This is the July selection of the Left Coast Culinary book club. I have skimmed through the book and read the text portions that support all of the recipes. I actually was not going to review this book because I found it unremarkable but I will explain more below.

I will diverge for a quick moment, Emily French’s story is a very familiar one. This is another lost soul that finds redemption through cooking ala Gabrielle Hamilton or Anthony Bourdain. Because her entire enterprise is based in Maine, the content is highly New England centric.

In what seems to be a smart trend, this book is organized first by season. The intent is to guide the reader to source seasonal ingredients and therefore cook with them. My first problem is that I don’t live in New England, so ingredients such as lobster are as foreign to me as stew in the summer time. Secondly, as with best practices the recipes and techniques are simple allowing the primary ingredients to be the stars (as it should be, but see issue one).

I can forgive, substitute and cook out of season, no problem but my real issue is that nothing in particular speaks to me. I have tried the New England baked beans and the cod with citrus shallot vinaigrette and I am going to make corned beef this week so it is not that I haven’t given the book a chance. I will tell you what did however. I have never seen so many recipes that use parsnips or editable flowers. I found the photography and food styling visually appealing.

Far be it for me to criticize someone else’s work. All I am really saying is that this does not resonate with me. Others in the book club felt that this was one of the best selections in the last five years. Here is where I will end, if you are looking for New England dishes, seasonal suggestions or frequent use of flowers, then this may appeal to you.

End Your Programming Routine: I have an affinity for southern cooking, some might say soul food. I also live in the pacific northwest and enjoy cooking Mexican food, I hold regional recipes in high regard. All three of those places I hold a degree of emotional and cultural connection. I suppose you could say that I have no connection to New England, maybe that is to blame for how I feel.