Grub Street in London last year republished one of my, hmmm, I’d say 15? favourite cookbooks of all time– The Everyone Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook, by Ruth Waerebeek with Maria Robbins. This is a presentation of Belgian cuisine written to honour the author’s great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother within historical backgrounds and as individual personalities. It’s a collection of recipes that feel definitive yet friendly, elegant but possible to accomplish, familiar yet novel.
At first I was taken aback by choices the publishers made in the redesign of the book. The original edition of 1996 has headings in cursive and charming line drawings and sidebars with historical and cultural tidbits. I’d grown attached to this book in this style. Grub Street’s republish has striking, stylised “food-porn” quality photographs and a very close and expert attention to lettering style and layout, colour and design. The Taste of Belgium, as it’s been renamed, feels as important as the book is, which is a good thing, even if I miss the cosier quality of the earlier edition. But I’m happy, out of print as it was, many more readers and cooks will be able to explore the delicious and savoury comfort dishes that tempt one, page after page, of either version. And the new one is beautiful indeed, masterfully designed, a book to really look at, to visually take in.
Kitchen Counter Culture 