East Coast Tables - Book Reviews
COOKING IS THE NEW ROCK ‘N ROLL – BUT I LIKE IT!
Spending time with Erica Platter is always verbally delicious. Her celebrated background in journalism has given her a wonderful command of the English language, peppered with a salty wit and dashes of mischief. It is no wonder that her second cook book with Clinton Friedman is heading for another serving of success.
East Coast Tables: The Inland Edition launched at the East Coast Radio Garden and Home Show in June. It follows the Coastal Edition which launched in 2010, winning the Best Regional Cuisine Book in South Africa in the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards.
“Our first foray into publishing a food book in 2010 was an astonishing success” says ECR's General Manager Trish Taylor. “We are now proud to bring you a second edition which is a culinary showcase of the people and produce of KZN’s Midlands and mountains. East Coast Tables: Inland Edition is an authentic portrayal of local food, life and culture. It is a true celebration, Funsunzi-style!”
This is a complete book review of East Coast Tables: Inland Edition, sections of which have appeared in The Farmer's Weekly (13th September, 2013), Pongola News (2nd August, 2013) and on Travelwrite website (1st August, 2013)
Farmer's Weekly, 13 September, 2013
You will meet all these producers and more in the pages of this second edition of East Coast Tables,
which brings the Midlands, the Berg and KZN’s northern highland farming areas to life.
For Erica, the KZN interior is almost one big farm. “It has more water than any other province, perfect for growing and rearing food. And we tend to take it for granted. With such lovely produce and products right on our doorstep, we should be ashamed if we are not using them!”
KZN farmers have always fared very well in the Eat In DSTV Food Network Produce Awards. In 2013 Greenfields won the Best Small Producer: Paddock; and Enaleni Farm won the SA Food Heritage Award for their Zebra Beans. In 2012 it was the fowls who launched us to fame with Croft Chickens winning the Organic/ Free Range category and The Best Small Producer: Paddock was won by Dargle Ducks.
Richard Haigh and Dave Brennan from Enaleni Farm said this about the book: “Aah, what a delight! It’s full steam vibrant, screeching ‘read-me, read-me’! Filled with journalistic and poetic licence, but also full of simple truths. We are glad the critters and energy of Enaleni are included! Thank you!”
Graeme Taute, breadmaker supreme from Lidgetton offered the publishers hearty congratulations, saying: “Many of the people in the book are good friends of mine, so it’s like having a family recipe book. You’ve captured an era of Midlands’ food and foodies beautifully.”
After the international success of the first edition of East Coast Tables, Erica and Clinton took a break until East Coast Radio asked: What about a sequel? In 2012 they set to work to complete the mosaic, what Erica calls their “praise song to KZN, with its beautiful farms, fields, pastures and trout streams.”
“The Midlands is the highland pampas of South Africa. We should be marketing it as the food garden of our country, and highlighting excellent, and too little-known homegrown products like the excellent wheat grown in the Berg,” enthuses Erica as she points out the Solms family in the book, and their expertise in setting up small-size mills on their Winterton farm, in Durban, the Cape and other parts of Southern Africa. They not only grow but stone-grind KZN’s finest, purest (with no additives) flours. The Highland brand is stocked by good food stores, and Graeme Taute, KZN’s bread maestro, uses no other. Another celeb following the wheaten trail is Henry Honiball who runs a commodity-trading business, Tugela Grain in Winterton, a far cry from Springbok Rugby. (Though his Bobotie recipe is a matchwinner.)
Erica is proud to say that nothing in the book is too difficult to make; for example, ECR jock Darren Maule’s Impossible Tart is a piece of cake! Mostly it is family recipes from home cooks, but the professional chefs who have contributed have all happily given their own home, rather than “cheffy” recipes. Like Richard Poynton from Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse, and his wife Mouse. No couple has done more to make-over this province’s reputation as a foodie destination. But Richard’s recipes in this book are all simple home favourites, and his Hollandaise sauce, made in microwave, blender and a thermos flask, is a revelation.
Pongola News, 2nd August 2013
I loved Fee Halsted’s brazen confession that she would be surprised to find herself in a cook-book. The only things that come out of an oven in her house are the magical Ardmore Ceramics. Not quite true, however. Her team of artists lunch splendidly every day on Thabisele Nomusa Dlamini’s food - beef or chicken, with beans, potatoes and imifino spiked with chillies and chutney. And Spongile Sikhosana bakes cakes and the most luscious, gooey, irresistible world beating brownies (see p37) for the Rovos Rail passengers who call at Ardmore.
The ‘Wine Notes’ have been compiled by Erica’s husband, John, famous for his formidable knowledge of wine. His introduction is simple: The first wine-with-food rule is that there are no rules. But who would have guessed that John’s real love is cattle. He has written the Beef section, and his extensively researched ‘Beef Briefs’ at the back of the book are a must for all carnivores.
Erica’s tangible passion for this new book is riveting. The photographic delights created by Clinton Friedman make it even more appealing. She says in her Author’s notes: “We are indebted to all who have shared their kitchen secrets. It’s you who have made this a real people’s book. We hope that it becomes a much consulted friend.”
East Coast Tables: Inland Edition, The Midlands and the Berg
is available online from the publishers,
East Coast Radio (www.ecr.co.za) and from selected book stores.