This was a fun, easy to understand recipe book with the author's experiences and stories. I love food and this book was helpful.

I love finding new cuisine and this book really exceeded my expectations! Terrific recipes and easily understandable instructions!

I love trying new foods especially from other cultures. This beautiful cookbook makes it easy to enjoy them at home. It would make a great gift for anyone who enjoys travelling to Caribbean islands.

f you’ve ever visited a Caribbean Island, whether on a cruise or other vacation, and have memories of the delicious food served there, you’ll want to pick up Sian's Kitchen: Caribbean Comfort Cooking by restaurateur and British food personality, Sian Anderson. This fabulous cookbook has dozens of mouthwatering recipes with Caribbean roots.

The recipes, while not all quick and easy (but definitely worth the effort) are appealing, and most lovers of Caribbean food will find there are many that they want to put in their “must make soon” queue. Most of the ingredients are easy to find at mainstream grocery stores, but others can be found online or at local specialty groceries. The recipes are written in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed first, followed by step-by-step instructions that will insure a successful dish. The recipes are suitable for both beginning and advanced cooks. The author has also included notes at the beginning of each recipe that include helpful hints, vignettes, and interesting information. The recipes are not only for appetizers, salads, soups, main and side dishes, but also basic Caribbean spice mixes and sauces. Vegetarians will love that there are many recipes that are vegetarian.

Another positive aspect of this cookbook that really makes it a cut above is that there are beautiful, professional photographs of most of the recipes. They will make it difficult to decide what to make next.
All told, this is an excellent cookbook for Caribbean and Island food lovers as well as Caribbean and Island food lovers to be. It is a good cookbook to add to a recipe collection and is nice enough for a gift.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

What a wonderful introduction to Caribbean culture and cuisine. I really enjoyed the recipes I tried from this cookbook, and look forward to making more. The suggested playlists at the end were a perfect accompaniment to round out the experience.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a colorful and fun cookbook. The author provides recipes for many Caribbean foods and adds in many stories about her experiences with them. There were many I'd like to try, and many I'd like to attempt to cook.

I rate this 3.5 stars and would like to thank Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for giving me a copy to read. I have given my feedback under no obiligation.

I received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Ooh there are lots of yummy, spicy recipes from all over the Caribbean, along with some personal stories to make each comforting recipe shine.

There are lots of dishes in here I’ve eaten but wouldn’t know the first thing about making, so it’s nice that the recipes are well plotted and easy to follow. Lots of colourful photographs make everything look so appealing! If I get my courage up to buy some scotch bonnets, I might try some out!

I love Caribbean food, so I was very excited to read through 'Sian's Kitchen: Caribbean Comfort Cooking' by Sian Anderson.

The cover is a bit underwhelming, and a bit of an interesting graphic choice.

The sections are broken down as follows:
- 20 Minutes (quick meals, though few would reasonably be finished in 20min)
- Comforts (a bit of a hodgepodge)
- From The Islands (curries, jerk, etc)
- Sunday Service (mains as well as sides, rice, etc)
- Sweet Treats (a very small collection of desserts)
- Seasonings, Sauces, and Rubs (self-explanatory)

Interestingly, there's also a Playlist section.

I don't know who the author is, but judging by the sections (which I skipped) where she name-drops celebrities/influencers, I presume she's involved in media or music. That's fine, but I'm honestly not super interested in who someone knows - it's fine if, say, you add a bit about how someone either shared, helped develop, or inspired a given recipe, etc, but otherwise it feels a bit self-indulgent. It certainly adds nothing to a cookbook.

In terms of the recipes, there's a good amount of vegan options, if that's your thing, and quite a lot of not-really-Caribbean-at-all recipes like Steak Salad, Creamy Prawn Linguine, Apple Crumble, or Jam Tarts. I'm sure they're something the author files under comfort food, but then why not just call the book 'Sian's Comfort Food' - honestly, some of the recipes felt wedged in just to pad the book out, like a recipe for jerk chicken (which sounds solid) followed by jerk chicken & noodles and jerk chicken salad... I mean, come on.

All the expected hits are in here - things like the aforementioned Jerk Chicken as well as Curried Goat, Ackee & Saltfish, Beef Patties, Jollof Rice, Callaloo, Fried Plantains. The recipes seem okay, but something about the layout and photography means nothing really inspires. There's also a lot of small font combined with tons of dead white space on the page - again, weird choice. Some of the recipes don't include pictures, and instead there are pictures of, say, a collection of spices, etc.

