Gothic Cookbook: Hauntingly Delicious Recipes Inspired by 13 Classic Tales

A feast for the senses: an illustrated cookbook inspired by classic and contemporary Gothic texts.

This literary inspired cookbook is composed of thirteen divinely delicious chapters, each focusing on a different story and discussing its edible motifs before bringing them to life and to your table with approachable, easy-to-follow recipes and hand-drawn illustrations.

Inspired by Alessandra Pino’s academic studies into how food manifests itself on the pages of Gothic literature, and combining her knife-sharp analysis with Ella Buchan’s experience as a food writer and recipe developer, A Gothic Cookbook pays homage to the most appetising cuts of the genre, featuring over sixty original recipes illustrated by Lee Henry.

Dracula lulls protagonist Jonathan Harker into a false sense of security with cold cuts and a spicy, smoky, peppery stew. Frankenstein’s ‘monster’ starts out as a benign vegetarian, while Mrs Poole’s overindulgence in Mother’s Ruin triggers Mr Rochester’s downfall in Jane Eyre and a bitter tangerine signals a sharp, yet unheeded, warning against marriage and Manderley in Rebecca. Notice, too, how a ghostly presence craves sugar and burnt bread in Toni Morrison’s Beloved…

In this interplay between supper and the supernatural, you’ll learn to pick your desserts carefully: chocolate mousses foreshadow impending doom, yet the humble seed cake is a gesture of kindness.

With a foreword from acclaimed writer, editor and academic, Leone Ross, A Gothic Cookbook is the perfect culinary companion for those of you who enjoy a slice of the macabre with your dinner.

Format: Hardback
Pages: 224
Imprint: Unbound
Publication date: 03/10/2024
Illustrator: Henry, Lee