Why a Booktrail?
Time of departure: 2000s Destination: County Mayo: Are your taste buds not salvating? Pomegranate Soup is an infectious novel of magical realism.
Pomegranate Soup
What you need to know before your trail
Beneath the holy mountain Croagh Patrick, in damp and lovely County Mayo, sits the small, sheltered village of Ballinacroagh. To the exotic Aminpour sisters, Ireland looks like a much-needed safe haven. It has been seven years since Marjan Aminpour fled Iran with her younger sisters, Bahar and Layla.
When they open Babylon Cafe, right in the heart of town, they begin serving up traditional Persian dishes and soon the townsfolk are lured to the new premises by the tantalizing aroma of fresh herb kuk, lamb abgusht and elephant ear fritters, washed down with gallons of amine tea from the old samovar…
Travel Guide
The very personal journey of three sisters explored through their love of food. This is no light hearted journey of cooking however as the three sisters have escaped Iran on the eve of the revolution and fled to Ireland.
The sisters tell us and gradually reveal to us their life in Iran through flashbacks which are heartbreaking but show us the background to the sisters and why they had to do what they did.
..facets of the new Iran they were all dreaming of’
Although the flashbacks deal with heartbreak and difficult times, they are never too heavy – instead providing hope and a background to a country in turmoil and terror . This book really shone a light on issues in Iran and made for an interesting contrast to what the sisters were experiencing in Ireland later on.
“The shadowy spices jumped in their jars around her…”
And it’s Ireland that gives us the brilliant combination of the sisters using their passion for life and for their new homeland into cooking up a range of dishes and spices to reinvigorate the townsfolk in Ballinacroagh and bring everyone together. When you think of the own sisters troubled past, this is even more admirable.
Recipes before each chapter make for a sumptuous read.
Where Next?
