Who would have thought that artists can also be great cooks. The visually inspiring art of cooking is definitely connected to the art world and it is worth looking at these three cookbooks, which surely will enrich your Christmas feast this year. Learn about different artists and their favorite dishes and flavours and be inspired to cook their menus.
Artists’ Recipes
by Admir Jahic & Comenius Roethlisberger
Bolo Publishing
For “Artists’ Recipes”, more than 80 contemporary artists such as Marina Abramovic, Olafur Eliasson, Ryan Gander, Erwin Wurm, Anish Kapoor share their favorite recipes. Combining cooking with art, this book is a feast for the eyes as well as for the palate. The accompanying drawings, collages and photographs of the participating artists will make you want to start cooking or even drawing, whether it’s Subodh Gupta’s goan prawn curry, Julia Dault’s Moroccan chickpea-and-vegetable stew, Claire Fontaine’s ricotta balls, or Bob and Roberta Smith’s roasted pheasant.
The Modern Art Cookbook
By Mary Ann Caws
Reaktion Books
Food has always played a role in art — just think about the opulent still lives or Andy Warhol’s Campbell soup cans. Exploring a panoply of artworks of food, cooking, and eating from Europe and the Americas, Mary Ann Caws looks at how artists and writers have eaten, cooked and depicted food. It’s a witty and thought-provoking journey through modern art, sprinkled in between are numerous recipes from these artists—including Ezra Pound’s poetic eggs and Monet’s madeleines.
Dalí – Les Diners de Gala
Taschen
if you crave something extraordinary, this surrealist cult cookbook, reissued by Taschen after more than 40 years, might be it. Salvador Dalí was famous for the opulent dinner parties he and his wife Gala threw, and in 1973 he published this equally lavish cookbook, Les Diners de Gala, featuring 136 recipes compiled by the painter and his wife and of course sumptuous illustrations by the artist himself. It is an ode to the pleasures of taste, but some of the recipes sound as surreal as you would expect. Conger eel of the rising sun, veal cutlets stuffed with snails or frog pasties, anyone?