Reading cookbooks for pleasure
July 1, 2017 by DarcieIn yesterday’s post I declared that I read cookbooks like other people read novels. I enjoy getting to know the author’s voice, and learning about different cultures and locales through the foods of the area. I am sometimes asked by friends or acquaintances if I have read any good books lately. My response, “Yes, I’ve read several excellent cookbooks,” is often met with a raised eyebrow.
I am not the only one who has used cookbooks in this way. James Beard award-winning restaurant critic Tejal Rao has too, but for a slightly different reason. Rao started reading cookbooks when she moved with her family to France when she was nine.
It began as a way to hold on to her language, but it morphed into something much larger. Says Rao, “Maybe I would have learned this reading anything, but I learned it reading cookbooks: Words can be used to make an idea more precise, or more vague, to make something clear or to blur its edges. Some writers are good at imagining people who don’t live a life exactly like their own, and others seem incapable.” Rao goes on to describe how the cookbooks she read filled her with joy during a difficult time. After reading this charming article, I am better equipped to explain my why I read cookbooks like novels.
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