The Manchester Cookbook: a review

Meze Publishing asked me to review the latest in their series of cookbooks. The Manchester Cookbook. It follows the same format as six previous versions, all to the east of here: Sheffield, Suffolk, Nottingham, Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.

It’s part cook book, part guide book, part Sunday supplement. A nice size to handle (American A4?) and a cartoon cover of some Manchester landmarks draw you in (it’s not Meze’s fault the Manchester Wheel was taken down - I suffered a similar dilemma when I used it as part of the logo for a conference I co-ran this year). Inside there is some wonderful photography of some of Manchester’s canals and architecture, food and foodies, chic restaurant interiors and traditional urban pubs.

Good points continue with the warm and friendly vibe it gives. It’s good that it goes beyond the city centre, to the gastro hotspots in Prestwich, Chorlton, Heaton Moor, Didsbury, Salford Quays and Saddleworth. The book covers wine and coffee, plenty of desserts as well as main courses of many the major culinary countries. It made me stop and realise how far Manchester has come in recent years on its journey of quality eating out experiences.

There’s a great feature on Trove in Levenshulme, artisan bakers- I wish there was one in the city centre like that, although I bake my own bread so maybe I should stick to that. It’s interesting to read about “Manchester’s first distillery” (but surely there have been others?)- the local craft brewery Zymurgorium which is also the UK’s first craft meadery. I hope to try their cocktail recipes Cranachan and Stratospheric Aviator. 

The Little Italy feature is good as is the one on the wonderful chocolatier Isobel Carse (I can’t comment much on her at the moment as I may have bought some of her cruelty-free produce to give to a handful of special people as Xmas presents!) and the Ancoats Coffee Company- How to use an aeropress (a what? - you’ll learn). I bought some of their coffee in the 8th Day this year- not bad, and I will return for more in 2016).

Hospitality Action is the charity for those in the hospitality industry and they get a mention and hopefully some of the book’s profits.

Where the book fails IMHO, like many a cookbook, is in its main courses. Barely an animal goes unharmed in the making of this book- from octopus to ox, snail to deer, clams to monkfish, pigs to lambs, cows to mussels, chickens to scallops. The line appears to be drawn at dog, cat and horse.

There are just a few veggie options: Teacup Kitchen's Excoticado is a variant on my own smashed avocado on toast treat,  Podium’s truffle pasta and wild mushroom open lasagne with watercress emulsion, which sounds tempting to make. Tampopo’s vegetable tempura less so for me, although at least it is vegan. 

In these post-Paris #COP21 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) days where everyone carries the responsibility to eat sustainably and to be aware of their carbon footprint, and when it is proven (in dozens of reports and articles the past few years) that the best way to combat climate change is for everyone to go vegetarian or vegan, I find it hard to believe that so many cruel recipes are showcased in this cook book. Meze are, sadly, hardly alone is doing this of course.

It is even more galling when the UK Vegetarian Society was founded nearly 170 years ago in this city and thrives to this day, when celebrity chef Simon Rimmer has been championing (in part) gourmet veggie food for a quarter of a century at Greens, when the best restaurant the area is the all-vegetarian/vegan Bistro 1847. 

So, it’s because of that that I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you want a Manchester cook book go and buy Vegan Street Food - travels from India to Indonesia, which came out this year, written by the lovely Jackie Kearney (who appeared on BBC Masterchef 2011). She’s on Twitter/Instagram as @hungryGecko.