New Fav: Asian Pickles

Today's mofo prompt is about favourite cookbooks, and while this is a new favourite, I can't resist. 

I remember reading my first vegan cookbook, one of Isa's of course, during my 'vegan month' experiment that never ended, thinking 'well, this changes everything'. I get the same feeling reading Asian Pickles - like I need to totally restock my cupboard, and that it will be totally worth it.

See, we don't like to talk about what, if anything, a vegan diet may be missing, in terms of either nutrition or flavour, but I know that I am embracing the strong, complex flavours of fermented foods in particular like a long lost friend. I was eating my first batch of lacto-fermented radishes on toast a few weeks ago thinking, 'I've cracked it! The vegan replacement for cheese isn't vegan cheese, it's other cultured foods!' I don't know that everyone will be so enthusiastic about this kind of thing, but I'm sold.

It's also great for those of us who share our meals with smaller, pickier humans. My husband and I both love a bit of heat, so it's great to have something special, strong and hot to spoon over, well, everything. 

The divided into sections by country, and I want to try everything. Several versions of Kimchi, preserved mustard greens, fresh turmeric and ginger chutney. 

I love that it doesn't shy away from long prep times and adventurous techniques (one recipe takes at least 6 months), and it assumes that the reader can keep up - in a chatty, easy-to-follow way. Simpler recipes though, like the pickled chiles with lime below, are the work of moments. The photography is beautiful, and the writing entertaining, sometimes really funny. 

So that's the cookbook changing my life right now. What are you reading and cooking from?