This week I am sharing a beautiful cookery book—a book that recently has helped me open my mind and understand food from different cultures. ‘Hokkaido: Recipes from the Seas, Fields and Farmlands of Northern Japan’ by Tim Anderson has been such a great read. It takes you on a food holiday to somewhere we did not know existed. An incredible story, with wonderful people, and an almost forgotten region.

The Ainu people migrated many centuries ago from northern Russia to this island, and the word ‘Ainu’ means ‘land of humans, land of gods’. These proud people have been treated badly in history, with governments allowing logging and dam building—but now, with help from the UN, these Indigenous people have their ancestral lands forever.

This book tells of the power of food, food history, and the connection we all have with it. It focuses on different places around the island and what is good to eat there. Some familiar dishes—like ramen and noodles—to sashimi, scallops, clams, and even a smoked venison sausage using Ezo deer (a species new to me).

The images in this book are fantastic. It has a colourful, almost Japanese cartoon feel. One chapter I really enjoyed was on croquettes. There are so many potatoes grown on the island and they are lovely with a curry, burger—who knows! Let us open our minds and enjoy this book for being fun, different, and educational.