Hello! Hope you’re doing OK in lockdown. This month’s book choice is Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street by Felicita Sala (Scribble 2019). I had wanted this book ever since I saw the original French edition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair last year and I’ve finally got an English edition copy. I picked this book this month because, after over a month of lockdown, I miss the community feeling represented in this book.
This book is a collection of beautifully and cleverly presented recipes. 10 Pomegranate Street is a fictional apartment. On each spread, you get a glimpse of the kitchen of each 10 Pomegranate Street’s resident and the special dishes they are preparing. The residents are quite international and so are their dishes. Each kitchen is like a different country and you find recipes for the dishes from all over the world, from banana bread to baba ganoush! Here are my favourites:
I fell in love with Felicita Sala‘s work when I came across her Joan Procter Dragon Doctor (Knopf, 2018). I love her somber colour palette and colour pencil texture. There is no apparent story in this book, but each kitchen is so different and full of details and personalities that you can almost imagine each character’s backstory. What an unique way to present recipes! Recipe picture book has always been on my “bucket list” for picture books I’d like to create. Sala has raised the bar very high!
Although there’s no story, at the end of this book, you see why all the residents have been cooking. This book is a glorious celebration of community and multiculturalism. Before the time of COVID-19, my friends often hosted house parties where everyone brought food. I miss it. Let’s hope things will go back to normal and we can have a Pomegranate Street style party with friends soon!
Stay safe x
Momoko Abe Illustration 