June 2018 Cookbooks

Secrets of the Southern Table: a food lover's tour of the Global South by Virginia Willis

In Secrets of the Southern Table Virginia Willis shows us there is much more to Southern food than fried chicken and biscuits (not that those aren't important!). She explores the diversity of Southern food both today and in the past. Each section of recipes starts with highlighting 2 Southern cuisine farms/restaurants/entrepreneurs who is making a difference and changing how Southern food is seen and eaten today. Definitely plenty of Southern classics, but more globally inspired Southern dishes as well. Another good cookbook from Virginia Willis.

Feeding a Family: a real-life plan for making dinner work by Sarah Waldman

When Sarah Waldman started getting interested in food and our modern food system, she read tons of books, but she also decided to become a nutritionist so she could help people make better food choices. After having children and trying to get picky eaters to eat healthy food, she started creating recipes that work for adults and can be modified for more picky or younger children. While I don't have children, I still found tons of recipes I'd like to try. All the recipes are centered around seasonal, whole food and the book is divided by seasons - I guess I'm a fall person because that was where most of the recipes I want to try were. Overall, a great cookbook is you're cooking for picky eaters, children, or want to try to eat more seasonally.

Platters and Boards: beautiful, casual spreads for every occasion by Shelly Westerhausen

This is straight up food eye candy. Beautiful photographs of "spreads" of various types of snack foods arranged on wooden boards or platters that you'll probably never actually make, but love to look at and dream. If you entertain a lot this could be a useful cookbook, but I think for most people this is just a fantasy cookbook of the type of person you wish you were. The spreads are arranged by time of day and the final section is recipes for some spread "essentials" like crackers, cheese straws, condiments, etc. I did like that for each spread the author included not just a list of items for that spread, but also an actual recipe for something included in that spread. There are a few things I'd like to try to make and while I doubt I'll ever be the person who throws together spreads like this, I could see making the Southern-style board or creating the mini cheeseball spread for a holiday party. Definitely a beautiful cookbook with lots of great party food ideas.