Cook As You Are

This cookbook was a breath of fresh air. I love how empathetic and explicitly non-judgmental Ruby Tandoh is, and how these recipes are truly designed to meet people where they're at - understanding that people have different physical abilities, experiences with cooking, and, frankly, other priorities in life (radical!). I liked the organization of the recipes - because, yes, some days I do want to go all-out, and other days I just want something edible. I found her writing engaging and informal, but still informative. I also deeply valued how she credited other cooks and authors from cultures not her own when she'd learned something from them - I came away from this cookbook with lots of great suggestions for further reading.

I understand and appreciate why she chose to avoid photos, and I LOVED the illustrations by Sinae Park. However, my one qualm: I wish the art would have been used more frequently as a tool to make instructions more concrete. For example, in one recipe, she talks about breaking out cauliflower into its leaves (then into green leafy parts versus “ribs”), florets, and stalk. I'm a visual thinker, and I would have loved to have seen that depicted in art form versus text alone. The abstract drawings were lovely and conveyed a wonderful sense of coziness and warmth, but I wish there would have been a bit more integration with the recipes themselves - I think that would have made them even less intimidating / more accessible.

Thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for my ARC.