Pioneering Blasta Books offers tasty new alternative in Ireland

There are not many bloggers I follow but Kristin Jensen was one of the first. Her blog Edible Ireland was a treasure chest of writing about Irish food.

It’s no wonder that she became a successful freelance editor and writer in the process as she has worked on some wonderful cook/drink books (‘Sláinte’ to name just one). We competed against each other once in a cookery competition and I normally meet her once a year at the Irish Food Writer Guild Awards.

Now, she has started her new venture as she has identified a huge gap in the market for Irish cookbooks. Traditional cookbooks are very expensive to produce, hence chefs and bloggers can’t afford self-publishing and established publishers are reluctant to risk producing a book by an unknown food writer.

Kristin believes (and I happen to agree) that there is a different way and so Blasta Books was born.

“Blasta Books are to cookbooks what street food is to restaurants,” Kristin says. “They give people a fun, accessible and affordable way to eat exciting food.”

Just imagine picking up a cookbook that is just a cookbook – nothing less, nothing more. Each book will be a hardcover, 72 page A5 cookbook illustrated by Dublin artist Nicky Hooper.

“They are all standalone small books, but as a collectible series they will also provide a more inclusive snapshot of Ireland’s modern and diverse food culture, from tacos to tapas, spice bags to sushi. They are little books with big voices.”

Kristin says: “There are two things that connect absolutely everyone: food and stories. More people need to be able to share their food and by extension their story, which is why Blasta Books aims to prioritise new, previously unpublished voices.”

Blasta Books has currently four titles in the making to raise funds via Kickstarter. Supporters can either just donate money as they can or choose from one of the options available (each option also gives you the option to donate above the suggested amount).

I pre-ordered the book ‘Tacos’ by Lily Ramirez-Foran. Lovers of Mexican food will recognise the name straight away as she has become the authority on Mexican food in Ireland and runs Picado Mexican cookery school in Dublin.

The other title currently available for pre-order are ‘Hot Fat’ by Russell Alford and Patrick Hanlon (aka GastroGays) – for lovers of deep-fried food (on my list). Two more titles are in the works and include works by Jess Murphy (of Kai restaurant in Galway) and Eoin Cluskey (of Bread 41 in Dublin) as well as Kwanghi Chan (of Bowls in Dublin).

Nicky Hooper is a wonderful artist and her prints can also be purchased via the Kickstarter campaign. Check her out on Instagram – her watercolour drawings of food are just beautiful and I just became a huge fan.

Blasta Books cookbooks will be carefully curated by Kristin and will make cookbooks more accessible for everyone. Blasta stands for tasty and I just love the idea of a dedicated cookbook publisher – making it an Irish company focusing on Irish writing is just the icing on the cake. Check out blastabooks.com where you also find the link for the Kickstarter campaign with several options for supporters. I can’t wait to get my copy of ‘Tacos’.