When I clicked onto Yahoo news this morning on the way to my emails, I saw an article explaining that you can now buy special gold-coated Kit Kats in Japan. My instant reaction was ahh, they'd appeal to Ian Flitcroft, author of Oh Come All Ye Tasteful: The Foodie's Guide to a Millionaire's Christmas Feast, but then I saw the price - they only cost £10 a finger so they're not anywhere near expensive enough to merit a mention in his tongue-in-cheek guide to a decadent Christmas, alongside the vintage champagnes and eyewateringly expensive liqueurs.
When I first saw the title of the book, I was hoping it would turn out to be a festive foodie bible, giving me exciting and decadent ways of jazzing up my Christmas turkey, Brussels sprouts and parsnips in fresh and exciting ways. After flicking through, I soon realised that it's not supposed to be taken seriously though, with recipes that add more bling than zing. Celebs and the stupidly rich who like to indulge in things like champagne baths and sheep's placenta facials might well be tempted, but for us mere mortals, especially in times of austerity, there's not going to be much that you actually want or can afford to try. Stuffing the turkey with four pounds of truffles? I think I'd have to remortgage the house ! Roast potatoes with gold leaf? I think I'll stick with goose fat, thanks !
There are a few recipes that I'll possibly be tempted to try out, especially after filtering out the excessively expensive ingredients, but it's designed more as an imaginary account of what you could eat if you were totally loaded than a genuine cookbook. Alongside the recipes, you get lots of anecdotes and background stories - Ian Flitcroft is a serious foodie and this comes through in his by turns humourous and insightful commentary.
It's a fun, quirky book that would make a great Christmas gift for food enthusiasts or wannabe rich kids, even if you probably won't use it that often for genuine recipe inspiration. I still haven't quite decided if it should be called Oh Come All Ye Tasteful or Oh Come All Ye Wasteful !
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £6.99
- Hardcover: 112 pages
- Publisher: Paperbooks (31 Oct. 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1910266329
- ISBN-13: 978-1910266328
- Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 12.7 x 1 cm
Disclosure : I received a copy of the book in order to write an honest review.
The book looks good even if some of the ingredients are a bit expensive.
ReplyDeleteI just posted my review yesterday. I have tried the red cabbage recipe, which was probably the least expensive dish in the book. 4 kgs of truffles would ruin any meal. It has such a strong taste. Which reminds me my DH got me a truffle as a prezzie from one of his recent trips, I must do smth with it before it goes mouldy.
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting question from Juliette last week - how can mushrooms go mouldy when they're already mould ?!
DeleteWhat did you reply? :)
DeleteI said I didn't know !! lol
DeleteNot a book for me but I think a good Christmas present for a laugh.
ReplyDelete