Amber & Rye: A Baltic Food Journey Estonia Latvia Lithuania (Zuza Zak)

What a lovely book! Amber & Rye is much more than a cookbook. It is an experience that we make with Zuza Zak, who takes us on a journey to reconnect with her roots, walk in her grandma’s footsteps, and explore the Baltic States. The book guides the reader through a bit of history and context of each of the locations, just enough to set the scene and create the atmosphere.
With each step of the journey, we discover the culinary culture of this part of the world. We explore the use of ingredients which we are not familiar with, and we learn a lot about very interesting cooking techniques like curing, fermenting, pickling and more. I found it fascinating because I did not know anything about the cuisine of this part of the world before I opened this book and I learned a lot.
I am definitely going to try Linda’s tomato tart with Latvian green cheese, the fish soups, Greta’s Medutis honey layer cake and the pumpkin buns. There is plenty in this book for those of us who wish to explore a new experience for our tastebuds.
I definitely recommend this book.