I
f you’re not one of those people who has a stack of cookbooks on your nightstand already, you might not know that there’s a lot more to read in a cookbook than just the recipes. Cookbooks can be a special genre of literary nonfiction, packed with stories from personal anecdotes to historical episodes, giving context and narrative to the cooking instructions. But a practiced cookbook reader knows that reading the instructions, too, can be a rich imaginative exercise. Let your gastronomic imagination run the globe with these literary cookbooks.
Luz Calvo & Catriona Rueda Esquibel
Decolonize Your Diet: Plant-Based Mexican-American Recipes for Health and Healing
Arsenal Pulp Press
The first recipe in the book appears on page 50, and by the time you’ve read that far, you’re already in love with the narrators. When Luz Calvo was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, Luz and Catriona Rueda Esquibel looked to their roots in Mexico and Central America to find a healthier relationship to food and diet. “We learned to live again in our bodies and on this earth,” Catriona writes of their culinary journey. The authors are both academics in history, ethnic studies, and social justice, and they apply their historical knowledge and poetic craft in equal measure to tell a story of pre-Columbian cooking as political resistance in the twenty-first-century Chicana/o diaspora.
Marcella Hazan
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Alfred A. Knopf
This cookbook moves easily between my kitchen and my reading nook. I bought it the day after the pasta-making attachments for my KitchenAid mixer arrived in the mail, and I quickly came to adore Marcella Hazan’s humorous prose as much as her world-renowned expertise. Wait until you hear the poetry of Hazan describing the place of the anchovy in Italian cuisine, the procedure of using a thumbnail to remove the fish’s spine. The recipes are long and detailed narratives, full of vivid descriptions, wise asides, and advice for variations. Not a single full-color photo in its nearly seven hundred pages: your imagination will have to provide its own visual fancies.
Bryant Terry
Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed
Ten Speed Press
Afro-Vegan is an important reminder that global cuisines are the result of the movement of people, not just ingredients and ideas. As Bryant Terry explains unblinkingly, the contributions of African-diasporic
people to global cuisines “have been hardearned, underacknowledged, and even exploited” through enslavement and forced migration, and that to cook with the flavors and ingredients means to “come to terms with the problematic narratives that surround them.” The storytelling in Afro-Vegan goes beyond mere celebration of tasty foods to a critical “appreciation of the people who gave birth to this rich culinary heritage.” Along the way, Terry introduces readers to fellow artists and creators through a “soundtrack” for each recipe and lots of contributions from friends, family, and chefs. Read, listen, cook, eat: there’s no wrong way to sink your teeth into this literary cookbook.
FAQs
Cookbooks can be a special genre of literary nonfiction, packed with stories from personal anecdotes to historical episodes, giving context and narrative to the cooking instructions.
Has Rachael Ray written any cookbooks? ›
Rachael Ray is a New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty cookbooks. She is the host of the Food Network's 30 Minute Meals and Rachael Ray's Kids Cook-Off, as well as the Cooking Channel's and the Food Network's Week in a Day.
Is a cookbook fiction or nonfiction? ›
Cookbooks are one of the most popular non-fiction genres in publishing.
What makes a book a literary book? ›
Whereas genre fiction from Romance to Dystopian Horror is plot-driven, Literary Fiction is character-driven. Any action in the story impacts the main character or characters, and understanding this impact is the whole point of telling the story. The overall tone of the book is introspective.
Are cookbooks still a thing? ›
“Cookbook sales in the U.S. grew 8% year-on-year between 2010 and 2020, with sales numbers boosted even further by the pandemic,” wrote Kate Gibbs in a 2022 story in the Guardian.
What is the tragedy of Rachael Ray? ›
In fact, the entire family experienced a tragedy in 2013 when Ray's aunt died outside Ray's home, sparking a family feud. The 77-year-old Geraldine Dominica Scuderi was house-sitting for Ray in late November when she went outside to feed the birds and locked herself out of the home.
Did Julia Child write a cookbook? ›
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both from France, and Julia Child, from the United States. The book was written for the American market and published by Knopf in 1961 (Volume 1) and 1970 (Volume 2).
Was Rachael Ray Oprah's personal chef? ›
As Oprah's personal chef for 10 years, Rachael wants to know if there was ever anything Art Smith made for the big O that didn't go over quite so well. Art reveals, "No, she would just say, 'Honey, not so much food!
Who is the target audience for cookbooks? ›
Think about the people you already reach and build a profile of a target reader. Include age, education, how often they're in the kitchen, how often they go to restaurants, whether they're interested in trendy foods, whether they travel, have kids, take classes, etc. Doing so will help you focus your book.
What genre does a cookbook fall under? ›
What Is the Cookbook Genre? Cookbooks are nonfiction books that educate the audience about cooking techniques, dishes, and ingredients. They typically contain collections of recipes with step-by-step instructions that guide the reader through preparing a particular food.
Writing a cookbook is a labor of love, but in the end, you'll be a published author with a work you can be proud of.
What is the meaning of cookbook in literature? ›
cookbook, collection of recipes, instructions, and information about the preparation and serving of foods. At its best, a cookbook is also a chronicle and treasury of the fine art of cooking, an art whose masterpieces—created only to be consumed—would otherwise be lost.
What does literary mean in books? ›
As opposed to genre fiction, literary fiction refers to the realistic fiction of human character, or more broadly, "all serious prose fiction outside the market genres", the genres being for example science fiction, fantasy, thrillers or Westerns.
Is a cookbook a literary text or non literary text? ›
A non-literary text would be non-fiction and would focus on reality, information, instruction, and facts. Examples would be instruction manuals, cookbooks, documents, and others.
What is the purpose of writing a cookbook? ›
Here are a few examples of WHY you might want to write a cookbook: Teach and influence others about a topic related to cooking or baking. Earn a lot of money off the sale of my book. Raise funds for an organization or non-profit agency.
Luz Calvo & Catriona Rueda Esquibel
Marcella Hazan
Bryant Terry