Fika: Ikea's Stylish Cookbook

Last Sunday, one of Jane's Mother's day presents is the much talked about IKEA cookbook entitled  Fika: 30 Classic Swedish Baking Recipes from Bite-size Cookies to Festive Cakes.

Fika simply means “coffee break” in Sweden and more contemporarily, it means socializing with family or friends over a cup of coffee, tea or even fruit juices. It is often accompanied with sweets or pastries.

The word has been coined by reversing the Swedish word for coffee which is kaffi or kaffe. Much like what our Filipino parents did during the hip culture of their teen years. Incidentally, the Tagalog word for coffee is kape (kah-peh) which is not far sounding from the Swedish kaffi.

The Fika book is actually a cookbook. With recipes, ingredients and photos of it, baking procedures, and the photo of the finished product. But what separated it from the usual cookbooks was the manner the photos of the ingredients are illustrated. As you can see in the following photos.

Unlike your ordinary cookbooks wherein the ingredients were in containers, bowls and pans, Fika is composed of pages upon pages of pyramids and mastabas of all-purpose flour, perfectly-arranged and equally-spaced fruits and nuts, and droplets of vanilla extracts or water. It's like seeing all the baking ingredients in a whole new light. And with this kind of presentation, it makes the art and science of baking more interesting and entertaining even.

The hardcover book will look good at the coffee table and great as a conversation piece. It is also reasonably-priced. 

Get your copy now, (or don't if you do not like to). Haha! Meanwhile, let me choose which of the 30 yummy recipes should we bake soon and probably try to build one of those flour pyramids just for the fun of it.

Cheers!