Susannah Worth - Digesting Recipes: The Art of Culinary Notation

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT

DIGESTING RECIPES

Digesting Recipes switches beautifully between questions of genre, language, art and meaning. Susannah Worth thinks carefully and fruitfully about feminist arguments relating to art history and domesticity in particular, with sensitivity and great insight. Her sparkling prose is smooth and engaging, with fresh readings of some by-now classic feminist artworks as well as more recent and obscure pieces. Her focus is acute and laser-like, moving with ease between politics, history and aesthetics. The format of the piece presented as courses of a meal is ingenious and highly successful, allowing the inclusion of an interview, short critical entries, readings of specific artworks, an excellent cookbook bibliography, and so on.

Nina Power, author of One-Dimensional Woman

This is a wonderful book. As with the most seemingly casual of chefs, such acute intuition comes as the result of a great deal of work and a complete understanding of materials. The range of sources is expansive, and across many disciplines, and they are handled with confidence and an easy familiarity. As with many dishes, the simple things are the most difficult to achieve well, as there is no means of hiding bad ingredients or poor method. Neither is found here; indeed, good ideas, well presented are to be found on every page. This is a work that somehow manages to be both well done and rare.

Jeremy Millar, artist and writer

Food and hunger have long been recurrent themes in my own work. But I am not the only one! We are all hungry for guidance and recipes and instructions which make it easier for us to get out of bed in the morning, easier for us to swallow the medias news, National Enquirers fibs, easier for us to face our aging faces and IT-ed minds. Thankfully, Susannah Worths book, Digesting Recipes, helps to get us to the truth of ART+LIFE.

Linda Mary Montano, performance artist and author of Art in Everyday Life, Performance Artists Talking in the Eighties, Letters from Linda M. Montano, Mildreds Death and You Too Are A Performance Artist

Susannah Worth sifts and pares the familiar genre of the recipe so that we might better appreciate how politically calorific this bearer of cultural codes really is. The manifold approach of Digesting Recipes to an apparently singular subject is invigorating, its visual art and literary leanings enriching. At a time when competitive leisure cooking, not to mention eating, saturates the television, the high street and the more prosaic channels of the brain, the book performs the important job of reestablishing critical and historical perspectives onto a quotidian authoritarian form.

Sally OReilly, writer of The Body in Contemporary Art (World of Art)

Digesting Recipes takes an off-beat and highly refreshing postmodern look at cookbooks as markers of cultural identity. Recipes, it makes clear, are far more than cooking directions. After reading this, I have a whole new appreciation for what recipes can tell us about the deeper meanings of modern society.

Marion Nestle, Professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of What to Eat

First published by Zero Books, 2015

Zero Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Laurel House, Station Approach,

Alresford, Hants, SO24 9JH, UK

www.johnhuntpublishing.com

www.zero-books.net

For distributor details and how to order please visit the Ordering section on our website.

Text copyright: Susannah Worth 2014

ISBN: 978 1 78279 860 6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014958370

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Susannah Worth as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Lee Nash

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY, UK

We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution.

A toast to my grandmothers: wonderful women, terrible cooks

Start first begin take put chop roughly chop finely chop prepare cut ready boil remove float drain singe sear slice trim snip tie cook overcook steam broil soak grill char chargrill fry deep-fry flash-fry pan-fry cover sprinkle splash reduce mix plunge knead stir thicken place preheat steep sieve wash add blanch whip chill put to decorate flavour braise season clean empty pour dry pour over skewer brown skim simmer pure cube dice peel peel off mash strain heat make surround press melt separate beat tip tap reserve set aside roll roll up roll out unroll cover drain bring to a boil shell put aside set aside pound wet moisten smoke singe roast poach bake bone crush grind layer oil grease flatten shake flip beat toast skin flour paint marinate wipe keep break scramble inject pluck stuff blend allow to cool snare salt baste sift form wrap divide drain drain off evaporate spread stick grate refrigerate double run a knife core scoop scrape substitute repeat mould unmould shape plait ice fold brush squeeze shave score whisk cool chill form halve scatter pipe crumble dot pulse pulp return warm dissolve cream rinse bring together work caramelise coat wrap measure sweat process open wait pull scald smear rub throw in pop tap empty whiz sew slash scale gut hang grab snip angle a blade crack start lift lower make sure test taste top dollop uncover draw away tilt transfer butter scramble combine allow to cool drizzle make a well quarter split tear rip pile toss griddle barbecue lay soften turn turn on turn up turn down turn over turn out turn off microwave defrost freeze rest dip break ladle swirl saut flamb top and tail dry-roast pick invert shake reheat continue fill adjust stew blitz discard top up line bake blind press down pat dry par-boil shred spoon spoon over trickle blacken incorporate knock-up check shuck sizzle sit fillet pickle store thread twist up stone seed load seal liquidize prick glaze deglaze dress heap present plate up arrange stack accompany dust garnish finish serve

Introductions

Lets open a dictionary to the words Potential Literature. We find absolutely nothing. Annoying lacuna. What follows is intended, if not to impose a definition, at least to propose a few remarks, simple hors doeuvres meant to assuage the impatience of the starving multitudes until the arrival of the main dish.

Franois le Lionnais

La LiPo: Le Premiere Manifeste (1962)

I want to be there in the kitchen with you; my words are merely my side of the conversation I imagine we might have.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Bites (2001)

In 2001, Professor David Warburton, head of psychology at Reading University, announced the discovery of a new disorder which he termed Kitchen Performance Anxiety (KPA). Symptoms include mental block, distraction, sensitivity to noise and onlookers, as well as rapid heart rate, difficulty in breathing, nausea and headaches. He attributed the occurrence of Kitchen Performance Anxiety to the high standards set by Jamie Olivers effortlessly sun-touched antipasti, Nigella Lawsons languorous linguine and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls authentic rustic River Cottage rough-puff pastry pies. As these celebrities dance their way through immaculately choreographed renditions of finely rehearsed recipes, they are apparently leaving trails of nauseous mageirocophobes in their wake.