Cook Book promotion

 

Linda McCartney's Family Kitchen - A Book Review

 

It is well known that the McCartney family are all vegetarians and that they are serious about food.   Linda McCartney is now seen as a pioneer in veggie cooking and wrote several cookbooks during her lifetime. 

It was a logical progression in 2021 to re-release Linda's cookbooks for a modern audience.  That is why the book  Linda McCartney's Family Kitchen was published.   Vegetarian and vegan recipes are much more common today than they were in the 1990s, and the ingredients needed to make the foods are easier to find than they used to be. 

The categories for the recipes in this book are breakfast and brunch, soups and salads, on-the-go, quick and easy meals, weekend feasts, sides and snacks, baking, puddings, and sweet treats.  It is interesting to think that these are some of the dishes that Linda would make for her family.  Some of the most interesting dishes are cinnamon rolls, American-style pancakes, chef's salad, guacamole, barbecue sausage, and vegetable skewers, lasagne, baked macaroni cheese, pizza, chili non-carne, and lemon drizzle cake. 

Also included in the book are some family photos of Linda, Paul, Stella, and Mary.  These are all snapshots and lovely photos.   None of them stood out to me as "new" photos, but there might be a few.  Paul wrote an introduction telling the well-known story about how he and Linda decided to become vegetarians.  Before each recipe is a short paragraph that tells a little story of a memory or story about that recipe.  

It is a very nice cookbook with a variety of recipes.  I am not a vegetarian, and there are still many recipes that I would not mind trying.   I would have enjoyed there being more photos and family stories about sharing meals together.   Make it a little less than just a cookbook but also a book about the McCartney family and their memories of Linda.   I found it strange that there was no mention of Heather or James in this book.  I understand that they might want privacy and were not involved in making the book, but not even mentioning them or having them in an old family photo seemed strange to me as a fan, especially since the book is called Linda's FAMILY kitchen.   

If you are a vegetarian and/or vegan, this is a great book for a Beatles fan for you to have on your shelf.  If you are a huge fan of the McCartney family, then go ahead and pick up this book.   If you do not fall into either one of these categories, then you can pass on this one.  

*I know there has been a discussion going on about the motives behind the publication of this book.  I personally do not see a problem with it.  I don't think Paul had a lot to do with the publication of the book, but  did include his name to help sell more books.   But I do think his motives are to keep Linda's memory alive.  However, you can feel however you want about this book. 

https://amzn.to/3SZalgj

Cook books are not food

Book Review: Recipe Records: a culinary Tribute to the Beatles

If you are like me, when you first heard that there was a Beatles cookbook, you laughed a bit and thought, "A Beatles cookbook---my goodness, they have Beatles everything these days!"   Since I am not a cook and I actually do not do any cooking whatsoever, I totally forgot about the Beatles cookbook right after I first heard about it.

Then I went to the Fest for Beatle fans, and Lanea Stagg's presentation about her cookbook was sandwiched right in the middle of two things I really wanted to hear. So I stuck around and listened to what she had to say about the book. It also helped that she had free samples of Savoy Truffles to hand out.

What I found is that the book is full of recipes with the funniest Beatles-sounding names. The more names that were read aloud, the more I laughed. Anyone want some "Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey bread?"   How about some "Stuffed Sgt. Peppers?"   Does anyone want a "George Martini?"   The more I laughed at the fun and silly names of the recipes in the book, the more I realized that as a self-proclaimed "Beatles historian", I take the Beatles way too seriously at times.  The Beatles were a group that was full of humor, and they would have found these names to be funny as well.   I think of all the puns that John Lennon wrote and told, and I know that this sort of thing would be right up his alley.

But the recipes are more than just cute Beatle names; they are actually tasty and easy-to-make goodies!  I have tried some of the recipes and I have not been disappointed.  Lanea Stagg made sure that each of the recipes are something that people can make at home without needing a bunch of strange ingredients. 

In addition to the recipes, there is also some Beatles information about the songs or people that inspired the recipe.

Lanea has three books in total.   Besides the Beatles version, there is also a 1960s edition and the rock and roll edition. 

I recommend any of these books, especially for those of you who like to cook. These books also make great gifts for anyone---who knows, a Beatles cookbook might be the springboard to getting someone you know into the Beatles!   

  
The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3P9RJJp