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Weekend Cooking: Eat This Poem


Title: Eat This Poem
Author: Nicole Gulotta
Publication Date: March 21, 2017
Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis: A literary cookbook celebrating food and poetry, two of life's essential ingredients.

In the same way that salt seasons ingredients to bring out their flavors, poetry seasons our lives; when celebrated together, our everyday moments and meals are richer and more meaningful. The twenty-five inspiring poems in this book from such poets as Marge Piercy, Louise Gluck, Mark Strand, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, Jane Hirshfield are accompanied by seventy-five recipes that bring the richness of words to life in our kitchen, on our plate, and through our palate. Eat This Poem opens us up to fresh ways of accessing poetry and lends new meaning to the foods we cook. 

Review: I love cookbooks and have a bad habit of collecting some of the interesting ones I come across. This one will be added to my collection (got a digital copy to review). My love of cooking is growing steadily to match my love of literature and poetry. This book combines poetry, analysis of the poems, stories from the author, and recipes.

Each section of this book has a few poems that connect with the recipes in that section. So a poem about blueberries is followed by a quick analysis from Nicole which then ties into the following recipes. Some of the recipes have stories to explain while Nicole included them in this collection.

In so many cases of the cookbooks I collect (many from celebrity chefs) I don't end up making any of the dishes because they are too 'fancy' for my style of cooking. This book has some of those, but also some easy and simple recipes that will easily find their way into my kitchen.  I'm a member of a CSA and a lot of what I get from the farm this summer will be used to cook from this cookbook. For the few recipes that call for canned items, I was happy to see that her recommended brands can be purchased at my small local grocery store.

If you love poetry and you love cooking, I think this book would make a good addition to your collection.

I received an ebook ARC from NetGalley. 

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