As I’m a big fan of cookery competitions, “Recipe for Love” instantly caught my attention and made me turn the pages with both excitement and fear. While reading about Zoe Harper’s intense journey in the culinary world, it felt like I was watching a real cooking show.
Zoe, the heroine of the story, has won a place in a well-known televised cookery competition and now she is ready to put her cooking skills to the test and make a good impression. She travels to Somerby, a beautiful, old mansion where the contestants and the judges are supposed to stay during the filming. The house belongs to a married couple, Fenella and Rupert Gainsborough, who gradually become good friends with Zoe.
In the beginning, the contestant is exploring the Somerby’s surroundings, trying to relax and enjoy some time alone: “Zoe Harper lay on the bank in the sun with her eyes closed, listening to a lark high above her. Nearer her ear she could hear the crackling of the grass and the buzzing of insects. The weather had been changeable recently in typical British-weather fashion, but today it was a perfect early summer’s day.” (page 1)
After a short walk, she meets a man called Gideon Irving, who has his car stuck in a ditch. While Zoe helps him with the car, she notices that he is argumentative and arrogant and soon realizes that he is actually one of the judges, a tough critic, but an inspiring food writer. Gideon also finds out that Zoe is a contestant, so the two of them decide to pretend they haven’t met before in order to avoid any misunderstandings.
The competition turns out to be quite difficult and sometimes it seems to be impossible to fully concentrate on what you have to do, especially when there are a lot of cameras following you everywhere. The contestants are working in fancy restaurants and serving hungry customers, while being watched by the three judges, Gideon Irving, Fred Acaster and Anna Fortune (they all reminded me of Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Christina Tosi, the judges from Masterchef US). Some of the tasks are really interesting, such as creating a three-course meal using the best local ingredients. My favorite one is the catering for a wedding, which is held at the Somersby’s. Sarah Stratford, the wedding planner, wants ten sorts of canapés and ten of each kind from every contestant. Everything runs smoothly until Sarah realizes that she still hasn’t got a wedding cake. Zoe offers to help, so she soon finds herself preparing seventy cupcakes. Despite having to make tons of canapés, she enjoys the challenging task, ignoring the fact that it might ruin her chances in the competition. In the end Zoe manages to finish both the canapés and the cupcakes, proving that she is a strong competitor.
Throughout the story, Zoe develops a crush on Gideon. Surprisingly, the judge has the same feelings for her. The two characters end up together quickly and try to hide their relationship. At first I thought Zoe and Gideon would hate each other and slowly fell in love towards the end.
The most annoying character in the book would probably be Cher, Zoe’s roommate and fellow competitor. She is the perfect image of a mannequin-like model with long, blonde hair and a lot of make-up, including false eyelashes. Cher entered the competition just to be on television and become famous, admitting that she’s not too much into cooking. She is completely irritating, rude and nosy and unfortunately, she finds out about Zoe and Gideon’s secret:
“Cher placed an elegant, French-manicured finger on the trackpad and a picture filled the screen. “I took these on my mobile, so they’re not great, but I think they’re clear enough, don’t you?” Zoe peered at the screen. It seemed to be a weird close-up from a Ray Mears programme. Then she recognised her fleece. A second later she saw Gideon. They were kissing. Several more photos of the same subject followed. (…) Zoe felt sick. Her knees failed her and she sank on to the sofa.” (page 336)
Cher thinks that Gideon has always favored Zoe, so she wants her to mess up her menu in the upcoming finale: “Cher shook her head. “No. You have to make absolutely certain you don’t win. You’ve got to ruin a dish. I want your reputation as a cook shattered, on television, in public. It’s only what you deserve.” Zoe drew breath to protest…” (page 338)
In order to protect Gideon from having his career affected, Zoe finally agrees to make an unforgivable mistake in the finale, so she heavily oversalts her steak and burger. The wrong seasoning costs her everything. I was extremely disappointed when another contestant, Becca, won the competition.
The last part of the story has many unexpected surprises. At the wrap party, Zoe sees Gideon with his wife, Rosalind. Thinking that he has been using her all this time, she decides to forget about him. She begins working in a deli with a new friend, Astrid, in a town called Fearnley. In the end Gideon finds Zoe and explains the reason why he got married:
“He shook his head. “We talked about this recently, and decided it was a combination of family pressure, the fact that we got on so well, and that we were both very ambitious. She had the offer of an amazing job. We knew we couldn’t go to America together unless we were married. Let’s just say it seemed like a good idea at the time.” He paused. “And then time passed and we went our separate ways. But we stayed friends, and we sort of forgot about getting a divorce. (…) Now it matters because I’ve met you. So when I went to America I told Rosalind I wanted to start divorce proceedings.” (page 418-419)
So there you have it, the recipe for love. Take one aspiring cook and a very desirable judge, stir in a tablespoon of romance, add a pinch of drama and you get a lovely couple, ready to flourish and start a successful life together.
What we can learn from this story is that there are more important things than fame and money. Zoe shows us that she is not only interested in winning the competition. She enjoys life, helps Fenella and Rupert with their newborn child, Glory, finds out what true love is (“Love is when you can’t contemplate life without that person, when you think about them obsessively…”) and learns from her mistakes always having a smile on her face. Her unique personality and amazing cooking skills make her a loveable character!
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