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Fourth Estate has landed a food book celebrating the second-generation British Indian experience from Gurdeep Loyal.
PR and publishing director Michelle Kane bought world rights for Mother Tongue: Flavours of a Second Generation direct from the author. It will be published in summer 2022.
The synopsis states: “Mother Tongue celebrates the multitudes of the second-generation British-Indian experience through the recipes of a child of the diaspora from Leicester, exploring his hyphenated identity on a plate.
"It shares what happens when your culinary education combines ‘authentic’ home-cooked Punjabi food with ‘inauthentic’ curry-house tikka masalas, the European foodie cannon, and a wanderlust for travel in pursuit of flavour, each in equal measure. What results is a hybrid cuisine that exists in the middle-ground as a delicious self-expression of British-Indian identity today, characterised by ingredient combinations that inhabit the grey areas in between so-called cultural boundaries. This vibrantly spiced, flavour-amplified, third-culture cuisine creates with it a spectrum of possibilities for home cooks to explore and be inspired by every day.”
Loyal is a food and drink consultant and has worked for leading brands including Innocent Drinks, Harrods’ Food Halls and most recently as head of food trends for Marks & Spencer, travelling the world for gourmet inspiration to bring to the dinner tables of the nation. He is also a food writer and curator of the online platform Mother Tongue, which celebrates food stories of migration, race, authenticity and second-generation culinary identity around the world.
Kane said: “Having been fortunate enough to taste some of Gurdeep’s flavour-bursting recipes, I know that Mother Tongue is set to become a staple in kitchens across the land. He also has the most wonderful storytelling ability and while this book is deeply personal to him and his experience, it will resonate with anyone who is enthusiastic for new stories and new recipes.”
Loyal added: "I am overjoyed to be working with Michelle Kane and the team at 4th Estate to bring my exploration of British-Indian identity through food to home cooks everywhere. Mother Tongue will pay homage to my Indian heritage and families migration journey, celebrating the dynamic ability of food to evolve across continents over time. Being born in Britain to Indian parents, but never feeling fully on the inside of either culture, my recipes and stories are true to the joyful dichotomies of my hyphenated identity, and authentic to my own second-generation experience.”