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The Settler's Cookbook: Tales of Love, Migration and Food
"Full of rich delicious prose, and even more delicious recipes, this wonderful story of one Indian family, and the memories and meals they shared over generations, gives fresh meaning to the term 'soul food'" Meera Syal
Through the personal story of Yasmin’s family, food, and recipes they’ve shared together, The Settler’s Cookbook tells the history of Indian migration to the UK via East Africa. Her family was part of the mass exodus from India to East Africa during the height of British imperial expansion, fleeing famine and lured by the prospect of prosperity under the empire. In 1972, expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin, they moved to the UK, where Yasmin has made her home with an Englishman. The food she cooks now combines the traditions and tastes of her family’s hybrid history. Here you’ll discover how shepherd’s pie is much enhanced by sprinkling in some chilli, Victoria sponge can be enlivened by saffron and lime, and the addition of ketchup to a curry can be life–changing.
Through the personal story of Yasmin’s family, food, and recipes they’ve shared together, The Settler’s Cookbook tells the history of Indian migration to the UK via East Africa. Her family was part of the mass exodus from India to East Africa during the height of British imperial expansion, fleeing famine and lured by the prospect of prosperity under the empire. In 1972, expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin, they moved to the UK, where Yasmin has made her home with an Englishman. The food she cooks now combines the traditions and tastes of her family’s hybrid history. Here you’ll discover how shepherd’s pie is much enhanced by sprinkling in some chilli, Victoria sponge can be enlivened by saffron and lime, and the addition of ketchup to a curry can be life–changing.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
22 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 28, 2021
Will always be one of my favorites, there was so much familiarity in Yasmin’s writing, she brought to light my grandparents and parents journey, and I understand now what it is my elders mean when they talk about us, the first gen. Her recipes were incredible and gave culinary context to how immigrants have to adapt and assimilate while also retaining remnants of their own identity. The book was so well written combining hard historical experiences, with what she had awareness to understand within her own culture, how society (white, black and brown) was responding, and her own process of learning who she was within the context of new lands, societies and constant navigation of micro (and often macro) aggressions in the 1950’s UK. She could be my mom, my dad, my auntie or uncle, I cried when the book ended because I had felt that closeness to her as she told me about her life, her heartbreak, struggles, growth, victories, and joys. I hope to meet her one day.
July 1, 2024
An interesting and necessary little book. Part memoir, part cookbook and part history of a community. Alibhai-Brown has a really lovely way with words and there's a real warmth about the way she talks about the people in her life and childhood in the pearl of Africa :)
She weaves together her imagery well, the melancholy waves and slothful birds and crabs of Dar-es-Salaam, 'Abode of Peace' in Arabic, exuberant flowers and rich red soil. I will update this review when I have tried cooking some of the recipes!! - but from the ingredients I would guess that they will be quite tasty and there is a real range of them, which reflect the rich influences of a community who was both Indian, East African, Ugandan and now British.
Some serious themes are approached with frankness and honesty. Including racism against Africans by Asians in Uganda, the violence of Amin's regime, disapproving whites, and racist attitudes in Britain, on every scale. Pain at having to leave Uganda and the violence against women, who compared ‘scratches and cuts on their ears, necks and forearms’ on the flight out, inflicted by soldiers taking their jewellery... and sometimes more. But there’s also defiance: ‘they will be shown no mercy by Allah, you will see’, said an old woman with ‘crippling arthritis’. Diamond rings smuggled out amongst battered fried snacks. She writes with the benefit of having lived through all of this and there are moments where this really shines through. For instance, her 'agony and ecstasy' at playing Juliet to a black Romeo in her racially-mixed youth club in Kampala or her yearning for her fiancé and attempts to conform on the flight to Stansted. ‘I fear I will smell of garlic and ginger and masala.
On arrival in Britain: ‘A photo of the Queen in a tiara gazes down at us. The same picture I remember as a child, on calendars, post offices and at a school; the royal lady means nothing and everything to me.’ It’s sometimes the understated statement like this that communicates something fundamental. Also discussions of what it means to be a Muslim in contemporary Britain. And her love for her mum comes through at every moment and is very sweet.
