My Abuela's Table

My Abuela’s Table is a beautifully illustrated, personal journey to the heart of ‘real’ Mexican food. It is a celebration of clean, spicy authentic Mexican flavours. There are none of the obligatory Tex-Mex nachos or hard tacos recipes.

These are loved recipes passed down from generation to generation – to Daniella from her Mexican mother, who scribed them at her mother’s kitchen table (Daniella’s abuela - grandmother).

Savoury recipes include Cuete en salsa de nuez (beef in nut sauce); chiles en nogada (stuffed chillies); Langostinos a la veracruzana (Veracruz-style prawns); and Pan de muerto (Day of the Dead bread). Also included are sections on Mexican basics – such as cooking with Mexican herbs and spices, and chilli varieties – as well as classic salsas, rice, tortillas and bean dishes.

The story behind the book getting published is also an interesting one. My abuela’s table was an end of year design project for Daniella. Julie Pinkham Hardie Grant’s MD was one of the judges on the night and loved Daniella’s work so much that she invited her in for a chat to work with us on some titles as an illustrator. When Daniella came in for the meeting with our publisher, Paul McNally, she brought in her project/book. Paul immediately fell in love with the book and asked if we could publish it. This doesn’t happen very often.

Read Daniella Germain's guest blog post about the story behind the creation of My Abuela's Table.