Spotlight On Gluten Free Around The World

We met Aviva two years ago when she came out with her first cookbook, The No Potato Passover Cookbook, read about it here.  We know Aviva likes to travel and her cookbooks combine her passion for food and travel with foods and pictures from around the world.  This time, Aviva takes us from London to Thailand and France, Israel, Ireland, Ecuador, Vietnam, Indian and more.  Showing us photos of her travels and sharing unique recipes that are Gluten Free Around the World.  Now you can take a trip around the world from your own kitchen with inspiration from Aviva’s travels, starting with a taste right here.

Aviva spent 3 months all over Southeast Asia which includes Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bali, Singapore and South Korea.  One month in North and Western India and Kashmir and a few weeks in Ecuador. In choosing the recipes for this cookbook, Aviva assures me that she only included recipes easily translated for home cooks in the U.S.  She compiled the cookbook choosing a variety of recipes from each region in which she traveled.  Of course, she says, “there was a bias on my part, I chose mainly recipes that were my favorite”.  She also included classic recipes even if not her own.

I asked Aviva if she learned the recipes she shared from locals or did she create them herself based on what she saw.  Aviva said, ” A lot of both. I took cooking classes in Dharmsala, India; Bali, Indionesia; and in Pushkar, India with locals, the rest was a lot of research, curiosity and observation. For kosher reasons I waited to get back to my kitchen to recreate recipes and did not do most of the tasting abroad. That is definitely a challenge for me when i travel but at this point in the game, challenge is my middle name and I thrive on that.”

Here are two of Aviva’s favorite travel stories:

On one of the many trips in the car in Bali, Indionesia I, as usual, try to make small talk with whoever is driving. In broken english my driver asked if I play any musical instruments and I told him that I took some drum lessons and could play a bit. He excitedly asked if I would go with him to his sisters house for a few hours and in his nephews garage band, I obviously accepted so we took a small detour back to his village where I met his whole extended family and rocked out to Guns and Roses for three or so hours.

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My other favorite story also took place in Bali, Indionesia.

Spending three months away from home is difficult in some ways and one day I really missed painting and went out in search of a studio. Across the street from my hotel there happened to be an outdoor art gallery. I liked a lot of the art work and asked the owner if he knew of somewhere I could paint. He told me that his brother is the artist and if I liked he would pick me up on his motor bike and take me to his family home about 30 minutes away and I could paint with him there. Again, I accepted and we spent the day collaborating on an oil painting that I love! my friend and I met his family and invited them back to our hotel the next day to celebrate his daughters bday.

Gluten Free Crepes 

Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Bowl)

Lemon Meringue Tart (Gluten Free)