A Taste of Madagascar: Culinary Riches of the Red Island

For a limited time, we have copies signed by Emmanuel Laroche.

This is the first substantial book in English devoted to the food of Madagascar, and it turns out there is a great deal to say. Much of the outside world knows the island chiefly for vanilla; what Emmanuel Laroche discovers is a food culture far richer than that single crop suggests.

He first arrived through his work with a company that exports Malagasy vanilla. What began as a professional connection grew into something larger: a sustained curiosity about the farmers who cultivate these crops, the landscapes they work in, and the ways food shapes daily life across the island.

The range is striking. Alongside vanilla and cocoa appear ingredients less familiar abroad, including voatsiperifery, a wild black pepper native to Madagascar, and even caviar, produced by aquaculturalists who recognized the island’s unusual geographic advantages. American culinary professionals, including pastry chef Elizabeth Falkner and mixologist Shannon Tebay, join Laroche at points along the way, and a handful of chef-driven recipes appear throughout.

Yet Laroche is careful to keep Malagasy cooks and farmers at the center of the story. The real subject is the island itself—and the people whose work gives its food character.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.