What there isn't is any sort of innovation - that is, none of these feel like recipes that you couldn't find online, or in a different book. Cookbooks tend to fall broadly into three categories: classic/utilitarian (to-the-point and/or cheffy), 'my family's cozy recipes' (homey anecdotes, an inevitable granny, etc), and innovative (for better or worse - ie, '60000 things you can do with a packet of ramen' or 'I threw cayenne in every cake and called it creative'). That might be a tounge-in-cheek take, but all of those have their place (some for better, some not so much). There's also the much rarer (and often so, so good) unicorn category, which tends to be 'I took a classic and added a spin that actually elevates/enhances/simplifies it' - books like 'Persiana' or the brilliant 'Parwana'.

This cookbook doesn't really feel like it knows what it wants to be, and so it almost falls into a slightly weirder category: cookbooks written by celebrities/public personalities as just another way to cash in.

All of this is coming across really harsh, and I guess it is - in many ways, it tries to be a few things, but doesn't manage to be any of them. Based on other reviews, the playlist is apparently great.

I suppose if you didn't already have a Caribbean cookbook to turn to, this duly trots out some of the classics, but unfortunately without being comprehensive enough to be Your One Caribbean Cookbook, or stripped-back enough to be Easy/Intro Caribbean Cooking, or (any) innovation to be more like You Like Caribbean Food But Want Something A Bit Fusion.

Thank you very much to NetGalley & the publisher for providing access to an e-ARC for my unbiased review.

Very accessible modern Caribbean cook book. Easy to follow and many recipes use easy to find ingredients. The menu ideas were great and really helped understand the communal idea of Caribbean cooking.

I received an ARC of this cookbook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great cookbook. The recipes all look delicious and easy to make!

A well-presented cookbook giving access to some of the basic staples of the Caribbean kitchen. I really enjoyed the playlist ideas that went with each chapter / food grouping, truly allowing you to get into the (mainly) Caribbean spirit. I found some of the recipes slightly simplistic however and felt like there could have been more attention to detail. For example, the Vegan Trinidadian Pelau featuring gungo / pigeon peas on page 84 was accompanied by a picture of a bowl of rice and black eyed peas instead…….

Yum. Very interesting cookbook. Lots of good recipes and intriguing ingredients to try here (although I personally would have to replace the Scotch Bonnet chilis with something milder--Anaheims, maybe?) Recommended.

Wonderful selection of Caribbean and Caribbean inspired food.

I loved the little snippets of where they first had the food etc.

The ending of the book has a few playlists of music from Caribbean artistes and that makes my heart happy.

All in all a great cookbook.

Thank you NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion, Carnival and Sian Anderson for giving me an ARC copy of this wonderful cookbook 💖

The cover is really nice and I'd want this as a coffee table book for sure :)

We're having the pumpkin soup 2 meals in a row it's so comforting, all the recipes give that vibe really

(p.s. We're making the apple crumble next - totally agree with Sian Anderson's apple to crumble ratio !! )

I really enjoyed the concept of this book - especially the playlist suggestions!

The recipes themselves look visually stunning, but also just sound beautiful to eat.

Beautiful, one to refer back to,

This is a lovely amalgamation of Caribbean cooking in London. With staples from the islands, it demonstrates the power of comfort food everywhere in the world. I especially enjoyed the playlists to cook to.

A great cookbook which is also fun and colourful to read. The photos are mouth-watering and the play list suggestions are interesting and fun. Love the interviews, the recipes and different sections to this book. It is certainly fun and filled with brightness and joy which makes for a good read and really did bring a smile to my face.

So now to get in the kitchen and start cooking but where do I begin.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This cookbook greets you with amazing and delicious looking pictures. It provides a multi sensory experience by including playlists of songs to listen to while cooking items from each section of the book. Sian includes interviews with individuals from different industries (music, tv, radio, etc.) which add another layer to what is already a great cookbook. I loved all the seasoning recipes you can find at the end of the book. This cookbook would be a great addition to any kitchen.

Sian’s Kitchen Caribbean Comfort Cooking focuses on Caribbean Cuisine in England. Some of the ingredients were not always readily available in the U.K. so the dishes found new ways to substitute and bring the flavors of the Caribbean. Sian brings up the history of some of the dishes in the little blurbs.

The Sections are
01: 20 minutes
02: comforts
03: From the island
04: Sunday service
05: Sweet treats
06: Seasoning, sauces, and rubs

Each recipe has a little blurb about the dish, servings, ingredients, and directions. There were beautiful photos of most of the dishes. The directions were straightforward. Some of the ingredients were slightly confusing as Macaroni Salad said 1/2 x 198g (7 oz).

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t cook at ALL so normally I avoid cookbooks, but as someone from a Jamaican family, I had to check this book out. Sian's Kitchen offers a mix of dishes from several islands, and even though they don’t necessarily look the same, I was happy to see a few of my favorites! I also liked the inclusion of the musical connection in this book, as that is such a big part of the experience. And I fully agree with the author that the real way to experience jerk chicken is roadside in Jamaica! I plan to show these recipes to family members and get their opinion—seeing as they can actually cook!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.