In “Piments et compagnie”, Héla Msellati carries her readers into a vibrant culinary world where every page awakens the senses. Gourmet chronicles of the Mediterranean, published by éditions Arabesques, this book brings Tunisia's culinary heritage into the light with as much relish as poetry.
Who is Héla Msellati?
A university professor at the Institut supérieur des langues de Tunis, Héla Msellati is also known for the informative, poetic strolls she offers on her YouTube channel “Men hadra el hadra”, and for her radio columns broadcast on Radio Tunis Chaîne Internationale (RTCI). With “Piments et compagnie”, she turns this time to the French-speaking public, so that every food lover can share her view of Mediterranean cooking.
What is this book really about?
In her foreword, a true amuse-bouche, the author sets the tone: cooking, a central component of our humanism, sits at the crossroads of the domestic and the academic. Multiform and colourful, it offers, in her view, a palette well suited to the play of humour and of love — a way of approaching the culinary art lightly, without ever being superficial.
A tribute to Tunisia's culinary heritage
This book showcases Tunisia's culinary heritage, an integral part of the country's intangible culture. With a succulent pen, sprinkled with wordplay and aphorisms, Héla Msellati celebrates family cooking with finesse, highlighting the Andalusian, Ottoman, Italian, Sicilian and Tunisian influences that make up this multicultural gastronomy. Readers, wherever they may be, are invited to recognise themselves in these many-coloured recipes — a multicultural heritage not unlike that of the chéchia and the sefseri in Tunisian craftsmanship: living traditions, handed down and reinvented.
Why this book wins over lovers of good food
“Piments et compagnie” is an invitation to return to one's roots through a gourmet essay, original and mischievous. Those who like to find a story and a culture behind a recipe will find much to enjoy — and for anyone wishing to explore that link between reading and well-being further, our article on bibliotherapy looks at just how books, cookery books included, nourish far more than the appetite.
