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Gallery Director's Book Explores Good Eats European Style

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST

Karren Doll Tolliver's new book, "A Travel for Taste," features pictures and recipes and the stories behind them that Tolliver has collected during her travels in Europe. Tolliver, director of Progress Energy Art Gallery, in downtown New Port Richey, is a long-time amateur cook and makes the wine served at gallery events.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: January 28, 2009

It was a Flemish stew to die for.

Karren Doll Tolliver still remembers the stew she ate in a little restaurant in Bruges, Belgium. "It was just so good," she recalls. "The key ingredients were a blonde Belgian beer and a little Dijon mustard. They gave it a little fruitiness and a little tang."

As is her custom when she eats a memorable meal, Tolliver asked for the recipe.

It appears in Tolliver's book, "A Travel for Taste." The self-published 22-page book is a paean to all of the New Port Richey resident's loves: the sweet simple ritual of preparing and sharing food with friends and the more worldly ones of travel and photography.

It contains recipes Tolliver collected on a trip to Europe last year. "I've written a story along with each recipe, telling how I came by it and other interesting information, such as how to serve it and any insights as to the culture behind the food as I've experienced it," she writes in the book.

The book contains photographs of both the finished dishes and scenes from some of the locales from which they came. Always ready for further adventures abroad, Tolliver hopes "A Travel for Taste" will be the first in a series.

An accomplished photographer, Tolliver has photographed images from the Czech Republic and other European countries since 2005, when she taught English in Liberec, a city of roughly 100,000 in the Czech Republic.

That experience allowed her to meet other photographers in the Czech Republic who call themselves the 7,65 Foto Club. Tolliver and other members of the club have had exhibits both in the Czech Republic and New Port Richey.

In 2008, they produced "Point of View," a book of photographs of work at Czech human service organizations. For her part, Tolliver photographed a women and children's shelter and center for mentally challenged adults.

It was during that trip, Tolliver collected the recipes that appear in her book. With the exception of the Flemish stew, all of her recipes are from the Czech Republic.

As a passage in her book illustrates, Tolliver had her own way of navigating the language barrier: "They all spoke Czech among themselves. Lenka spoke German to me and sometimes to Dalin who also speaks it fluently. Dalin spoke his slow, precise English to me, while Jana spoke in somewhat more broken English."

Recipes have always been important to her, Tolliver explains as she takes a break from setting up exhibits at New Port Richey's Progress Energy Art Gallery, where she is director.

She eyes a slender blue-glassed wine bottle and notes she makes the wine served at gallery receptions.

Wine making is an offshoot of the culinary skills that began when she was a child growing up in Vincennes, Ind. Years of cooking with her mother and enjoying large family meals introduced Tolliver to the camaraderie of sharing food and friendship around a table.

She still has her mother's handwritten recipes.

Making and eating food is a layered experience involving both past and present, she says. "Food is so much a part of life. There's a very emotional connection to food. Everyone has food they grew up with."

Collecting recipes adds another flavor to the experience. Tolliver starts her ritual by asking for the recipe. "I know how flattering it is to ask for a recipe," she says.

She keeps them in a cooking journal. "I try to let the person who gave me the recipe write it down and sign it," she explains.

Preparing the meal from a treasured recipe goes far beyond merely duplicating the recipe successfully, she notes. "I like to have company. I wouldn't do this just for myself. I think of it as a gift. I want to have others share it with me."

The book is available online as either a paperback or in downloadable form at www.lulu.com.

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 or cbentley@suncoastnews.com.

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