(Above) Mangoes & Monsoons by John Kenyon; Published by Andre Deutsch, 1964; Jacket Design by Shirley Lawn.
Though packed with tasty dishes like mango beef in beer, turtle stew, porcupine in okro soup and fried grasshoppers, the cover is the most delicious.
Further flavour includes these morsels:
"Uniforms. Good stout aprons for the cook - blue for the day, white for the evening. And for whoever waits on the table (but not including yourself) a proper full uniform -long trousers, jacket in white drill, buttoned to the throat and with shiny brass buttons or, in East Africa, long white kanzus with a sash and fez to match - red, green or blue."
and
"The Language. If you are rich enough to employ a cook learn the kitchen variety - the most useful whether it is Malay, Hindustani, Swahili or Pidgin English - and learn to look angry without feeling so inside - it helps.
And if you're the type that easily gets 'het up', then have a good stiff drink early in the evening before you begin - I find cooking with a drink on the drainingboard helps."
