Do you know that it’s possible to read cookbooks in bed, before going to sleep? There are fanatics for everything and this Glow Chef does such things from time to time …
The First … The Great Nigella Lawson
An amazing food writer, Nigella Lawson is as inspiring as a good novelist. She was actually the first one I read and I credit her with awakening my curiosity about food writing and cooking in general. She made it appealing and attainable at the same time.
Maybe you remember that Nigella began her career as a journalist. She had a regular column in British Vogue, which quickly became one of my favorite readings in the magazine (!!). Nigella’s writing was absolutely fantastic, describing landscapes and flavors in a very unique, visual language. There is no writing voice like hers. I’ve tried to find these texts on the internet and … Unfortunately, nothing ☹
But I digress: Nigella Lawson’s first book is called “How to Eat“. It was published in 1998 but I only bought it in 2001 and it changed my life. Well, at least my life in the kitchen.
It’s a so-called “brick” – big and heavy – and has as many pictures as the number of chapters. Stop there for a second…I am not kidding, this book has almost no photos at all. And even so, Nigella’s writing can make us visualize the execution of each recipe as if we were watching a TV show. Which we did, later.
I do not understand why they never translated this great book into Portuguese. Buy it urgently on Amazon.co.uk if you like to read in English.
The Unassuming Snob … Nigel Slater
Sorry, this book is also not translated into Portuguese. But Nigel Slater is a fantastic writer. A pioneer of “home cooking made easy” – it’s not always healthy but it’s decidedly always easy!
My favorite among Nigel Slater’s books is Kitchen Diaries. The first one – there is already a sequence of 3 books – was released in 2005. It follows a year of cooking at Nigel’s house, chronologically. In a very personal and very accessible way, he relates what is happening in his kitchen, his purchases, his inventions … Nigel describes the recipes as he does them, with feeling and intuition. Very inspiring and an excellent bedtime reading.
The Expressive-aggressive … Gordon Ramsay
Interestingly, Gordon Ramsay was a pioneer in the larger theme of healthy eating at home. I say ‘interestingly’ because he does not seem to promote this fact at all. Almost seems to have forgotten the book that positioned him as such: it is called “Healthy Appetite“.
In this book, published in 2013, Gordon Ramsay describes his return to sports and health after years of excessive stress and weight gain. And he gives us a very functional perspective of healthy cooking, with great recipes and plenty of useful information. The way the book is organized and written, the information it conveys and the simple way the recipes are presented make this book my # 3 of best cookbooks to read at bedtime.
And, well, these are my three absolute favorites. However, the world of healthy eating has grown a lot and my collection of books has inflated with it. And I’ll be sharing…
I’d love to know: do you also read cookbooks at bedtime? Which ones are your favorites?
