Title: Norway’s Delight: Dishes and Specialities

Author: Elise Sverdrup

Publisher: Johan Grundt Tanum Forlag (Oslo). Part of the “Tanum’s Tokens of Norway” series.

Publication date: 1957 originally – this is the eighth edition, published in 1972.

Bought: Wish I could remember! I think it was second-hand at our local book fair.

Type: National cuisine

Pages: 84

Notes: none

Fabulously-named dishes: Polar Bear’s Eye (beetroot, onion, raw egg yolk…), Dancing Master’s Soup (appears to be sweet), The Vet’s Nightcap (bread spread with dripping, liver paste and cured meat)

Other useful information contained within: Not much, sadly — it includes a couple of addresses for suppliers who provide Norwegian speciality food within the UK, but I suspect they will long since have changed or closed down.

Where can I get a copy?: There are plenty of editions available on Amazon (including a hardback version)

Title: Breton Cooking

Author: Simone Morand

Publisher: Éditions Jos

Publication date: 2006

Bought: Second-hand, at a National Trust property’s bookshop

Type: Country-specific recipes

Pages: 32

Notes: There’s a little bit of background about some of the more unusual dishes, and types of dishes, but sadly no real discussion of what differentiates Breton cooking from that of any other region.

Fabulously-named dishes: Betton Style Milk Soup, “Ninon” Maxi-Buckwheat Pancakes (not quite sure what’s “maxi” about it), and several versions of Farz which would appear to be something akin to a steamed pudding, existing in both sweet and savoury versions.

Other useful information contained within: not a lot beyond the recipes and the very brief notes about the types of recipes mentioned above.

Where can I get a copy?: Amazon are aware of its existence but have no copies at present.
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Title: South Pacific Cookbook

Author: none given

Publisher: none given

Publication date: none given

Bought: Second-hand, at book fair

Type: Country-specific recipes

Pages: 120

Notes: Recipes from a variety of locations; categories are Maori, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Samoa, Cook Islands & Tonga, Hawaii, Fiji and one solitary page of recipes from Pitcairn Island including “Pelki” which is listed as “an acquired taste”. I shall have to investigate what “kumara” is, as the main ingredient of that dish.

Fabulously-named dishes: Blue Cod with Almonds, Favourite Brown Stew and Kumara Topping (not one of the Pitcairn dishes…), Ate Mango (Shark’s Liver), Groper Kebabs (seems like an appropriate punishment), Scraped Kaanga Pudding

Other useful information contained within: how to run a hangi – cooking the Maori way in a pit. I particularly enjoyed “SUCCESS OR FAILURE: If steam emerges from the hangi after the first spitful of soil is removed, the hangi will be successful. If no steam appears, cover it up and buy fish and chips.”

Where can I get a copy?: I’ve not found any for sale online, although I’ll update if I do. Note that this is not the book by Victor Bennett found on Amazon.