Shanaz Ramzi’s Food Tales: An Anecdotal Journey of Recipes was launched in Karachi today. The event was attended by the author’s friends, family, select media, socialites and celebrities. Prominent names like Zeba Bakhtiar, Javed Jabbar, Mrs Yasmeen Lari graced the event.
More than just a cookbook, Food Tales is an anecdotal journey of the author’s life, tracing where and when she got most of the recipes and from whom. The launch was marked by a book signing ceremony by Shanaz Ramzi.
The host of the evening, Hasan Rizvi, welcomed all the guests, introduced himself and his relationship with the author, sharing his personal experiences of Shanaz Ramzi’s cooking.
Mr Arif Bahalim, CEO of Kaatib Publishers, was called upon to share his experiences of publishing his first recipe book. He stated, “When I saw the recipes, and later we tasted the dishes as they would come to us for the photoshoot, I changed my mind about making it a paperback as I felt it deserved to be hardbound!”
Next to speak was the author, Shanaz Ramzi. She said, “While I am no chef and have no degrees or even diplomas in cooking, and I do know that my love for cooking has led me, over the decades, to acquire some fantastic recipes from various sources. Whenever I have cooked these dishes, they have always met with rave reviews and so spread joy in my life, not to mention in the lives of those who enjoyed them along with me!
The idea of sharing these recipes with all who love to cook, no matter which part of the world they are residing in, germinated quite a few years ago, after invariably having been asked for recipes by my guests when I had cooked for them, and then later being told how well their dishes had turned out when they had followed my instructions to a tee.
It made me realise the importance of these simple, fool-proof tried and tested recipes that anyone, regardless of whether they know how to cook or not, can try their hand at – for I have discovered over the years that by and prominent most people don’t part with accurate recipes and even recipe books tend to have ingredients or exact quantities missing!”
A fun activity was then carried out with comments sought from those present at the launch and whose recipes were featured in the book.