Travel Tastes

I just visited the Mediterranean! Well, almost. What I did do was read The Forest Feast Mediterranean by Erin Gleeson. It’s her latest release in a series of vegetarian cookbooks.

This book is a delight. It is a colorful blend of recipes, illustrated by watercolors, hand lettering, and photographs, most created by the author. The story line revolves around Erin and her family’s three-month sojourn on or near the Mediterranean. She writes about their time abroad in an accessible and heartfelt way and paints a lovely picture of the places they visited and lived– Barcelona, Antibes, Liguria, Sicily, Lisbon and the Algarve, and Madrid.   As she says, “There’s something about travel that changes you. Once you get out of your comfort zone and into someone else’s culture and way of life, your mind is opened.”

The recipes from those regions, as in her previous books, are simple, colorful, easy and vegetarian. They range from snacks and drinks to small plates to sweets. I am already eager to try Stuffed Dried Figs, Cava Sangria, Avocado and Bean Salad, Snap Pea Paella, Affogato Split and many more.

I have enjoyed two of her previous cookbooks–The Forest Feast: Simple Vegetarian Recipes from My Cabin in the Woods and The Forest Feast Gatherings: Simple Vegetarian Menus for Hosting Friends and Family. She also has one for “Kids.”

Her website, theforestfeast.com, is rich with recipes, videos, travel blog posts, and descriptions of her cookbooks and other paper products. It also lists the venues she will be visiting to promote this latest book and you can subscribe to her newsletter if you would like. I just did.

This woman’s work speaks to me– food, beauty, simplicity, creativity and, in The Forest Feast Mediterranean, travel. What’s not to like! In fact, I’m just about to go to the market so I can continue to “visit” the Mediterranean in tasty vicarious ways.