Flavours of Vancouver: Dishes from Around the World

Laila Abdalla is an associate professor of English at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, and former professor at McGill University.

The diverse recipes in this cookbook come from CBC listeners who live in
the Vancouver area. Contributors were invited to send in their favourite
recipe, and to also include a small anecdote or note of interest about
it. Thus each recipe is given context, which makes the resulting dish
interesting beyond the taste factor.

But the taste factor is also thoroughly covered in chapters that
include “Light Dishes,” “Soups, Salads and Side Dishes,” “Main
Dishes,” and, of course, “Desserts.” Reflecting the ethnic
diversity of Vancouverites, the recipes’ origins include Chinese,
French, Vietnamese, Thai, Moroccan, Portuguese, Russian, Scandinavian,
South African, Italian, Indian, Greek, and First Peoples. The recipes
have been adapted to life in Vancouver, and all the ingredients are
readily available in British Columbia and across the country.

The recipes are well written, appetizing, and not prohibitively
complicated. In fact, the only element lacking in this cookbook is
pictures of some of the finished dishes.