Saturday, February 8, 2014

Eat the Book: Literary Recipes

It probably started with Nora Ephron, and almost certainly reached a high point with Ruth Reichl, but in the last few years the recipe-studded novel/memoir - call it the kitchen-counter novel - has become a virtual genre. So many of them have been bubbling up on reading lists that news of another might give even the most adventurous palate pause.
~Eve Zibart in BookPage

We're just a bunch of literary foodies here at abcreads, and we can't stay away from recipes, whether they be in cookbooks or folded into other kind of books, such as the graphic memoir Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, the essays of Laurie Colwin, a book about the origins of recipes we take for granted such as A History of Food in 100 Recipes, or Molly Wizenberg's delectable A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table.  We think it can only make a book more enjoyable when you can read about a dish in the context of fiction or memoir, and then attempt to make it!  With that in mind, we have compiled for you a selection of tasty literary treats - don't read 'em and weep, read 'em and cook!

Novels with recipes 

Meet Me at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan [eBook]

Entertaining Disasters by Nancy Spiller [eBook]

Belle in the Big Apple by Brooke Parkhurst

The Quilter's Kitchen: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel with Recipes by Jennifer Chiaverini

The Ingredients of Love by Nicolas Barreau 

Aftertaste: {A Novel in Five Courses} by Meredith Mileti [eBook]


Series with recipes

A Mystery with Recipes (Isis Crawford)

Pennsylvania Dutch (Tamar Myers)

Hannah Swensen (Joanne Fluke)

Culinary Mystery (Nancy Fairbanks)

Magical Bakery (Bailey Cates)

Donut Shop (Jessica Beck)

Also check out our Culinary Mysteries booklist!


Memoirs with recipes

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins by Ellen Sweets

Feed the Hungry by Nani Power

Love in the Time of Cholesterol by Cecily Ross

Monsoon Diary by Shoba Narayan

Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard
 

Cookbooks inspired by fiction 

The Cat Who - Cookbook by Julie Murphy & Sally Abney Stempinski

Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook: Featuring Fried Green Tomatoes, Southern Barbecue, Banana Split Cake, and Many Other Great Recipes by Fannie Flagg [eBook]

The Book Lover's Cookbook: Recipes Inspired By Celebrated Works of Literature and the Passages That Feature Them by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger & Janet Kay Jensen

A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Companion Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer [eBook]

Shakespeare's Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook by Francine Segan 

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook: Inside the Kitchens, Bars, and Restaurants of Mad Men by Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin [eBook]


For children's cookbooks inspired by fiction, visit our earlier post "Cooking by the Book (& Sometimes the Film) for Kids".

Links

Top Ten Bookish Treats [Nerdy Book Club]

Mary Poppins Zodiac Cake [History Kitchen]

Anne of Green Gables Raspberry Cordial [History Kitchen]

George Orwell's Dessert Recipes

Fictional Food

Food Through the Pages

Cook Fiction

Feast of Fiction

1 comment:

LW said...

And there's always Brunetti's Cookbook, originally A Taste of Venice: At Table with Brunetti, based on Donna Leon's excellent mystery series with Commissario Guido Brunetti and his family -- one way to learn intimately about Venice. The family is always sitting down for glorious meals!