Boston’s North Shore has been called the Gold Coast, an image conjuring up mansions and red-jacketed equestrians. But the region north of Boston is also a melting pot. Immigrant populations have streamed into and through old Essex County for nearly four centuries. Each has brought its characteristic recipes, essential spices, and mouth-watering aromas. Those scents still linger in neighborhoods Greek and Portuguese, Jewish and African-American, Italian, Latino, and Asian (to name a few).

The region’s leading cooking writer chronicles the history of the region in recipes, profiling a cook from each tradition with his or her favorite recipes and holiday menus.

• Learn to make Lobster Bisque, Borscht, and Arroz con Pollo
• Enjoy a traditional Greek Easter dinner and a Hannukkah meal
• Discover restaurants, grocerias, and other places to enjoy the meals and pick up essential ingredients for making them yourself.

LINDA BASSETT’s weekly food column, “Kitchen Call,” appears in North Shore Sunday and Current River Sunday. She is on the culinary faculty at North Shore Community College and has published articles in the Radcliffe Culinary Times and the Journal of the Culinary Historians of Boston. She sits on the board of Les Dames Escoffier, Boston, and is a member of the New England Culinary Guild and the Radcliffe Culinary Friends. Linda lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with her husband, Tim; their children, Marisa and Timmy; and their dog, Shamrock.
Paperback • 7" x 9" • 296 pp. $24.95 • ISBN 1-889833-38-X © 2002