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Why We Cook

Women on Food, Identity, and Connection

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Join the conversation . . .

With more than one hundred women restaurateurs, activists, food writers, professional chefs, and home cooks—all of whom are changing the world of food. Featuring essays, profiles, recipes, and more, Why We Cook is curated and illustrated by author and artist Lindsay Gardner, whose visual storytelling gifts bring nuance and insight into their words and their work, revealing the power of food to nourish, uplift, inspire curiosity, and effect change.

“Prepare to be blown away by Lindsay Gardner’s illustrations. Her gift as an artist is part of this fluid conversation about food with some of the most intriguing women, and you’ll never want it to end. Why We Cook highlights our voices and varied perspectives in and out of the kitchen and empowers us to reclaim our place in it.” —Carla Hall, chef, television personality, and author of Carla Hall’s Soul Food

Why We Cook is a wonderful, heartwarming antidote to these trying times, and a powerful testament to unity through food.” —Anita Lo, chef and author of Solo and Cooking Without Borders

“This book is a beautiful object, but it’s also much more than that: an essay collection, a trove of recipes, a guidebook for how we might use food to fight for and further justice. The women in its pages remind us that it’s in the kitchen, in the field, and around the table that we do our most vital work as human beings—and that, now more than ever, we must.” —Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life and The Fixed Stars

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    • Library Journal

      April 1, 2021

      Asking herself why cooking is such an inspiration, illustrator Gardner sets out to answer this question and more. Through two years of research and interviews with more than 100 women in the food world, including professional chefs, farmers, journalists, authors, food justice activists, restaurateurs, critics, entrepreneurs, and home cooks (among others), Gardner expands on the "nuanced relationships women have with food and cooking"; this brief includes anyone who identifies as a woman. Illustrated by Gardner, the book includes narratives that recall memorable meals, kitchen portraits, essays, quotes, recipes, profiles, and responses to questions and themes as part of the "In Conversation" segments, along with stats from Gardner's survey of more than 350 women. Readers can explore themes outlined in the table of contents or use the contributor index to find a particular woman's contribution. VERDICT The range of voices shine a light on racial diversity in the culinary world in this visually evocative, comforting book. Easy to dive into at any point when seeking inspiration or a sense of community through food and cooking, this book is a good conversation starter.--Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib., Miami

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from February 15, 2021
      After a year spent likely cooking more at home, readers will rejoice in this inspiring collection of writing and art about the beautiful, loving act of preparing a meal. With contributions from food writers, chefs, farmers, restaurateurs, and cookbook authors, this book explores the role of food in private and public life. These writers share early culinary memories, career anecdotes, global food traditions, examinations of how our food is sourced from the Earth, and recipes galore. Readers will find profiles of chefs like Jen Castle and Blake Spalding of Hell's Backbone Grill, a secluded organic restaurant near the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and glimpse a day in the life at the BIPOC-centered Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, which is committed to eradicating racism in the food industry. Plus, the recipes: Senegalese chicken yassa, Japanese soba, French canel�s. The shared experience of cooking, the ancient art of preparing and sharing nourishment, binds the entire collection, with contributors sharing how food ties them to countries of origin, heritage, and family. They share how the passion and the healing nature of cooking transcend all borders of geography and time. With Gardner's gorgeous watercolor illustrations, this book is a love letter to food and those who feed us.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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