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Travel Channeling

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October 6, 2015
Baked oatmeal with pluots—only 1 spoon required.

Heidi Swanson’s new cookbook, Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel ($30), is like Eat, Pray, Love for those who would have preferred Eat, Eat, Eat.

Swanson is the powerhouse author and photographer behind the much-loved blog >101 Cookbooks, and the cookbooks, Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day.

Her newest book is divided into two sections: “Near” and “Far.” The “Near” portion focuses on recipes inspired by her life in Northern California, while “Far” is divided into five chapters: Morocco, France, India, Italy and Japan.

She says, “Once you’re home from a trip, details tend to fall away. I noticed, long after I’ve forgotten the names of monuments, train stations or boulevards of a city I’ve traveled to, the flavors would stay with me.”

Although Swanson has hit the road with this book, she maintains her ethos of a life bright with vegetarian recipes, global ingredients and nutrient-rich superfoods.

The 120 recipes for inventive dishes like granola with nori are deeply personal, drawn from her journals and matched with a sprinkling of heavy-hitters from the blog (such as this sprout salad). Swanson smartly includes an additional section called “En Route,” with food designed to hold up to the long flights, delays and the inevitable unpredictability of travel, like rice paper wrapped spring rolls and strong ginger snaps for queasiness.

Swanson shared her recipe for baked oatmeal with us, drawn from the Near section of the book. It’s the kind of recipe to both root you in place and give you the nourishment to start planning your next jaunt.

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