August 2023 Cookbooks

 

Veg Forward by Susan Spungen

In Veg Forward Susan Spungen has created recipes to help you eat more vegetables, but is not promoting a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. I really like that the recipes are organized by season and focus on eating seasonally. Spungen also includes in the introduction some recommendations for pantry staples and handy tools for the kitchen. At the end of the book there is a chapter titled "essentials" that gives recipes for several basic components like pizza dough, homemade tomato sauce, salad dressings, stock, etc. While I didn't find tons of recipes I wanted to try, I really liked the premise of this book and that it didn't push a vegetarian diet as "better" and focused on eating seasonally and homemade.

Break Bread on a Budget by Lexy Rogers

This is a pretty good, basic cookbook that highlights doing the most for not a lot of money. The recipes were organized kind of by meal, but further subdivided in odd ways. Instead of a chapter on lunch ideas there were 3 chapters - one on soup, one on sandwiches, and one on salads. I personally would rather have more recipes in a longer chapter than several short 2-3 recipe chapters. But, I think this would be a great cookbook for a beginner cook. She has several pages of really good tips with photos at the beginning of knife skills, cooking techniques, etc. Lots of the recipes have helpful tips noted as well. Overall, not amazing, but a solid cookbook with a few recipes I'd like to try.

Still We Rise by Erika Council

Erika Council is the owner and chef of the Bomb Biscuit Company in Atlanta, Georgia. She's also the granddaughter of Mildred Council, better known as Mama Dip (I've had the pleasure of eating at Mama Dip's restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC). Council grew up around food and baking but never saw herself working in the food industry. She always loved making biscuits and started out doing pop-up events and catering, then opened her restaurant in 2021. In Still We Rise she explores everything biscuit and also the role of Black women in cooking. She tells several personal stories about the women in her family who she learned from and mentored her. I just love the title of this cookbook too - it has so many levels of meaning. I also love that she's from NC even though she's in Atlanta now.

Being from the South, biscuits and macaroni & cheese are how I judge a Southern restaurant. You can't represent the South and make a terrible biscuit. I make biscuits for myself every single week and even though I have a tried and true recipe, there are SEVERAL of Council's recipes that I'd like to try. And I'll definitely check out her restaurant if I'm in Atlanta again.