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

I love reading food memories, and this one was no exception. I enjoyed it a lot!

COLD KITCHEN by Caroline Eden (Samarkand) is subtitled "A Year of Culinary Travels" and contains only a dozen recipes. Instead, Eden describes her travels and reflections on various cuisines as from her Edinburgh kitchen she attempts to recreate favorite dishes like soup from Poland or dessert from Latvia. I found the text to be rather dense and was hoping for a narrative more similar to Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires, for example. However, Kirkus gave COLD KITCHEN a starred review and The Wall Street Journal also offers a more thorough and positive review here:
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/cold-kitchen-review-the-view-from-the-stove-d568937a

Cold Kitchen is a book to be savored (pun intended) as author Caroline Eden combines both narratives and recipes detailing her travels throughout Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

I loved the fact that Eden reminisces not only about her travels, but also about the variety of dishes that she savored and how she attempts to duplicate them in her cozy Edinburgh kitchen. The fact that she provides recipes is an added bonus.

I don't think you can pigeonhole this book into one specific genre -- to me, it's part memoir, cookbook, and travel journal all wrapped up together. A wonderful gem.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Bloomsbury Publishing for this electronic ARC of #ColdKItchen.

This was delightful. I loved the Eastern European connections, these always end up being some of the best food memoirs. This felt warm and uplifting while still being so interesting and surprisingly deep.

I was not familiar with her before but the book was like talking to a friend. I liked the lively descriptions of food and travel. It was a palate cleanser after a lot of darker novels and memoirs but without seeming frivolous. I like how it was broken up seasonally.