Delicious!: Poems Celebrating Street Food around the World

It's National Poetry Month here. Who could resist a book of poems about the various kinds of street food around the world? And it's written by the wonderful Julie Larios, a gifted Cybils judge last year, and illustrated by her friend and fellow-Julie, Julie Paschkis.
Here's a sample poem, just to give you the “flavor,” if you will:



Beautiful, right? Just beautiful.

Now let's zoom into the words, shall we?

MARKET BREAKFAST

OAXACA, MEXICO

Steaming cup of champurrado,

panecitos, cinnamon churros—

mmm, mmm! Delicioso!

Lovebirds chirp: Pio! Pio!

Now let's take a look at all the food words from the poem. Champurrado. Panecitos. Cinnamon churros. Are these new to you as they are to me?



Champurrado. “Champurrado is a chocolate-based...warm and thick Mexican beverage, prepared with either masa de maíz, masa harina, or corn flour; piloncillo; water or milk; and occasionally containing cinnamon, anise seed, or vanilla. Ground nuts, orange zest, and egg can also be employed to thicken and enrich the drink.” Doesn't that sound yummy? Here's a recipe for champurrado if you want to try it from Mexico in My Kitchen.



Panecitos. Panecitos are little breads, and come in a wide variety of shapes and flavors. The recipe I liked best is in Spanish and is from Las Recetas de Mamá here.



Cinnamon churros. Churros are a Spanish and Mexican pastry resembling a doughnut or cruller and made from deep-fried unsweetened dough and sprinkled with sugar. There's a fabulous recipe here from Cookin' Classy.

Whew! And that's just one poem. There are others with street foods from Russia, Tasmania, Peru, and many more. Wouldn't it be fun to read these poems during National Poetry Month and prepare street foods to go along with the poems each day?

As for me, I'm delighted to find a book that combines my love for poetry, words, foods, travel, languages, and picture books, all in one place.