The book ‘Himmelske Kombinasjoner’ by Geir Salvesen has been nominated for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2007 in the category Best Book for Food Professionals. The award ceremony will take place at the Olympia Theatre in London on 13 April.
10/04/2008 :: ‘Himmelske Kombinasjoner’, or Heavenly Combinations, is no ordinary cookery book, but rather a collection of simple recipes, including a guide to what wines go with each dish – and why. The book is not just about food, or just about wine, but explores what happens to flavours when the two are combined. It suggests flavours that go with different kinds of wine and how to change the food to fit the wine. It also explores the idea of ‘taste rules’ (‘smakslover’) as a guide to combining food and wine.
Geir Salvesen, a political journalist for Aftenposten for over 20 years, has been writing the newspaper’s wine column since it first started in 1990 and has also written several books about wine. This is his first book about how to combine food and wine, however. Salvesen has had valuable help from amateur cook Nina Bøhn and American photographer Nancy Bundt.