You’re certainly not going to miss this book on the bookshelf – with flamboyant hot pink and highlighter- orange pages there’s nothing shy about it. Not knowing much about Gujarati food, I have to assume that this bold, in- your-face approach reflects the nature of the food. Assume, that is, because strangely the book lacks any overview on the topic; an unfortunate omission. But, grumping aside, this is a distillation of the recipes that Shobha Kalyan taught her kids: recipes learned from her mother, who in turn had learned them from her Gujarati-turned-Kiwi grandmother. Punching off the pages comes good, home-cooked food for Gujarati feasts, snacks, barbecues and sweets. Starting with a section on spices and pastes, these are then used in dishes such as curries, soups, pastries, chutney and breads. It’s unclear if the recipes are genuinely Gujarati or a Kiwi-Gujarati take but there’s little that will send you fleeing to Google. So dive into lamb and tomato curry, spiced barbecue fish or green apple chutney. I’m not sure I’ll ever need to make eight different types of Gujarati pastries, but I reckon I could clean up that tray of Diwali treats in minutes. TRACY WHITMEY