Biting Through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America's Heartland by Nina Mukerjee Furstenau

In this memoir, the author reflects on her experiences as a person of Indian descent growing up in a small town in Kansas.  Throughout her growing up years, food played a key role in giving her a sense of connection to her own unique cultural identity.  She deftly weaves this food thread through all her narratives and includes recipes related to the stories shared in each chapter.

Favorite quote:
"In direct fashion, language ties people together as strongly as food. Both involve a constant working of the mouth, both the use of the tongue.  Taking food into the body to live is incredibly intimate.  So, too, is voice: the audible self."

Pros:

Beautiful writing
Insightful reflections
Vivid descriptions
Lots of recipes

Cons:
Many of the recipes include ingredients that might be difficult to obtain.

Recipes in the book:
There are over 50 recipes in this book.  These include a wide range of Indian dishes from chutneys to curries to lentils to desserts.  I plan to try a few of the recipes and will write about the results in a future post.