In Review

21 November 2008 22:16 BST

Reggae Reggae Cookbook by Levi Roots

Harper Collins, out now 192pp.

Levi Roots burst onto the celebrity chef scene when he took his Reggae Reggae sauce into popular TV show Dragon's Den and secured money to market the Jamaican jerk barbecue sauce to the world.

Everyone loved him because he didn't seem to take the process too seriously, singing a song to wow the Dragons into handing over £50,000. But the success of the sauce - it's apparently in Sainsbury's now don't you know - did raise an interesting issue with the culinary landscape in the UK. Caribbean people might have been flocking to the UK ever since the end of the Second World War, but their unique food has been strangely ignored by most people. Even the most kitchen-shy bloke might be happy knocking up a Thai curry or a plate of risotto, but confront them with some okra, Scotch bonnets and beans and they'll frown and struggle to find any help in the latest Jamie offering.

Step forward Levi, the only creditable person who's taken any interest in promoting what should by all rights already be an immensely popular type of food. After all, Caribbean food is robust, spicy and great on a BBQ - all things that should endear it to the British public.

The book, unsurprisingly titled the Reggae Reggae Cookbook, is very much in the lifestyle mode popularised by Jamie Oliver. After a sycophantic foreword by Dragon Peter Jones, the reader is presented with photos and the story of Levi's life to date. It might be a bit mawkish, but learning about young Roots growing up and cooking with his Gran in Jamaica does give the whole proceedings some authenticity.

To ease everyone in, the recipes start of simply, with Caribbean staples like boiled green bananas and rice and peas presented and explained. From then on in, things get a bit more complex, with Levi hitting the reader for recipes for stews and soups that certainly do look appealing. In fact, the only recipes in the whole book that don't excite any reaction are those where he tries to 'Caribbean-up' British staples. Fusion cooking was cool ten years ago, but you we really need a recipe for 'Reggae cheese on toast' or 'nice 'n spicy roast chicken'?

Despite this reservation, Levi's writing throughout is infectious and does really convey a passion for the cuisine he was raised on and has now made him a celebrity. It makes you want to get in the kitchen and knock up a bowl of calloo and satlfish. But at the moment you head over to the cupboard you encounter the essential problem with the book. Sure it might sound appealing, but Jamaican food relies on such a host of spices and usual vegetables to give it its appeal that it's highly unlikely you're going to have them in your home. And unless you live in London, you're probably going to struggle to even buy any of them.

In the end, what the Reggae Reggae Cookbook ended up making me want to do was go try a Caribbean restaurant where someone who knows what they're doing can cook me something nice to eat. Which I'm pretty sure isn't what a cook book is supposed to ever do.

5/10

James Cooper