Who needs cookbooks when you can look up recipes online? The answer, perhaps, is people who care about more than just finding a recipe.
In our monthly Sound Bites segment in partnership with Sauce Magazine, substitute host Jim Althoff received recommendations for summer food reads from Executive Director Ligaya Figueras and Arts Director Meera Nagarajan of Sauce Magazine.
There are two reasons why someone might want a cookbook nowadays, said Figueras. First of all, they might like the way a certain person cooks, like Julia Child, and want to have a collection of that person's recipes. Secondly, they might like the chef's personality, which comes through in a cookbook.
"I loved to collect cookbooks because I think they look amazing on the shelf," said Nagajaran. They can also help you decide what to cook if you don't know what you want to fix that day, she added.
Among the books suggested by Figueras and Nagarajan were:
- a southern cookbook by Kevin Gillespie calledFire in My Belly
- a Korean Southern cookbook by Edward Lee called Smoke and Pickles
- an Italian cookbook by Nigella Lawson called Nigellissima
- a culinary memoir by Marcus Samuelsson called Yes, Chef
Several of the books discussed are also mentioned in Sauce Magazine's blog By the Book.
Cityscape is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer, and funded in part by the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Arts and Education Council.
