The title and subject of the book stirred up a deep sense of nostalgia in me. My siblings and I grew up in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in our formative years. The names of dishes in this book—Kaande pohe, thali peeth, varanbhath, etc., kindled my appetite for more such dishes as these were made regularly in our house. If you have an adventurous palate and you are game for trying out different cuisines this book is a must read. In the past few decades the genre of cookery books has gained great popularity. Saee Koranne-Khandekar’s book on Maharashtrian cooking is a welcome addition to the list.
The author has done extensive research on Maharashtrian cooking and compiled a very comprehensive list of dishes from different regions of Maharashtra. As she rightly points out in her Introduction, normally when one says Maharashtrian food, people only think of sabudana khichri, sabudana vada, batata vada, usal pav, etc., since these are the dishes that are readily available in the metropolises. In this book the author has provided recipes—both vegetarian and non-vegetarian—from each region of Maharashtra, the cuisines from the Konkan coast, Desh, Paschim Maharashtra, Khandesh, Marathwada and Vidarbha which have their distinctive recipes. It is very informative.