As Neema Shah wrote in Kololo Hill (which I would also strongly recommend to anyone interest in the Ugandan Asian experience and history) ‘Who would remember us once we’d gone?’ At school African history books were the history of the French, British and Germans in Africa, no space for Indians or Africans. How could you disappear from history books you were never inside of in the first place.’ - Well this book does something to remedy that!
She weaves together her imagery well, the melancholy waves and slothful birds and crabs of Dar-es-Salaam, 'Abode of Peace' in Arabic, exuberant flowers and rich red soil. I will update this review when I have tried cooking some of the recipes!! - but from the ingredients I would guess that they will be quite tasty and there is a real range of them, which reflect the rich influences of a community who was both Indian, East African, Ugandan and now British.
Some serious themes are approached with frankness and honesty. Including racism against Africans by Asians in Uganda, the violence of Amin's regime, disapproving whites, and racist attitudes in Britain, on every scale. Pain at having to leave Uganda and the violence against women, who compared ‘scratches and cuts on their ears, necks and forearms’ on the flight out, inflicted by soldiers taking their jewellery... and sometimes more. But there’s also defiance: ‘they will be shown no mercy by Allah, you will see’, said an old woman with ‘crippling arthritis’. Diamond rings smuggled out amongst battered fried snacks. She writes with the benefit of having lived through all of this and there are moments where this really shines through. For instance, her 'agony and ecstasy' at playing Juliet to a black Romeo in her racially-mixed youth club in Kampala or her yearning for her fiancé and attempts to conform on the flight to Stansted. ‘I fear I will smell of garlic and ginger and masala.
On arrival in Britain: ‘A photo of the Queen in a tiara gazes down at us. The same picture I remember as a child, on calendars, post offices and at a school; the royal lady means nothing and everything to me.’ It’s sometimes the understated statement like this that communicates something fundamental. Also discussions of what it means to be a Muslim in contemporary Britain. And her love for her mum comes through at every moment and is very sweet.
As Neema Shah wrote in Kololo Hill (which I would also strongly recommend to anyone interest in the Ugandan Asian experience and history) ‘Who would remember us once we’d gone?’ At school African history books were the history of the French, British and Germans in Africa, no space for Indians or Africans. How could you disappear from history books you were never inside of in the first place.’ - Well this book does something to remedy that!
August 12, 2012
A personal story of an East African Indian family, unsettled migrants, traversing societies and evolving cultures and how their memories are brought back to life through their favourite recipes. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a beautiful story teller who does not pull punches, but attempts to explain her own value system through her family history of displacement, not without roots, but with fingers in different pots, that are whisked away due to the economic, political, social strife as old colonialism adjuncts independence and fear of the foreigner in the motherland. I thought it was well written, honest and self-critical. She explained the discrimination endured by East African Indians and their resolve to overcome and succeed. While she touched on it, I think the only area she chose not to explore in depth is the relationship between Indians and black Africans. This was a missed opportunity into which I felt she could have offered an important perspective given her passion for race relations.
I found this a compelling story, but only after restarting the book! While I liked the concept of a biography told through food, I struggled to multi-task following the story and enjoying the recipes. Maybe it is because I enjoy cooking, so I would often go off on a tangent imagining the food, and how to cook it, and by the time I returned to the story, I had lost track. So, I decided to read the book again, but to skip over the recipes, and it was only then I could engage with the story. So if you like cooking, I strongly recommend reading the book for its story and later revisiting it as a cook book.
I found this a compelling story, but only after restarting the book! While I liked the concept of a biography told through food, I struggled to multi-task following the story and enjoying the recipes. Maybe it is because I enjoy cooking, so I would often go off on a tangent imagining the food, and how to cook it, and by the time I returned to the story, I had lost track. So, I decided to read the book again, but to skip over the recipes, and it was only then I could engage with the story. So if you like cooking, I strongly recommend reading the book for its story and later revisiting it as a cook book.
