This is not a cookbook uniquely blends memoir with food writing alongside evocative lithographic artwork. The vignettes in the book chronicle Manouchehri’s childhood growing up in Tehran in the 80s following the Iranian Revolution, the profound influence of the women who surrounded her, and the legacy of memories handed down during wartime. Weaving early impressions of politics and repression with the comfort and familiarity of home, Manouchehri offers us a glimpse of a rich but fraught culture seen through the eyes of a young girl seeking to reconcile her roots through the conduit of food.

This is not a cookbook emerges from a wholly unique voice in Irish literature, joining the ranks of contemporary diasporic Iranian writers searching for community and belonging in an elusive past.