Digesting Recipes: The Art of Culinary Notation

by Susannah Worth

Chapters become courses in this curious feast, exploring the form of the recipe from post-war to today.

Digesting Recipes: The Art of Culinary Notation scrutinises the form of the recipe, using it as a means to explore a multitude of subjects in post-war Western art and culture, including industrial mass-production, consumerism, hidden labour, and art engaged with the everyday.

Each chapter is presented as a dish in a nine-course meal, drawing on examples from published cookbooks and the work of artists such as Alison Knowles, Yoko Ono, Annette Messager, Martha Rosler, Barbara T. Smith, Bobby Baker and Mika Rottenberg.

A recipe is an instruction, the imperative tone of the expert, but this constraint can offer its own kind of potential. A recipe need not be a domestic trap but might instead offer escape – something to fantasise about or aspire to. It can hold a promise of transformation both actual and metaphorical. It can be a proposal for action, or envision a possible future.

Genres: Cooking, Food

114 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2015

About the author

Susannah Worth is a writer and editor, and graduate of the Critical Writing in Art & Design programme at the Royal College of Art.