July 11, 2018
Un libro bellissimo, intenso come i profumi e i sapori che fanno da trait d'union alla storia della protagonista, una perfetta mescolanza di culture indiana, ugandese e british. Autobiografico, storico e culinario, dove le ricette, che ho evitato di leggere i quanto personalmente amo mangiare ma odio cucinare, fanno da contappunto, perché è nelle cucine, regno femminile per antonomasia, che si tramandano le culture e i ricordi profondi. Utile anche a chi, come la sottoscritta, in quanto "europea" vive il mondo in senso "eurocentrico" nel bene e nel male e invece no non abbiamo inventato tutto noi "pallidi" anche se probabilmente siamo le peggiori "zecche" mondiali, a qualsiasi filosofia, appartenenza politica, etnia apparteniamo.
July 4, 2024
I saw this on a cookbook section of an Oxfam and when my eyes fell on it, I was intrigued. Being Asian East African myself and also a first gen immigrant to the UK, Alibhai-Brown crafted a wonderful tapestry of her life incorporated with food. Most food in this book, I was very familiar with and it gave me a sense of homeliness and warmth; from Kuku Paka to Biryani and my not so favourite Khichri.
Her memoir was first-hand tales of immigration, under dire circumstances, touching on racism, war and how immigrants had to adapt to a very British society in the 70s. For a memoir it is incredibly powerful and as a cookbook it is nostalgic-I am glad I picked this up!
Her memoir was first-hand tales of immigration, under dire circumstances, touching on racism, war and how immigrants had to adapt to a very British society in the 70s. For a memoir it is incredibly powerful and as a cookbook it is nostalgic-I am glad I picked this up!
December 15, 2023
3.5 ⭐️
January 7, 2021
Lubię tę serię Czarnego bardzo, ale ta książka trochę się różni od reszty. Raczej były to lekkie opowiadania, historie z dobrym jedzeniem w tle, albo i na froncie. Tutaj trudna historia rodzinna. Hinduska diaspora w Afryce (krwawa historia Ugandy), potem kwestie rasowe, kwestie niedopasowania po przeprowadzce (ucieczce, wygnaniu raczej) do Wielkiej Brytanii.
To jest dobra książka, pełna emocji, trudnych tematów. Ale chyba oczekiwałam czegoś innego. Ta seria przyzwyczaiła mnie, że kuchnia i gotowanie jest tutaj „w sercu”. W „Osadnikach” te przepisy są jakoś tak na doczepkę, nie czuję tego. Ta historia byłaby pełna także bez nich. Coś tu zgrzyta.
Wciągnęła mnie (420 stron!), ale nie polubiłam jej 🙂 Nie wiem jak to inaczej powiedzieć.
To jest dobra książka, pełna emocji, trudnych tematów. Ale chyba oczekiwałam czegoś innego. Ta seria przyzwyczaiła mnie, że kuchnia i gotowanie jest tutaj „w sercu”. W „Osadnikach” te przepisy są jakoś tak na doczepkę, nie czuję tego. Ta historia byłaby pełna także bez nich. Coś tu zgrzyta.
Wciągnęła mnie (420 stron!), ale nie polubiłam jej 🙂 Nie wiem jak to inaczej powiedzieć.
June 1, 2025
For those who don't know her, Alibhai-Brown is a British journalist (originally print, but these days mostly TV, I think). In this book, she records her memories of her childhood in Uganda's Asian community, the flight of most of that community from Idi Amin's regime - an aspect of history of which I know shamefully little - and her family's subsequent struggle to make a life in Britain. It's an uncompromising account both of the racism of the white British establishment (and white individuals) in Uganda and in Britain, and of the Ugandan Asian community's complicity in it in their role as a buffer between the white colonial powers and black Ugandans. Her retelling of her own broken marriage also pulls few punches. The memoir is interspersed with recipes from the meals the story brings to mind, which seem to intensify rather than lighten the mood. By the time I finished the book, it had already acquired some stains from my attempts to recreate them ;-)
April 25, 2023
Excellent ingenious book that deserves acclaim
It's one of the best books I've read in some time. It is, at once, a cookbook, an excellent memoir, and a compelling history of Asian migration into East Africa and following expulsion from Uganda, into the UK.
