Book Review: The Urban Cookbook
Recipes, Street Culture and Interviews from Five World Cities
Dec 9, 2008
A combination of modern travelogue, street art and what the author, King Adz, calls urban cookery, The Urban Cookbook, subtitled Creative Recipes for the Graffiti Generation (Thames & Hudson, 2008), is a cookbook with ‘street cred.’
One of the first things that stands out about The Urban Cookbook is the bold images. Before writing the book, Adz worked on four continents (Europe, Africa, North America and Asia) and had several job titles, ranging from art director to filmmaker. But it was while working at an advertising agency in South Africa that he first developed his interest in street art.
Adz’ other great love – he even considered becoming a chef at one point – has always been food, and in particular street food. In the introduction to the book, he defines street food as “anything that is cooked on BBQs, grills or braais, in cafés, diners, snack bars, chippies, takeaways, booths, cabins and food vans, and it has to be good, ethnically diverse and fresh – not fast or junk.”
Throughout the two decades he has been wandering the globe, in every place he stops, he makes a point of trying a street food he has never eaten before. If it is good, he goes away and attempts to recreate the recipe himself.
No-nonsense Recipes
This is the premise of The Urban Cookbook: no-nonsense recipes for tasty street foods with a global twist. The book contains over 40 recipes, most of which come from his most recent travels to five world cities: New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin. These include penne with vodka sauce (New York), Moroccan ras el hanout lamb (Paris), Masala steak (Amsterdam) and Jamaican jerk chicken (London).
In addition to the food recipes, the book also contains interviews about urban culture with prominent ‘creatives’ from each city, interspersed with images of street art. Some of the interviewees also supplied their own non-food ‘recipes’, such as New York Rodney Smith’s guide to creating authentic skate products; how to sign talent by the Berlin record label K7; or how to get ahead in advertising by Eric Kessels, half of the duo behind the successful Amsterdam creative agency KesselsKramer.
Focus on Street Culture
Adz states in the book that “food unites people the world over: we all have to eat, no matter what rule we live, work and play by.” This is a lovely sentiment, which is certainly reflected in the diversity and accessibility of the recipes. Having said this, the focus on street culture, including elements such as graffiti and skateboarding, aims the book firmly at a younger and predominantly male demographic.
This is by no means a negative attribute, but does mean that the book will almost certainly appeal to a specific interest group. However, if it inspires even one young person – of either sex - to get into the kitchen and start experimenting, then it deserves nothing but praise.
A dedicated website has been set up to accompany the book. As well as purchasing details, the site contains a preview of the first 13 pages, podcasts from the book’s interviewees, filmic guides to each city and several free, downloadable web recipes to get the eager urban cook started.
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