Product Description

'This is a book about food and friendship, and cooking and love. It is meant for anyone who loves food and loves people, and believes that where the two meet, a kind of alchemy occurs.' Joanna Weinberg's love affair with cooking began when she was away at college. While she subsisted on pasta...and more pasta, her sister would call from London with salacious stories of extra virgin olive oil, smoky pancetta and hunks of fresh Parmesan. Inspired, she started cooking for her friends, and realised early on that a great meal wasn't really about the food - it was about feeling at ease among good company. The problem was that so many cookbooks focused on fancy dishes and didn't take friends, that most basic of ingredients, into account. Which is how this book came about."Relish" is full of recipes, of course - 175 of them, arranged in 47 menus for every occasion, from an impromptu kitchen supper to a massive birthday party; from a cosy afternoon tea to a summer barbecue with a gaggle of children. But much more importantly, it is a timely reminder of how to nourish friends and friendship, and will delight anyone who, like Joanna, believes that in the end, food is love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105948 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Cressida Connolly, Vogue
`She's not just reader-friendly, she's reader best-friendly. After reading her book, you not only want to try out lots of things: you want her to come round and hang out in your kitchen, chatting ... I can't think of a better present than this book'

Harry Mount, Telegraph
`Weinberg's book is full of tips aimed at making your life as the host easier and your guests' lives less like a series of structured conversations built around a parade of show-off food ... Comfort is the watchword of Weinberg's book and its wellspring ... Her comfort mantra extends beyond dinner parties to every sort of eventuality where food lifts your spirits'

Daily Candy
`When you need a little inspiration in the kitchen, consult a copy of How to Feed Your Friends with Relish ... crammed with recipes and menu plans for every kind of meal ... Thumb through the book before you even get to the supermarket and you'll be well on your way to impressing hungry guests in true culinary style'

Customer Reviews

Completely brilliant
I bought this book because I liked the cover, but I was still unprepared for how brilliant and useful the content would be. There is a recipe for virtually every occasion (in the last week alone I have tried five, and all worked perfectly). It's written in a friendly tone, and is full of anecdotes about the author's life and relationship with food (passion). I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't think that the women should retire when the port gets passed around the dinner table!

a sizzlingly good read
I'm a terrible cook and own no cook books - even the sound of people mentioning 'Nigella' and 'Gordon' annoys me, so when someone bought me this, I imagined I'd gift it on. But a quick flick through was enough to change my mind - a few days later it's not only persuaded me to do some good cooking, but it's like meeting a new best friend. Weinberg's voice is exactly the one you want in your head whenever you're thinking about having friends around, and even when you're not. Sincerely recommended.

Lovely, cozy and fun...but erroneous recipes
This book has lots of great recipes and it's a pleasure looking through it. It would also make a nice present for those living away from home for the first time and have not had that much experience in the kitchen. I loved the idea of cooking for friends, as so few seem to do that these days, preferring always to go to the nearest restaurant.

But Publisher please take note: A minus is that the book has been very poorly edited, and some recipes definitely have not been tested. 1) In the Pommes dauphinoise recipe it says "..picking out the bayleaf, onion and thyme..." but there is no onion listed in the list of ingredients! She can't have meant the garlic because it would be impossible to pick out the garlic (which has to be finely chopped). Would like to know when, how and how much onion you have to add. 2) The "Chocolate raspberry meringue sandwich" does not list chocolate in any part of the recipe or the list of ingredients. I would like to know how it should be incorporated. 3)The lemon drizzle cake is way too sour. It requires juice of 2 large lemons for the batter and a further juice of 2-3 lemons for the drizzle. Even though the drizzle also requires a whopping 120g sugar (in addition to the 150g required for the batter), I couldn't eat it as it was so sour. I am wondering if it's another typo - or maybe lemons in the UK are not as sour as they are here? These should be corrected and the edited version sent to customers who bought the first edition, or at least Bloomsbury should publish an erratum. It's unacceptable for a publisher of their reputation and I feel slightly short-changed.

I heard the other day that the more cookbooks people buy, the less they cook - perhaps I am of the minority as I actually use the cookbooks I buy, and to me a book that has errors like these is a faulty item as I cannot use it for the original purpose intended by its author.