I knew Yasmin Alibhai-Brown as a popular culinary writer for one of London's dailies during my student days in the UK in the 2000s. The journalistic skills show here - the ability to reduce complex histories and events into short and simple prose for everyman and everywoman to understand. If I had 10 stars to give, I would.
It's one of the best books I've read in some time. It is, at once, a cookbook, an excellent memoir, and a compelling history of Asian migration into East Africa and following expulsion from Uganda, into the UK.
I knew Yasmin Alibhai-Brown as a popular culinary writer for one of London's dailies during my student days in the UK in the 2000s. The journalistic skills show here - the ability to reduce complex histories and events into short and simple prose for everyman and everywoman to understand. If I had 10 stars to give, I would.
January 18, 2020
Memoirs and stories about asian experiences in Uganda are few and far between, so this is an important and brave contribution by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, which I found moving to read. The recipes are also great, so I am keeping this on my cookery books shelf at home.
November 21, 2021
An excellent memoir but be warned some of the details are traumatic.
Want to read
November 15, 2022Karim Chacha
January 16, 2023
molto più di una semplice connessione libri e sapori, le tematiche affrontante sono varie e sviluppate in maniera abbastanza approfondita, senza cadere nella pesantezza.
January 4, 2025
At times a heartbreaking read, but a beautiful story. Definitely comes with trigger warnings. The recipes are a delight and I think it will sit on my cookbook shelf from now on.
July 20, 2010
An autobiography told with food. A good idea that nearly came off.
The autor's family are African Asians. This the story of Yasmin's upbringing in Uganda, Amin's coup and subsequent exile of all the Asians from his country, and the family's struggles to be accepted in Britain. Food was such a big feature in her life that she has interspersed recipes among the narrative as flavour text.
Having recently read Shappi Khorsandi's Beginner's Guide to Acting English - which I loved - I initially found this book, which follows a similar theme, rather dissapointing. I struggled to make my way through it and nearly gave up. However, I'm glad I didn't as the second half of the book somehow seemed to come alive for me much more than the first.
I found the bit about the Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses from the point of view of a non-extreme British muslim journalist really interesting.
The autor's family are African Asians. This the story of Yasmin's upbringing in Uganda, Amin's coup and subsequent exile of all the Asians from his country, and the family's struggles to be accepted in Britain. Food was such a big feature in her life that she has interspersed recipes among the narrative as flavour text.
Having recently read Shappi Khorsandi's Beginner's Guide to Acting English - which I loved - I initially found this book, which follows a similar theme, rather dissapointing. I struggled to make my way through it and nearly gave up. However, I'm glad I didn't as the second half of the book somehow seemed to come alive for me much more than the first.
I found the bit about the Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses from the point of view of a non-extreme British muslim journalist really interesting.
June 3, 2012
A memoir of love, migration and food, certainly, but also an engaging autobiographic account of prejudice, injustice, brutal misery, battles and bitter disappointments; refreshingly written with wonderful turns of phrase (“the civilised malice of supercilious (Oxford) dons”).
Overall it is a wonderful tribute to Yasmin’s beloved mother, Jena. Where other books have pictures, this one is littered with recipes. Between the recipes Yasmin A-B lays bare herself and her family with disarming honesty, sharing painful personal details that most of us would pass over.
Yasmin shares and explains her passions and convictions as an ‘urban leftie’ rights campaigner, but also admits the contradictions, for example her immigrant’s ambitions for an elitist education for her son. In her student days friends in Uganda called her ‘Joan of Arc’ (“from my austere fringe and mad, messianic eyes”). That imagery has various other very agreeable parallels in her work today.
Overall it is a wonderful tribute to Yasmin’s beloved mother, Jena. Where other books have pictures, this one is littered with recipes. Between the recipes Yasmin A-B lays bare herself and her family with disarming honesty, sharing painful personal details that most of us would pass over.
