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WINNER OF THE JANE GRIGSON TRUST AWARD

‘Amazing, original, boundary breaking.’ Diana Henry

‘One of the most gleeful cookbooks of 2023.’ Stylist Magazine

‘His recipes have a dynamism that is genuine, personal and flavour-led… dazzling and yet warmly inviting.’ Nigella Lawson

With recipes for everything from Coconut Crab Crumpets to Kasundi Keema Lasagne Rolls, award-winning food writer Gurdeep Loyal celebrates the hybrid third-culture cooking of second-generation migrants around the world today.

Born in Britain to Indian parents, Gurd felt constantly pulled by the clashing expectations of both cultures. But through his passion for food and cooking he was able to embrace the delicious contradictions of his plural British Indian identity.

In Mother Tongue he explores his culinary upbringing that combined ‘authentic’ home-cooked Punjabi food, with ‘inauthentic’ curry-house Tikka Masalas, the Western foodie cannon, and a wanderlust for travel in pursuit of flavour. What results is a flavour amplified intercultural cuisine, that is a delicious culinary self-expression of his second-generation experience of the world today.

Gurdeep serves up over 100 knock-out recipes, including a mouth-watering Miso-Masala Fried Chicken Sando, Sweet Chilli-Gunpowder Roasted Cauliflower, Desi Kofta Meatballs with Sticky Mango-Lime Tomatoes and Chocolate-Orange Jalebis, all combined with expert know-how on building, blending, and remixing global flavour combinations. Mother Tongue is bursting with vibrantly spiced, colourfully flavour-forward recipes for home-cooks to explore and be inspired by every day.

Publisher Review

'How thrilling and inspiring to be drawn into Gurdeep's extraordinary diaspora and fantastic world of flavours!' Claudia Roden 'Every so often a rare cookbook comes along which brings something completely new and fascinating to the world of food. Mother Tongue does just that. A fiercely original, boundary shifting celebration of flavour and culture, that I will go back for years to come' Anna Jones 'This book really excites me. It looks at Indian food with fresh eyes and break moulds with its recipes, photography and style. Gurdeep is very talented - this book is just the start!' Chetna Makan 'A stunningly evocative cookbook with creative modern recipes that pay homage to the rich and diverse Punjabi and South Asian culinary traditions. I wanted to devour every page' Yasmin Khan 'A Willy Wonka-style wizard of flavour, his joy in food shines from every page - a genuinely thrilling book' Felicity Cloake 'Gurdeep has had a wonderful influence over me both personally and professionally. The recipes in Mother Tongue using his expansive palate, his broad knowledge and anecdotes of British Indianness will brighten up any bookshelf!' Ravneet Gill 'I've marked practically every recipe as a must make. Delicious, flavour packed and lovingly abundant. I particularly love Gurd's family stories, his encouragement to confidently play with our food and find our own fave flavour chords' Melissa Hemsley 'Mother Tongue is such a breath of fresh air, from Gurdeep's clever and unusual flavour combinations, to the design and photography. It is beautiful and has already been heavily bookmarked. I love it!' Georgina Hayden 'This is a book that will live in my kitchen, splattered from use, and most importantly, Gurdeep opens up much-needed conversations about the shifting boundaries of authenticity, representation and identity in food cultures' Lara Lee