Caroline Eden

A Financial Times and Observer "best summer read"A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year ‘With its union of practicality and magic, a kitchen is a portal, offering extended range and providing unlikely paths out of the ordinary … longed-for places are suddenly not so far away. Not unreachable, but present. Held again in the hand and heart.’In her Edinburgh basement kitchen, Caroline Eden recounts travels across Central Asia, Turkey, the Baltics and beyond using recipes, souvenirs, ingredients and imagination to provide routes back to distant lands and past adventures. From late-night baking as a way to Ukraine, to the magic of Uzbekistan’s wintertime melons, once gifts fit for emperors and tsars, this is a hauntingly honest memoir with the smell, taste and preparation of food at its heart. Cold Kitchen is an ode to the kitchen’s extraordinary ability to tell human stories and transport us to faraway places and different times.

"There is nobody writing about food at the moment who’s committed to this level of immersion and it rings out in every line." - Tim Hayward, Financial Times "She has rightly won awards for her remarkable talent for telling stories that take the reader right to the heart of her experiences." - Lisa Markwell, Sunday Times Magazine“One of the most brilliant travel writers of her generation.” - Fuchsia DunlopGreen Mountains is the final instalment of Caroline Eden’s ‘colour trilogy’, following on from her multi-award winning books, Black Sea and Red Sands. Beginning in Armenia, moving northwards through Georgia and ending at the Black Sea, Green Mountains weaves together the enchanting geography and the cult of the kitchen that prevails within these two countries. Tales of testing hikes and unpredictable terrain are punctuated by the foods Eden eats for respite – citrus, herbs, flatbreads, nuts, apricots, mountain greens and magical cheeses – the recipes she shares and the stories she uncovers. Sharing both the deep comfort and satisfaction of a meal served after a long walk, and the unique relationships she forms with her hosts, Eden offers readers rare insights into the culture and food of these two countries. With meticulously researched histories, a catalogue of more than 30 recipes from her travels, and rich, compelling stories, this is a travel book like no other.

'With its union of practicality and magic, a kitchen is a portal offering extended range and providing unlikely paths out of the ordinary. Offering opportunities to cook, imagine and create ways back into other times, other lives and other territories. Central Asia, Turkey, Ukraine, the South Caucasus, Russia, the Baltics and Poland. Places that have eased into my marrow over the years shaping my life, writing and thinking. They are here, these lands I return to, in this kitchen.' A welcoming refuge with its tempting pantry, shelves of books and inquisitive dog, Caroline Eden finds comfort away from the road in her basement Edinburgh kitchen. Join her as she cooks recipes from her travels, reflects on past adventures and contemplates the kitchen's unique ability to tell human stories. This is a hauntingly honest, and at times heartbreaking, memoir with the smell, taste and preparation of food at its heart. From late night baking as a route back to Ukraine to capturing the beauty of Uzbek porcelain, and from the troublesome nature of food and art in Poland to the magic of cloudberries, Cold Kitchen celebrates the importance of curiosity and of feeling at home in the world. Table of Contents A Subterranean Homecoming WINTER 1. Winter Melons 2. Russian Railway Pies 3. Sultanahmet in the Snow SPRING 4. Better a Dinner of Herbs 5. Baltic Symphonies 6. Journey Food SUMMER 7. Carried Away by a Cloudberry 8. Soup and a Sparrow 9. Cheap Thrills AUTUMN 10. Clover Dumplings 11. Smashed 12. Night Cooking

This is the tale of a journey between three great cities – Odessa,built on a dream by Catherine the Great, through Istanbul, the fulcrum balancing Europe and Asia and on to tough, stoic, lyrical Trabzon. With a nose for a good recipe and an ear for an extraordinary story, Caroline Eden travels from Odessa to Bessarabia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey's Black Sea region, exploring interconnecting culinary cultures. From the Jewish table of Odessa, to meeting the last fisherwoman of Bulgaria and charting the legacies of the White Russian émigrés in Istanbul, Caroline gives readers a unique insight into a part of the world that is both shaded by darkness and illuminated by light. Meticulously researched and documenting unprecedented meetings with remarkable individuals, Black Sea is like no other piece of travel writing. Packed with rich photography and sumptuous food, this biography of a region, its people and its recipes truly breaks new ground.