What do you really think?
With the rise of the celebrity chef, this country has also experienced a parallel phenomenon: the rise of the vanity chef--professional cooks whose cookbooks are populated with more pictures of themselves than food. Examples include Jamie Oliver, Giada di Laurentis, Tyler Florence and many, many others. All of these people are attractive, good cooks and photogenic. But does that mean it should be them cover to cover? I will confess that when it comes to cookbooks, I feel the less photos the better. Amazing, professionial illustrations simply ready the reader for disappointed, because most are unable to recreate the color, arrangement and plating accomplished by food stylists. My preference is cookbooks containing prose and recipes. I want to know where the recipe came from, what inspired it and tips on how to prepare it. I'm not particulary interested in page after page of photographs of the author preparing the food.
Which brings us to Crave: The Feast of Five Senses. I came across this book searching on-line at the library and thought the title was intriguing. It's a large book, with a surley man on the cover offering everyone a bite of luscious fruit. I instantly wondered who the man was and if he was actually the author or simple a model hired to sell cookbooks. As I began to flip through the pages, it became evident that it was not only the author, Ludo Lefebvre (French, yet cooking in California where he indulges in his other passions: surfing and taking long walks on the beach with his girlfirend Krissy who's name is tattoed in the heart on his chest. Sorry ladies, this one is taken), but that he believes he is as physically interesting as he is gastronomically. And then I came across the photo at the top and realized that his true aspiration was not that of chef or surfer: he wants to be a centerfold. Obviously.
After perusing the book, I found the recipes and food inside to be rather flat. Not something I would ever cook from, it was a quick read that really wasn't that interesting, nor did it fulfill the tantalizing title of Crave: The Feast of Five Senses. There were however, twenty-nine photographs of the chef not including the ones on the cover and inside flap. I just have to say that if your photo is on the cover of your book, it isn't necessary to include a photo on the authors page on the inside back cover. Really. I hope this is the zenith of the vanity chef and we can all return to our unadorned copies of Joy of Cooking, Gourmet Cookbook and Fanny Farmer--honest texts without all of the ham. But, if you have enjoyed my little teaser and developed a crush on little Ludo, then by all means buy the book.
I bet you'll keep it on your nightstand instead of in the kitchen.
Crave: The Feast of Five Senses
Ludo Lefebvre
Regan Books, 2005
$32.96 at ecookbooks.com
Mangez?
7.28.05 Editors Note
I'm not the only one blogging about this phenomenon:
AN OPEN LETTER TO LUDO LEFEBVRE on la.foodblogging