Bread and Wine (by Shauna Niequist)

(Amazon UK link)

About a year ago I read Shauna Niequist’s book ‘Present over Perfect’, and on the whole liked it. The style is gentle, biographical and thoughtful. If a tad repetitive, it makes some good points in a thought-provoking way. So I put a couple more of her books on my wishlist, and was given two, including ‘Bread and Wine’, for Christmas.

The book, which has a Christian focus but can be read by anyone, is divided into four main sections. Each section has several short chapters, with a similar style to the book I read before. They’re basically autobiographical thoughts and ideas, based primarily on the importance of entertaining, and finding ways to be a good host to friends and acquaintances. There are recipes - examples of what the author talks about - at the end of some of the chapters.

I quite like the gentle, informal style of writing, and was interested to read about the author’s life. She recounts some of the stages she went through in learning to be hospitable, and she also talks about the heartbreak and eventual joy of trying to have a second child. She’s evidently an outgoing, friendly person with perfectionist tendencies, very different from me. But I still found a lot of what she said to be relevant and encouraging.

The author is clearly and overtly a Christian believer, and this underlies her writing, but in a mostly low-key way.  Bread and wine are sacramental; she sees this not just in a eucharist or communion service, but in the sharing of food with family and friends, with opening up her house to visitors. I liked this approach very much. Those of a different faith (or none) could skim those parts and still take on board the principles.

However, I found the recipes a bit disappointing. I don’t mind the fact that they’re American in style, with measurements only in cups (no metric equivalents given). I don’t even mind the fact that she seems to use a lot of sea-food and processed meat, neither of which I ever use. But what I found most frustrating was the lack of alternative options, or explanations as to what unusual ingredients are.

I figured out after several chapters that ‘Dijon’ means ‘dijon mustard’ (though I’m not sure which brand - there are many). I knew already that ‘cilantro’ is the American name for fresh coriander leaves. but never did discover which kind of goat’s cheese the author uses. And I was mildly amused that she gives a recipe for vinaigrette, as if it were unusual to make: apparently in the US it's possible to buy it ready-made.  I had no idea.

I understand that the author likes to make reasonably easy meals, and that in the US there are many canned and packaged products which can be combined to form something else. But she encourages getting one’s hands dirty, chopping onions and other vegetables, and so on - so it’s odd (to me) that she recommends using ready-canned beans rather than the much healthier and far less expensive method of cooking dried ones. 

Keeping in one or two cans for convenience makes sense; I often use canned rather than dried chickpeas when I make hummus, for instance, as I tend to think of it at the last minute. But in a book about dinner party menus, with recommendations for planning, and lengthy preparation, the ready-made/canned ‘ingredients’ felt out of place.

Worst of all: I was looking forward to reading the recipe for the author’s friend’s enchiladas, after a chapter describing them and their awesomeness. I make a form of enchiladas already, albeit with flour rather than corn tortillas, but thought perhaps there would be a better kind of spice mixture described. Instead, the recipe in the book simply says ‘28 ounce can green enchilada sauce’, with a specific brand recommendation. That’s no use at all outside the US; I have never seen ‘enchilada sauce’.

So I looked up the ingredients of the recommended brand online, only to discover that it contains MSG, maltodextrin and soybean oil - all migraine triggers for me; worrying things to serve, particularly to children. And the ingredients list gives no indication of what spices are used - just a general ‘spice extractive’. The recipe also uses Monterey Jack cheese, which as far as I know is only available in the US.

In a sense these are minor quibbles. I enjoyed the contents of each chapter very much. If there had been no recipes I wouldn’t have minded too much, although with such a focus on food (and the author talks about a lot of meals) I was initially pleased to see them. But in a book that’s going to be read around the world, written by an author who seems very open and accepting of all cultures, it seems sad to be so US-centric in the recipes.

Still, with that proviso, I would recommend 'Bread and Wine' to anyone wanting a friendly, honest and personal book about hospitality and how to make it work in different circumstances. It's a good reminder in an increasingly insular world.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews