What if we read cookbooks as if they were memoirs, and food blogs like they were essays? Considering how much personal information gets included in texts like these, it’s a wonder we don’t. Cookbooks are packed with narrative content that, on the surface, anyway, has little or nothing to do with food. The thing is, food touches nearly every aspect of life. Most cookbooks, as well as most blogs, tend to focus on a particular cuisine or lifestyle. This means the content of any writing around a recipe invokes the life of the author.
In this class, we’ll look closely at a few cookbooks, as well as recipes taken from blogs and cooking sites, in order to examine the intersection of recipes and personal stories. We’ll also discuss why certain recipe formats have been used, and how this tells us something about the era in which a recipe was written as well as its intended audience. Be prepared for in-workshop reading, discussion, and a writing exercise or two. This class is for anyone interested in writing about food and recipes and their relationship to both––no professional cooking credentials necessary! Bonus: If you've got a favorite cookbook, crack it open and find a micro essay (the text between the recipes) to bring to the workshop to discuss.
