Writing what? Cookbook or memoir?
September 22nd, 2007
When I think about putting my past years together into a cookbook, I think about what goes around the recipes. What is particular about my experience in my Italian kitchen that makes it any different to any other expatriate from any country at all who came here and cooked?
I can’t know the answer to that until I have talked to every expatriate cook, but I can figure out what’s been driving me.
First of all, I discovered that what I thought I knew about Italian cooking was mostly wrong. Even when I got halfway to right, it was still wrong. Most of the Italian meals I made for friends in the United States were comparatively complicated, heavy and depended too much on pasta. I thought finding prosciutto meant my job was done. I thought using blocks of Parmigiano Reggiano was the necessary step forward. I thought Pecorino was Pecorino. If I found and bought all the vegetables and creams and oils in the recipes, I felt like a winner.
Second, I thought making it right was difficult and that making it mine was essential.
Third, I thought fresh pasta, homemade or purchased was always superior to dried pasta.
What has happened to me is that step by step I walked into kitchens, asked questions and listened hard. That was essential for sure when I didn’t speak the language all that well. My neighbors got used to my dropping by at 12:30 and asked “What are you cooking today?” I was always invited to eat, and I always said no. I didn’t want them to quail the next time I knocked on the door. I just wanted to know what ordinary Italians really ate for their main meal of the day. I made a friend of the woman who is the best cook in the region and talked about food with her nearly all the time we spent together.
I went to culinary school to find out what was in the repertoire of kitchens that weren’t making dinner for ordinary Italians, and what techniques were used to make expensive foods practical.
I traveled to some other regions to taste their foods the way they make them on the spot.
I read histories of everyday life and what people eat, where and why. I learned to understand why a dish was considered strictly local, what made it perennial and why it got its name.
I then went into my own kitchen and with ingredients I bought from people who grew them, as much as possible, I cooked. I used, abused and experimented with one ingredient after another to see where I could take it without leaving Italy in the mind. And then I thought I was ready.
Other cooks still said, “I can’t do that!” or “My family would want cheese on that.” I pleaded that they would try the recipe as written once before throwing cheese at it. I deconstructed the recipes and divided the chores involved into the simple steps that comprise cooking. If a dish takes four hours to cook, I tried to point out ways that three and a half of those hours could be spent ignoring, or almost ignoring the cooking. After all, your oven won’t complain at being left alone, but your child, your work or the pool man might.
I’ve ended up with over one hundred recipes that make pure, clean and unfussy foods that are delicious. So am I done? Am I ready to index this thing and get it published. It seems not.
Read this and weep for me. The upshot seems to be that if you aren’t already in the public eye, there’s no market for your cookbook. Frankly, it sounds like even if you are, there may be no market. And if you have the right book, the public wants top quality pictures, but won’t pay the price for them. Maybe magazines are doing too good a job at providing wonderful pictures for a few bucks a month? (I find, however, a lot of magazine recipes are too complicated and have so many ingredients that the tastes are muddled.)
I admit to being a little discouraged, but then I read this and got a good laugh. A good laugh is sometimes all you need when life feels tough to take.
So off to Florence and back soon. Think on it.
Entry Filed under: Food, Italy, Books, kitchen stuff, Italian food
8 Comments Add your own
1. qualcosa di bello | September 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 pm
judith…don\\\’t give up the ship!! look at the blogosphere & all the network that is there. maybe i\\\’m an optimist, but i think there could be a market. most americans are not able to do what you do (or at least do it yet!), but you expats are a very huge inspiration to those of us who are still stateside. we want to hear your story…heck i found your blog BECAUSE i wanted to hear someone\\\’s story who was doing what you do! i say, don\\\’t choose…do both…a cookbook/memoir
2. Diane | September 23rd, 2007 at 6:07 am
First of all, Judith, you do have a presence. Maybe you just need to get your blog out there more, linked to as many places as you can and rack up a few blog prizes. Get it mentioned by the About Italian cooking guy and as many others as possible. Perhaps a regular column in some magazine or newspaper too, though that may be more work than you want to do (though a collection of these columns could form the basis of your book).
Why can\\\’t you write both: recipes embedded in a memoir, or a memoir surrounding your recipes….personal essays illustrated by recipes? In my opinion it makes it all much more interesting. For example, are you familiar with Home Cooking and More Home Cooking (subtitled A writer returns to the kitchen) by Laurie Colwin? (memoir/cookbook mix). Granted, she was well known already because she was an author… but no expensive photos in her books and I, who love photos in a cookbook, don\\\’t miss them at all! Some simple drawings is all. Encourages the cook to be more creative I think.
With drawings instead of photos it wouldn\\\’t even be so expensive to self-publish. Research it carefully and you won\\\’t have trouble finding a company that gives you a professional product at a reasonable cost…and then self promote it. Get it mentioned and reviewed. Advertise on expattalk and slowtalk to start! Vanity Presses don\\\’t have the same stigma as they used to. That said, I do think you could find a publisher if you wanted to…don\\\’t give up!
In my personal opinion, there\\\’s a market for the type of recipe book you\\\’re talking about. (Heck, there\\\’s a HUGE market for English-language cookbooks.) Would you concentrate on recipes from all parts of Italy or just Umbria? Are there already Umbrian cookbooks out there?
If you need a home cook to test your recipes just let me know…and let me be first on line to buy your book. Best of luck with this project Judith. Somehow I feel you can do it!
3. qualcosa di bello | September 23rd, 2007 at 4:14 pm
judith…i can’t get your email to work from this site or my inbox. just wanted to let you know in case there is a problem.
4. Jessica | September 25th, 2007 at 8:36 am
your post comes just after my own, about my feeling of defeat in reading a travel book last week, in which the woman had said so much of what i had planned to say in my manuscript. That market is glutted too. But, what would i have if i didn’t try? Why not go for it - simply doing it would be a life lesson, good practice, and an excuse to invite friends over …and what if…that is the question. What if it worked? If you don’t try, youl’ll never know. and, blogging can be powerful as a marketing tool so perhaps you have that (plus your personality) in your corner.
5. admin | September 29th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Q di B, try judith at judithgreenwood dot com altering as needed, BUT there is a 20 mb message clogging up the mail program and it times out every time I try to download it, so I am using decobabe at gmail dot com for a while until I figure out how to unclog the mailbox.
Thing is, I feel like I have already written the book about this experience, here and elsewhere. I kept a journal when I first arrived as well, although I soon got bored with myself. That’s always been the barrier between me and diary or journal keeping.
If I were to say everything I think, I’d get in trouble. I’d also bore the pants off me and everyone. So I am thinking about how one self-edits and still says anything worth hearing.
6. tongue in cheek | September 30th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Simplicity works and determination too. You will meet your goal, you are nearly there. Look at all you worked towards and desire..I am certain I will see your name and recipes in print.
7. admin | October 1st, 2007 at 11:22 am
That is highly flattering coming from you. I do find your blog really charming. (Plus the husband is prime French male example.)
8. Kit | October 1st, 2007 at 9:01 pm
I think you have to think laterally on the self publicity you can get using the internet - raise your profile in the food blogging world by participating in some of the food blogging events.
There is one mommy blogger I\’ve come across, who managed to get a book deal, via a very funny ad she wrote on ebay that had thousands of hits. I don\’t know whether that was a deliberate ploy or not but it has flooded her blog with readers and offers of work.
I really like the sound of what you\’ve researched and put together - I\’d like to read it!
I think publishers will be looking to food bloggers soon for inspiration, so if you can get your name out there enough now you could get lucky. In bocc\’ al lupo!
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