The most important part for me was to preserve these dishes,” British-Bangladeshi food writer Dina Begum tells us from her home in London. Begum’s new book, Made in Bangladesh: Recipes and Stories from a Home Kitchen (Hardie Grant) which released this month, introduces readers to recipes from each of the country’s eight divisions. It’s her second after  the Brick Lane Cookbook that celebrated the diverse flavours of that iconic part of London. “[There is often this assumption] that Dhaka is where all the food is, but it’s not. It’s one of many,” says the author, who was born in Sylhet in the north-east of the country.

Dina Begum. Pic Courtesy/Habibul Haque, Drik Picture Library