Fragrant Rice: My Continuing Love Affair with Bali [Includes 115 Recipes]

by Janet De Neefe

Book Overview

This memoir, peppered with authentic Balinese recipes, is a love letter to the food and culture of Bali When Janet De Neefe stepped off the plane in Bali in 1974, she felt an immediate connection to this island paradise. Though curious about Bali's culture, its warm people and its mouthwatering cuisine, she didn't expect to fall in love with a Balinese man and make a new life there. Now, years later, Janet and her husband have four children and run...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0794650287
• ISBN13: 9780794650285
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Periplus Editions
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Love at First Sight

I enjoyed Fragrant Rice: My Continuing Love Affair with Bali very much. There is a certain type of travel book that draws me in completely: a writer falls deeply in love with another culture, as if he or she is finding a long-lost home at last, and is able to share that love in a way that is both knowledgable and emotionally compelling. Although there are moments when the writing falters and, as intimated in another review, the writer assumes an interest in her children's preferences that the reader might not feel, I was able to have the experience I look for in a travel book, living a life I will never have but could dream of. The recipes are lovely. The insight into the culture is fascinating. The author's life, with one foot in Bali and the other in Austrailia, and the reality that she will never be part of the Balinese as her husband and children are, is compelling and just a bit heartbreaking.

Bali insights

I enjoyed reading this book while traveling in Bali because it shed light on Balinese customs, cooking, and community life from the perspective of an Australian learning how to assimilate into her husband's culture and to grow a successful business together in the Honeymoon Guesthouse (now expanding to a second guesthouse) and their several restaurants that are popular with visitors and locals alike. I also enjoyed reading the recipes. Fun travel reading and a good souvenir to help you try to replicate Balinese dishes at home.