Book Review – The French Affair

by Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen (Struik Lifestyle) ISBN 9781432301972

The French Affair is the most beautiful cookbook of the year! Every page is full of love for the kitchen and love for France with inspiring recipes that make you want to cook and eat straight away. It is beautifully styled, with a gorgeous layout and design by Fred Viljoen. This book is a celebration of life and a celebration of food.

Van der Westhuizen is a talented photographer, with an eye for beauty. He adds a touch of magic to the pictures and makes the dishes look sumptuous and irresistible. He is an experienced chef and makes the readers feel they can become one too.

The mouth-watering recipes are a combination of French and South African styles. There’s a grilled strawberry and biltong salad, but also a vichyssoise. My favourite recipes are balsamic toffee tomatoes, frozen grappa grapes, meatballs wrapped in cabbage with an apple and sweet chilli sauce, and summer berries with winter gluhwein sorbet.

Each recipe has a rating (most are easy), a preparation time, a list of ingredients, and a photograph on the other page. It also comes with a small introduction, a saying or a memory, but overall the gorgeous pictures and delicious recipes make this book so appealing.

Pauline Vijverberg
5/5