Inside Cold Kitchen: Caroline Eden Reveals the Surprising Secrets Behind a Year of Global Culinary Adventures
Ever wonder if a kitchen could double as a passport? Caroline Eden’s Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels boldly answers that, taking us on a sensory journey that’s equal parts memoir, travelogue, and recipe collection. I stumbled onto this gem because—let’s admit it—I’m sucker for books with recipes tucked inside. There’s something about the nostalgic pull of dishes like a key lime pie or a spicy hot chocolate that stirs something sentimental (and hungry) in us all. But Eden isn’t just scribbling down meals—she’s crafting a narrative that moves through time, place, and memory, often from the quaint basement kitchen in Edinburgh where she writes, outward to the far-flung corners of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
In an email interview with writer Amy Fish, Eden unspools the story behind the book’s creation, her fascination with dusty old cookbooks and memoirs, and the bittersweet inclusion of her beloved dog Darwin, whose presence lingers on the cover and in the pages. It’s a conversation sprinkled with funny asides about the quirks of email interviews, and thoughtful musings on everything from the smell of wood smoke in the Himalayas to the challenge of deep-fried okra.
If you’ve ever thought about how food and place shape identity—or just crave a peek behind the scenes of a narrative cookbook that’s as much about home as it is about adventure—this is a chat you don’t want to miss.
Interviewed by Amy Fish
I picked up Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels (Bloomsbury; Jan. 2025) because I like when a book has recipes.
