Do you want to write a cookbook of old-fashioned recipes? Are you interested to collect recipes of your ancestors, family or your community so that they will remain for the posterity continuing to tantalizing the palate of people of your generation?If the answers at these questions are yes Preserving Family Recipes How to Save and Celebrate your Food Traditions by Valerie J. Frey published by University of Georgia Press is the book for you!
It's a wonderful trip in the world of recipes and communities this one, a meticulous, sweet and yummy trip in the heart of a land. What it is for sure is that food is another important part of a community, an "aggregant" and convivial ways for reaching other people while we build memories together. At the same time in most cases a family, is plenty of food memories and particular, peculiar dishes just common in that little society that a family is.
It is part of its history.
How many times have we said speaking with someone: "I haven't tasted anymore a pear juice like the one created by aunt Anne?" (It can be also a different dish and the aunt a different name of course.)
There was a certain touch, and love must be the main ingredient in a kitchen for the good realization of every dish.
Said this, this book is so precious and stunning because very clearly it will guide you in a wonderful trip, if your purpose will be the one of collecting recipes for a cookbook or just for your own pleasure, with determination and success.
You will learn how to organize a good collection of recipes, passing through interviews with your dear ones, neighbors, realized via various medias, the use of technology and PCS or old-fashioned systems. It's all up to you and your purpose of course.
But not only: we also will learn that sometimes old recipes must be adjusted because maybe people in the past used different ingredients. Sometimes the author suggests is better to be followed by a cook or anyway a friend in grade to give us some good feedback if we can be lost with recipes.
The author doesn't forget anything: from the use of family artifacts but be careful because with the time they can develop problems, sometimes it's better just to put them somewhere in the kitchen as old "souvenirs" telling to people that they were used by our ancestors because food requires a good and cleaned environment, to international world recipes and how to adjust them for the American standard and ingredients.
Maybe one of the most precious chapters the one of the handwritten recipes. People tend to write down recipes they love the most but imagine a little pretty old notebook of recipes... It will be an adventure by itself to trying to decipher calligraphy trying to establish also when that recipes were written.
Every recipe in a family or in a community means a customs or a tradition.
If your idea is the one of writing a cookbook you can't miss to add anecdotes regarding the recipe you introduces to the reader.
First of all it will be more appealing! Let's consider a recipe loved by everyone: the one of sweet chocolate cookies. Telling to everyone your granny loved to baking them when you were little accompanying it with a good cup of milk and you enjoyed eating them so badly remembering the passion and tenderness of your granny, and the good moments shared together will be a winning strategy.
Why?
Just this anecdote will help the readers to appreciate and feel that recipe "special." Special for some events, special when children are around and you want to give them the best, special because you will want to be remembered because a sweet aunt, granny, friend for all your dear ones.
Food is love and sharing love will be remembered from people forever.
I found very interesting the story of Southern Biscuits.The story very engaging.
You will also find various recipes in the book that you can try.
Highly recommended for sure!
I thank so much The University of Georgia Press for the physical copy of this wonderful book!
Anna Maria Polidori
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