culinary – Mom Read It

20 Recipes Kids Should Know, by Esme Washburn/Photos by Calista Washburn, (April 2019, Prestel), $16.95, ISBN: 9783791385075

Ages 8+

Esme Washburn is a 12-year-old cooking enthusiast. Her sister Calista is a 17-year-old photographer. Together, the two sisters have come up with a delicious book of easy-to-make recipes for kids. These 20 recipes provide a nice variety for a burgeoning chef: there’s a choice of breakfasts, lunches, dinners (called Mains here), appetizers, sides, and desserts, plus two extra recipes for “Back to Basics Bread” and “Popovers That Pop”. There’s something for everyone here, from meat-based dishes to vegetarian fare. Ingredients are easily attained at your local grocery store, and the directions are numbered, step-by-step, and written out in short, simple sentences that allow readers to have the book propped open, ready to follow along with a glance as needed.

The photos are just beautiful. I’m assuming that Esme Washburn, as the cook, plates her food for photos, and does a scrumptious job; Calista Washburn creates lovely foodscapes on pastel dishes, with culinary flourishes like dishcloths, measuring spoons, and fresh foods to add to the visual appeal. The Quintessential Grilled Cheese Sandwich is begging me to take a bite out of it, with its crispy, textured bread and melted cheese sitting on a plate; the Creamiest Mac and Cheese would be the perfect accompaniment to it, with gooey, melty cheese peeking through the wagon wheel pasta. (Yes, I’m a cheese fanatic.)

An introduction provides the important stuff to go over: weights and measurements, safety tips, guidelines for prep and cleanup, and a glossary/cooking techniques section are all here to help get new cooks up and running. Esme writes an introduction before each recipe.

20 Recipes Kids Should Know is a nice addition to a young cook’s bookshelf. There’s no firm minimum age noted here, so I’d say that, as a parent or caregiver, you know when your kids are ready – and require guidance. I’ve got a 15-year-old who I still keep an ear out for, and I’ve got a 7-year-old who I stand at the stove with while he cooks up his own scrambled eggs. (My oldest is 20 and has a pretty firm hand on cooking, but he’s been cooking with me since he was 3.) Bottom line? Use your judgement and err on the side of caution, but encourage them to try some cooking with the Washburn sisters and lend a hand. It’s science!

You and I Eat the Same, edited by Chris Ying & René Redzepi, (Oct. 2018, Artisan Books), $19.95, ISBN: 9781579658403

Ages 13+

MAD, the Danish word for food, is a cultural symposium founded by chef René Redzepi and editor of the food magazine, Lucky Peach, Chris Ying. You and I Eat the Same is the first in a series of MAD Dispatches the two plan to release, with essays on how food brings different cultures together and how we can work on making food better – better for the environment, better for the people who farm and curate it, better for all of us, because we consume it.

There are 19 essays in this first volume, each running anywhere from 2-12 pages, on such topics as sesame seeds, flatbreads and how every culture wraps their meat in some kind of one, and, my favorite, “Coffee Saves Lives”. Ask any of my coworkers, family, or friends, and they will heartily agree.

Each essay looks at culture and food’s role in those cultures. The writing is light and instantly readable, bringing diversity into our homes and our lives. Tienlon Ho’s “One Seed Rules Them All” says of sesame seeds that “a dish can feel of one place, while being from another”; really, the sesame seed can bring about world peace: “Humans have a remarkable ability to agree on hummus’s deliciousness while disagreeing about everything else.” Redzepi’s “If It Does Well Here, It Belongs Well Here” exhorts that “the day we can’t travel and move and learn from each other is the day we all turn into crazy nationalists” – a very timely statement. Did you know that there’s a Mennonite community in Mexico? Read Michael Snyder’s “Mennonite Cheese is Mexican Cheese” and learn the history of this colony’s move. “People Will Eat Anything” is an alphabetical rundown of culinary delights, from abalone and confused flour beetle to zebra.

There are gorgeous, full-color photos throughout, and the writing praises culinary and cultural diversity in the best ways: breaking bread together is great, but growing it and helping others do it is even better. As Redzepi says in his foreword that, “If we can share a meal, maybe we can share a conversation, too.”

I’d love to get this into my YA collection; I think teens will appreciate this message. We live in Queens, a community where we can travel the world by going outside and visiting a food truck, a dim sum house, and a mozzarepa vendor all within a 10-block radius. I’m looking forward to more MAD Dispatches and would love to see one of their symposiums. In the meantime, though, I’ll content myself with videos on their website.

You and I Eat the Same is a great add to any collection, any foodie fan’s bookshelf, and is a smart YA crossover bet.

Tag: culinary

20 Recipes Kids Should Know is delicious!

Great crossover YA: You and I Eat the Same brings the world to the table