Round the World in 80 Dishes

by Lesley Blanch

This charming little book was first published in 1956 when people in England were still enduring post-war restrictions on both travelling and eating. As Lesley Blanch says in her introduction to a later edition 'benign fate whisked me elsewhere to follow less restricted ways, travelling widely and eating wildly'. She said: 'I don't belong in England, I don't belong anywhere, it is rather restful - I have met everybody and known nobody'. Seductive and piquant like its author, this is 'an appetizer for enthusiastic beginners' rather than a basic cookbook. Lesley Blanch's gastronomic world tour includes eighty recipes each prefaced by an account of where they were first tasted, or with some amusing anecdote.

Genres: Travel, Cookbooks, Cooking

200 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1992

About the author

A scholarly romantic, Lesley Blanch influenced and inspired generations of writers, readers and critics. Her first book, The Wilder Shores of Love — the stories of four ninteenth-century women who followed the beckoning Eastern star — pioneered a new kind of group biography focusing on women escaping the boredom of convention. An instant classic, it has remained in print in English since first publication in 1954. Lesley Blanch was ahead of her time and prescient in the way she attempted to bridge West and East.

Savvy, self-possessed and talented, Blanch did what she wanted and earned a good living at a time when women were expected to stay at home and be subservient to the needs of husband and children. She was glamorous and stylish and, in her own unique way, distinctly powerful.

She knew something of the Middle East as it once was, before conflict and turmoil became the essence of relations between the Arab World and the West. The places she travelled to and which obsessed her are still newsworthy today: Russia, The Balkans, The Middle East, Turkey, Afghanistan.

Reviews

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little book that I wouldn't have picked up but it was left behind in an isolated cottage in the Lake District where I spent a very rainy week.
It was written by the artist wife of a French ambassador and so she had the unusual experience of travelling the world immediately after WW2 .
We are much more familiar with the dishes she describes these days. For example she has a recipe for the green pyramid from a dish she calls "Three Pyramid Salad" which turns out to be guacamole. I can picture the three huge pyramids on the hotel table - exactly what one would serve at an ambassadors' reception. She describes it as a great way to use up soft avocados - ripe avocados were obviously not the thing in post-war Britain.
Charmingly illustrated by the author, it is a bit of a period piece but it turned out to be a compelling read.

[Jarita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written from a British post-World War II viewpoint. The descriptions were colorful and interesting, and the stories she related between different dishes were an intriguing window into a time long past. The book seemed to focus rather heavily on European dishes, without doing real justice to dishes from further afield. As someone who has lived in Asia, her descriptions especially of those foods seemed to be wanting.

Overall, the book was a fun, quick read. There are some intriguing recipes that I'd like to try sometime, and it made me wonder how "Round the World in 80 Dishes" would look if I was the author.

[Ale Teleleu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very delightful little book to read if interested/passionate about cooking, as it unveils a great number of recipes accompanied by little stories from all over the world.

[Magpie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa 2013