I reviewed Daisy Garnett's Cooking Lessons on here in January this year. I gave it a three star review on Amazon because I did like the format, the illustrations were delicious and some of the recipes were simple enough to try if you'd got less than a day to make them. What bugged me about the whole thing was the gratuitous use of swear words and the patronising attitude of the author to us lesser mortals who do not have a high class Italian grocer just round the corner.
I don't like swearing in normal conversation and I see no reason to put it in a cookery book (pace Gordon Ramsay). I have no problems with it in fiction where it can be very effective. Some kind soul has referred to me as a 'prissy humbug' because I have criticised the medium rather than attending to the message. I'm with Marshall McLuan on that one - the medium IS the message. In this case I didn't feel the medium - i.e. the language - was appropriate to the message and therefore detracted from it. Any cookery book is not going to get very far with many readers if it patronises them which was my other criticism of the language used.
The object of this post is not to have everyone tell me I'm not a 'prissy humbug' - because I know I'm not! It's to raise a question about whether swear words -particularly Anglo Saxon origin 4 letter versions - are necessary in a practical book such as a cookery book. To me it detracts from the 'message' if there is a message in a cookery book but others may not agree.
Showing posts with label daisy garnett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daisy garnett. Show all posts
Monday, 4 May 2009
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Pretentious cookery
I finished reading Daisy Garnett's Cooking Lessons last night - a combination of cooking and memoir which appealed to me. The book itself was a huge let down as far as I was concerned. It's beautifully produced - about A5 size - has a substantial feel to it and is printed on good quality paper. The illustrations are charming and in the style of water colours. I can't identify with her lifestyle which is sort of luxurious Bohemian though not the sort of Bohemian life I'd want to lead if I was rich. That is not a criticism as I enjoy reading about other people's lifestyles.
My main criticism is that the recipes are in general complicated, in many cases adaptations of someone else's - though the source is identified - take too long to make for an ordinary individual with a life to lead apart from food and many of the ingredients are hard to source unless you live in a city or want to buy much of your food by mail order. There are many spelling mistakes which should have been picked up by the editor or the proof reader and there are far too many instances of the f word in my opinion. Is there really a need for swearing in a cookery book - unless you happen to be Gordon Ramsay?
When I came to a recipe for Shepherd's Pie containing 19 separate ingredients I rather lost patience with the whole thing. Shepherd's Pie is meant to be something comforting which you sling together when you want to eat something simple with a minimum amount of preparation.
No ordinary person buys a special Tarte Tatin pan - a snip at only £25 - unless they are determined to make that particular dessert every day of the week! Likewise if you're making Tiramasiu you're probably going to use Tia Maria in it rather than a special Italian liqueur called Caffe Borghetti which is probably unobtainable outside Italy, or a particular type of biscuit - easily obtainable from your local Italian grocer. Hello? I live in darkest Lincolnshire. I could probably get anything Polish from our local Polish grocers - but Italian - now that's another matter.
I could go on - but you get the picture. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it otherwise I'd have been extremely disappointed.
My main criticism is that the recipes are in general complicated, in many cases adaptations of someone else's - though the source is identified - take too long to make for an ordinary individual with a life to lead apart from food and many of the ingredients are hard to source unless you live in a city or want to buy much of your food by mail order. There are many spelling mistakes which should have been picked up by the editor or the proof reader and there are far too many instances of the f word in my opinion. Is there really a need for swearing in a cookery book - unless you happen to be Gordon Ramsay?
When I came to a recipe for Shepherd's Pie containing 19 separate ingredients I rather lost patience with the whole thing. Shepherd's Pie is meant to be something comforting which you sling together when you want to eat something simple with a minimum amount of preparation.
No ordinary person buys a special Tarte Tatin pan - a snip at only £25 - unless they are determined to make that particular dessert every day of the week! Likewise if you're making Tiramasiu you're probably going to use Tia Maria in it rather than a special Italian liqueur called Caffe Borghetti which is probably unobtainable outside Italy, or a particular type of biscuit - easily obtainable from your local Italian grocer. Hello? I live in darkest Lincolnshire. I could probably get anything Polish from our local Polish grocers - but Italian - now that's another matter.
I could go on - but you get the picture. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it otherwise I'd have been extremely disappointed.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Cold weather
We have had a tragedy locally which made it to the national news I believe. A lady was killed in her car which got stuck on a level crossing as a train approached. Most of our country level crossings have those automatic barriers which come down less than a minute before the train is due. Unfortunately - as I understand it - her car got shunted onto the crossing by a van behind which hadn't realised she'd stopped. Because of the weather - icy roads - she couldn't manage to get herself or her car off the track in time. This must have been horrific for those who witnessed it and were unable to help as well of course for the lady's family.
Apart from events like this - why does the country grind to a halt in a bit of cold weather? I can never understand this. Round here we seem to be functioning reasonably well in a general sort of way - partly because we've got ice and not snow I think.
No book news today as I'm still in the process of reading Barchester Towers and a sort of cookery memoir by Daisy Garnett called Cooking Lessons. I'm not too sure about this as I'm finding it a shade patronising and also many of the recipes belong to other cookery writers - which she has acknowledged. Lists of ingerdients in other recipes seem incredibly long to me as well. She doesn't seem to take into account the fact that cookery is not an exact science and you only find out what you like by experimenting. More of this when I've finished it. The 4 letter words spoil it as well for me.
Apart from events like this - why does the country grind to a halt in a bit of cold weather? I can never understand this. Round here we seem to be functioning reasonably well in a general sort of way - partly because we've got ice and not snow I think.
No book news today as I'm still in the process of reading Barchester Towers and a sort of cookery memoir by Daisy Garnett called Cooking Lessons. I'm not too sure about this as I'm finding it a shade patronising and also many of the recipes belong to other cookery writers - which she has acknowledged. Lists of ingerdients in other recipes seem incredibly long to me as well. She doesn't seem to take into account the fact that cookery is not an exact science and you only find out what you like by experimenting. More of this when I've finished it. The 4 letter words spoil it as well for me.
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