Kitchen: Cookbooks

Cookbooks are 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.

Hello, Welcome to my personal blog "kitchen and letters"

Today I will be talking about the unconditional cookbook.

How many of you have cookbooks? I think it does not matter whether you like to cook or not, cookbooks are that book that you must have. There are so many of them depending of what you are looking for, diet, culture, they can also be technical, the list enormous! When I walk into a bookstore, is the first area that I look in to, I grab so many of them, look at them, try to find the ones that I have been looking for a while, at the end. I always buy one or two, depends where I am, If I can carry them or not, but is something I always buy, not necessarily follow the recipes, they are a source of inspiration in so many ways. There is a beautiful bookstore in New York City( I was inspired by them to write this blog) call Kitchen, art & letters. If you live or visit New York city, I highly recommend visiting this local bookstore not to be found elsewhere, be ready to spend some money! as they have many unique books. I will leave their website in the link area at the end of the post.

For me, cookbooks are one of those books that you must have in printing form, I believe that in digital form most of the information can be lost and not pass on to other generations, specially from a mother to a daughter etc. Is one of those things that mothers or fathers should try to pass on to their kids. Imagine if you owned the cookbook with stories of your family that you could add on and keep passing on, I think that will be the ideal present for many of us, whether you cook or not, is the written history of your family, written by a family member and passed on generation to generation.

Most cookbooks that you find are very personal, and as most of the things related to food have a story to tell. They are not only teaching you to cook a dish, measurements, ingredientes and new techniques, they are showing you geography, art, design, culture, and customs and much more. Open any cookbook that you have at home, in any page, most of them will have an explanation of who the cook| chef| is, what they do, where are they from and what is the source of inspiration of the book. A cookbook talks to you with no other than passion and care. It whispers to you an intimate relationship that the writer had with the food that they are creating. The book that I'm holding in the photo, I chose it for a reason. It's one of my favorite cookbooks. Sophie Dahl is a English model married to a musician that at the beginning of his career started playing in that restaurant that I worked at in Soho. But that is not the reason that I like this book so much, she invites you to her kitchen, to her comfort zone. She shows you where she comes from, she want to have an "intimate" relationship with you by sharing more than just a recipe with measurements and temperatures. She wants to create an atmosphere for you to cook with passion and care.

Before there was more information about food Anthropology and Sociology of food and all those subjects that I was very keen on learning and researching, there were mainly cookbooks ( and supermarkets) here I learned to read between the lines to find the information that I needed to prove how important cooking is for human life, not only to physical survival, but for cultural and for the sake of customs and traditions. I spent a lot of times in Foyles Boo cooking section understanding cookbooks. reading not the recipes, but where the recipes come from. I later went home to find more information about the chef| cook | writer to understand where they were coming from and what was the purpose of the cookbook.

Most cookbooks are beautifully design, the have photos of the dishes that look so delicious, they are full of personality. They are actually a great book to read even if you are like me, have them for the love of having them, and hardly ever follow a recipe, I use them as reference, I like to go back again and again.

Here is the perfect example of what I'm trying to say, at the end of Sophie Dahl's Cookbook there is this quote:

Very Fond of Food will enchant the eye with evocative photography and whimsical drawings; inspire the mind with witty recollection on family, travel, and romance, and captivate the palate with recipes that comfort the body and soul. Sophie Dahl invite you into a delightful world where every meal is a story, an there is always an excuse for cake.

Sophie Dahl, write the book in seasons, but if you did not know she was from England, you might think that the season are wrong. There is a lot to say about how to eat by the seasons, as I believe that there is more than once type of season( that is subject for another day).

Another writer that I enjoy very much reading is M.K Fisher, anyone that is involved in food in some way knows about her. She was a great influence for many food writers and cooks, and continues to be that I will write more about her work in another blog entry.

Like most humans, I am hungry...our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it...” M.K. Fisher, " The Gastronomical in Me."

Thank you for reading!

In good Food,

Iliana Lanuza

Links:

https://kitchenartsandletters.com

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1408429.M_F_K_Fisher