Yasmin shares and explains her passions and convictions as an ‘urban leftie’ rights campaigner, but also admits the contradictions, for example her immigrant’s ambitions for an elitist education for her son. In her student days friends in Uganda called her ‘Joan of Arc’ (“from my austere fringe and mad, messianic eyes”). That imagery has various other very agreeable parallels in her work today.
May 17, 2012
Great book. A memoir of an Indian woman whose early years were spent in Uganda. I found her descriptions of Uganda to be realistic, not idealized but not in any way negative. Her true-to-life meetings with Idi Amin were especially interesting. Yasmin's life represents how small our world is now - people from one country who are planted in another country and then are sent to yet another country to make their way. The contributions of Indian-Africans are not widely acknowledged - Alibhai-Brown tells that story without bitterness. Highly recommend this book even if you haven't lived in Uganda.
January 4, 2010
An unexpected gift from a friend. I'd never seen this in the shops so it was completely new to me. I'd previously read Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's articles in the Independent, so I knew a little about her, but this book was very interesting and really illuminated some world history that had previously passed me by. It's much more of a memoir than a cookbook - I'm not sure I'm going to make any of the recipes (except I did see a raw Cassava in a shop the other day, so that's at least one of the exotic ingredients I know I can buy locally if I fancy a challenge) but I'm glad I read the book.
August 3, 2010
Having grown up in Kenya around "Asian" merchants, I was intrigued by the history of Indian settlers in East Africa. Alibhai-Brown did a great job of this in the first part of the book, and then she did a great job moving into memoir, describing the terror of the Idi Amin. The last part of the book dragged, though--especially her political tirades against Margaret Thatcher; I'm sure she had very valid reasons to feel so angry, but frankly, it was boring to read about. The recipes were great--I loved seeing how she connected stories to food.
June 11, 2009
YA-B writes an honest memoir of her life in Uganda and London as one of the best columnists in the UK today. The book is interspersed with fantastic family recipes, which act as signposts of her most memorable days. I like her for her honesty - she does not flinch at telling personal things - and her humour. The accounts of life under Idi Amin are harrowing and disturbing. Nevertheless, well worth a read - loved it, read it in one day!
August 22, 2010
I wasn't sure what format this book was going to take, though I do remember listening to a review on BBC and it sounded pretty interesting. It really does combine the autobiography of the author with food, mostly Indian, though not exclusively so. I haven't tried any of the recipes, but they sound interesting and I am sure I will try some - some day!
Read
August 3, 2011An excellent read! Set in Uganda and the UK, this is a beautifully written insight into the lives of East-African Asians who fled to the UK under Idi Amin's regime. Full of mouth-watering recipes and political commentary, is is one of the best books I've read this year. I was sorry when I'd finished it, and went straight to Google the author - another fascinating story.
September 10, 2013
autobiografia dell'autrice, nota giornalista in inghilterra e storia della sua famiglia di origine asiatica dall'uganda all'europa. il tutto inframmezzato da ricette sontuose e cariche di grassi e spezie; un librone saporoso e commovente, che mi ha fatto scoprire qualcosa di più sugli indiani della diaspora.
(regalo graditissimo)
(regalo graditissimo)
October 30, 2016
Yasmin's life is more than worth a memoir but this one didn't do it justice. The history of Uganda and Asians' experience in Uganda was incredibly interesting. However, the recipes in the middle of chapters interrupted the flow and sometimes seemed forced into the narrative. Also, I felt like Yasmin's personal life got broad strokes and I never really got to know anyone.
August 19, 2011
this book started off slow but it gets interesting progressively. the recipes featured are a tad too cmplicated for me to try out. however, the way history was described makes me feel sad.
May 8, 2012
Politics, recipes, family history, and heartache, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's book is a quick read. Very tragic, filled with hope, and good food.
Read
January 27, 2013I really enjoyed this and have made two of the recipes already
April 20, 2014
I loved this book. The recipes in between gave it warmth and texture. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews