked by me and then photographed,” he explained.
“Some of the recipes have been adapted so that people are able to source ingredients locally.”
Mr Stansfield fondly recalled one particular recipe that at first look didn’t appear to be very appetising but pleasantly surprised him.
“There was one from Bolivia that every website I visited and book I read said not to do,” he said.
“It has a potato base, with steak and then an egg on top surrounded by salsa. It doesn’t look nice but it’s actually quite tasty.
“I wanted to bring dishes that people had never heard of that are not difficult to make.”
To make the recipes even easier to follow, Mr Stansfield added in potential substitutes for certain ingredients, although he said he was able to find most with ease in local supermarkets.
Around the World in Eighty Dishes was self-published in the UK and will be launched on Tuesday at the Sheraton Bahrain Hotel at 5pm.
It will subsequently go on sale at the AWA Snowflake Fair on November 17, which will take place between 11am and 4pm at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel Residence and Spa.
If you would like to attend the launch, e-mail claudiahardt@hotmail.de by Monday.
Visit www.glenstansfield.com for further information.