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Food is many things: necessary for living beings to survive, a complicated art form in both composition and presentation, and a pleasure for the senses. Yet in human societies around the globe, it serves another equally important and dignified position as a catalyst for gatherings and sharing moments with cherished friends and beloved family. Yet when we pass down culinary traditions, we often only provide the recipes to make the food and not those precious moments shared along with the meal. This book combines cookbook and memoir, compiling decades of popular recipes with the stories of who made them first or for what occasion. From cocktails and appetizers to soups, salads, entrees, and desserts, not only will readers get an inside perspective on what to make but also the backstory behind how these recipes were selected to share with the rest of the world.
Cookbooks often tantalize the reader with full, glossy photos or scenes of a lavish place setting with the food plated and ready to go, but rarely do they appeal to that sense of nostalgia and warm memory that pairs so well with cuisine. In telling their story and the stories of so many friends across multiple locations, this book personalizes the experience greatly and adds to the reader’s imagination of how the finished dish will turn out. Still, sensibly, the book is organized not by chronological order in the storytelling but through the various types of offerings presented in each chapter. In this way, the experience is more narrative and insightful but still functions quite effectively as a cookbook and a kitchen reference guide. With fifty years of food and stories at their fingertips, readers will come away with plenty to both fire up and satisfy their appetites.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review