Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights
The Art of Eating a Little of What You Fancy
By Sophie Dahl
ISBN13: 9780007261178
RRP $44.99
Synopsis
Sophie Dahl has been both round as a Rubens and as sylphy as a sapling, through trial, error and an episode in India which needn't be discussed in detail with anyone.
She lived ot the latter part of her adolescence in public, and so her puppy fat, which should have been a tender family joke, became fuel for national debate. At the time this was crippling to her, and one of the reasons she moved to another country. Flirting with every food fad from Atkins to raw food, she has had both misdaventures and victories in her quest to have a sound healthy relationship with food.
Now in her twenty-ninth year it is suddenly simpler: Sophie cooks and eats, and does both with gusto. It can be lonely and confusing navigating food, particularly with the standards of beauty and weight that are thrust upon us be advertisers. Sophie aims to debunk some of the horrible punishing diet myths, and replace them with compassionate common sense, anecdotal stories and a lashing of healthy recipes. This is a book that doesn't encourage guilt or monastic deprivation, but celebrates the joy in food and eating.
Original, funny, quirky with a bit of whimsy, this glorious book is full of wonderful anecdotes and delicious recipes and scattered with Sophie's own lovely Matisse-like line drawings that slope off the page.
About the Author
Sophie Dahl was born in Londong in 1977. She was immortalised as the orphan Sophie in the beloved children's classic, The BFG, by Roald Dahl, her grandfather.
She began modelling in 1996, after being discovered by fashion maverick Isabella Blow outside a bookshop.
Her first novel, Playing with Grown-Ups was published in October 2007 following her best-selling novella, The Man With the Dancing Eyes.
Dahl is a contributing editor for Men's Vogue, and her work has been published in American Vogue, The Guardian, The Telegraph Magazine and The Spectator.
Dahl has recently moved back to England after an eight year sojourn in New york.
Review
This beautifully presented book contains 100 of Sophie Dahl's favourite recipes divided into the four seasons: autumn, winter, spring and summer. Each section is sub-divided into: breakfasts, lunches and suppers (dinners). The final section of the book is devoted entirely to puddings (desserts).
What sets this appart from other cook books is the way in which each section begins with a personal memoir from Sophie - an autobiographical account of her relationship with food and her journey towards her ideal weight.
Sophie's writing style is warm, engaging and entertaining with her wit and anecdotes spilling over from her section prefaces onto the recipe pages themselves.
The recipes are nutritious, easy to follow, and I particularly like the way they are grouped in seasons for quick ideas when you're feeling a bit stuck in the rut for tasty seasonal ideas. However, the recipes are biased towards vegetarians and sadly, very few have tempted me into the kitchen.
As a whole, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights makes for an entertaining read and is gorgeous to look at but I'm not sure if it will make it past the coffee table in our household.
Reviewed by: Franciska
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