Alibhai-Brown’s personal and family history is woven together with recipes to form a moving memoir of the East-African Asian diaspora experience, from India to Uganda to London. The author delivers a masterclass in storytelling, although it’s far from rose-tinted in its exploration of belonging, racism, family relationships, and community. The (very cookable) recipes are the thread that holds it all together.

Through the personal story of Yasmin's family and the food and recipes they've shared together, The Settler's Cookbook tells the history of Indian migration to the UK via East Africa. Her family was part of the mass exodus from India to East Africa during the height of British imperial expansion, fleeing famine and lured by the prospect of prosperity under the empire. In 1972, expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin, they moved to the UK, where Yasmin has made her home with an Englishman. The food she cooks now combines the traditions and tastes of her family's hybrid history. Here you'll discover how Shepherd's Pie is much enhanced by sprinkling in some chilli, Victoria sponge can be enlivened by saffron and lime, and the addition of ketchup to a curry can be life-changing.

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Susan Low

Food writer

So much more than a recipe book, this brave food memoir delivers a masterclass in storytelling. Alibhai-Brown’s family emigrated to Britain in 1972 after being expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin. It’s far from rose-tinted in its exploration of belonging, racism, family relationships and community, and the recipes act as the glue that holds it all together.

Zoe Perrett

Food writer and blogger