title: A Life of Spice
author: Monica Bhide

publication date: May 1, 2015
publisher: Createspace

The essays in this book showcase how food affects all the areas of our lives: family, friends, children, love, culture, faith, and more. A Life of Spice captures the delights of cooking as wooing and food as nurturer, as well as the sadness of the heartbreak kitchen.
— Monica Bhide (A Life of Spice)

I was going to start this book review by telling you all about my love of food writing and how certain authors inspire my own food adventures, but as I started to write, that intro got longer and more involved than I had planned, so I’m going to save it all for another day and just start this one off by saying that Monica Bhide’s A Life of Spice was simply inspiring.

I somehow ended up following Monica on Twitter several months ago and noticed that she had a new book coming out (she already has several other books published, including two cookbooks) called A Life of Spice. Listed as “One of Mashable’s top 10 food writers on Twitter”, I remember thinking, “Wow… how have I not heard of her before?”

I immediately went to check out her book online but found that it was only available in e-book format on the Canadian online bookstores (at the time) so I connected with Monica to ask if she knew where I could purchase a printed copy in Canada. Little did I know that this one tweet would lead to the discovery of a beautiful book.

A Life of Spice is a collection of food essays that range in tone from highly personal (her account of her father’s escape from Multan during the Partition of India starts the book off) to light and humourous (“Is the Food Better If the Kitchen is Glamorous?”) and I have to admit that I was hooked from the first page and couldn’t put the book down.

The essays exude a personal touch – you get to know Monica, her parents, her husband, her children and her friends – but food is the bonding ingredient. Some of the essays focus on Monica’s cultural background (Indian) and her adaptation to American foods (these essays are among my favourites in the book), while others talk about her relationship with food writing and cooking. I loved her essay entitled “Why We Are Afraid to Cook” which discusses fear of failing in the kitchen. Food bloggers, especially recipe developers, know PLENTY about kitchen failures – I have a whole folder jammed with photos of exploded cupcakes, hollow macarons and uncheesy mac and cheese – yet most bloggers will never post a single kitchen failure photo, EVER.

When I said earlier that Monica was inspiring, it’s not just because she’s a wonderful writer (she is), but it’s more because her writing made me sift through my own experiences and memories without even realizing it. Since becoming a food blogger my relationship with food has become much more engaged: I think and talk about food more than ever, many of my new friends were made through my food blogging adventures and I often plan my travel around places to eat, but reading A Life of Spice made me think beyond that.

It reminded me of where I was when I tried new foods for the first time and the culture shock I experienced as a young child spending my summers in Hong Kong. It made me realize how many of my fondest travel memories are food-related – getting up at 4am to watch a tuna auction in Tokyo, eating BBQ pork buns by the dozen from Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong, walking for (what seemed liked) miles in the sweltering heat to eat pizza at the Pizzarium in Rome. And how much I owe my love of food and my adventurous eating habits to my parents who always encouraged us to try everything. This past year, I’ve missed my mom’s traditional Chinese dishes but I never realized how much so until I was reading about Monica and her food memories.

Interspersed with her essays are snippets about her favourite spices, including Fennel Seeds and Star Anise. She talks about why she loves the spice and then gives suggestions on different ways to incorporate it into your cooking. One of her suggestions for Sage was “Add it to your turkey stuffing”. I think Monica would be happy to know that Paul’s turkey stuffing is ONLY spiced with salt, pepper and nearly 2 small tins worth of sage! 🙂

More than just a collection of food essays, A Life of Spice is a look into Monica’s life and how food plays an integral part in it and it’s a wonderful journey. Monica’s life is vastly different from mine – from our family life to our careers, from our cultural backgrounds to our childhood and yet … through her writing, I felt like I had come to know her a little bit and that, on some magical food dimension, we were similar. Now that’s talented writing indeed.

Click here to purchase A Life of Spice from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a copy of A Life of Spice from the author for review purposes. I did not receive any financial compensation for writing this post and the post was not reviewed by the author prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

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