A Painter's Kitchen: Recipes from the Kitchen of Georgia O'Keeffe

by Margaret Wood

Georgia O'Keeffe, well known for her striking paintings of the Southwest, carried her creativity into the kitchen, where she took great pride in her healthy culinary style. The meals served in her household focused on homegrown and natural foods. They were always tasty, nutritious, modest, and beautifully prepared.

A Painter's Kitchen is Margaret Wood's recollection of seventy recipes from Georgia O'Keeffe's kitchen. As Miss O'Keeffe's companion for five years, Wood's responsibilities included, among other things, preparing many of the meals. O'Keeffe directed Miss Wood in the preparation of simple, delicious food using many fresh ingredients and insisted that Wood pay scrupulous attention to every step of food production and preparation. Besides containing recipes from Miss O'Keeffe's kitchen, the book describes in charming detail Miss O'Keeffe's outlook on food, philosophy, life, art, and the world, while maintaining respect for the artist's well-known desire for privacy.

Margaret Wood left Miss O'Keeffe's employ in 1982. She was a production weaver for Kozikowski Tapestry Weavers and since 1988 has been a speech/language pathologist.

"Lavishly sprinkled with black-and-white photographs of the artist as well as full-color food photos, "A Painter's Kitchen" is a feast for the eyes as well as the mind and stomach."- Mail Order Gourmet

"More than just a cookbook, this text describes O'Keeffe's outlook on life and art in 128 pages."- Southwest Art

"Here is a way of cooking and eating serene in accumulated wisdom (Miss O'Keeffe was in her nineties at the time the author knew her) and rich in undiminished sensual delight."- Cook Book

Sample
During the 1960s and 1970s, many prominent magazines featured interviews with Georgia O'Keeffe, along with photographs of both her houses. During supper one evening she recalled the occasion when a female staff member from one of the magazines had come to the Abiquiu house and was straightening everything up so meticulously that it no longer looked like the painter's house. At one point, when the woman was making every curtain pleat perfect, Miss O'Keeffe could not resist saying to her,

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Art, Nonfiction, Food and Drink, Foodie

109 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Susan Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the mid-1940s, when O'Keeffe was settling into her Abiquiu home, the garden was one of her enduring passions--in fact, it was one of chief reasons she wanted a house in that village. Her friend Maria Chabot had already put a great deal of work into renovating the long-abandoned garden within the adobe compound and restoring the acequia (the irrigation system). The garden is a major topic of their letters when O'Keeffe was in New York and Chabot was working on the Abiquiu house.

For the next four decades, O'Keeffe continued the garden, with the help of a local gardener. The vegetables, fruit, and herbs produced in that garden, along with whole grains and locally produced dairy, eggs, and meat, made up her diet. In this, she was heavily influenced by the work of Adelle Davis, a nutritionist and natural foods advocate popular in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

The recipes in this book are representative of the foods prepared in O'Keeffe's kitchen by a succession of women the artist hired and taught. Compiled by Margaret Wood, who worked as a cook and companion from 1977-1982, these recipes are simple and unembellished, emphasizing flavor and good nutrition over fancy preparations, and the instructions are easy to follow. If you're a fan of haute cuisine, there's little for you here; O'Keeffe scorned that kind of diet. There is some attention to the traditional foods of New Mexico, like the recipes for biscochitos and sopaipillas, and those that focus on chile peppers. But if you're chiefly interested in establishing and maintaining a healthy, vegetable-based diet, this book will give you a good place to start.

But of course, the real treasures here are the distinctively O'Keeffian anecdotes that Wood has collected and used to illustrate and frame every recipe. Like good dinner-table conversation, they lend a rich context to the simple food and give us a glimpse into the ordinary life of an extraordinary woman.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Painter’s Kitchen is a great read as well as a practical cookbook full of simple and delicious and healthy recipes.

I would love to be just like O’Keeffe when I am aged—-a little bit persnickety, a lot opinionated, and still full of piss and vinegar!

[Aline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recipes are very simple but I LOVE the stories that go with each one. Stories about Stieglitz, Lake George, Calder, flowers, gardens, and the desert landscape. Small snippets of an amazing life.

[Katie Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting glimpse into the life of Georgia O'Keefe and her ideas about health and our relationship with the land. Recipes were... interesting - simple and specific. Definitely a priority placed on dairy products.

[Cameron Toney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes in this book look good, but I enjoyed the snippets about life with O'Keeffe the best.
I feel like Georgia O'Keeffe and Alice Waters would have plenty to talk about. They have very similar philosophies about food.

[Ew Lake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandy Coletti, you gave this to me for Christmas in 2010. : )

I've looked through it many times since then, but just now read it cover to cover. Miss O'Keeffe herself would have done this, as she "had the habit of reading cookbooks before she went to bed. She remarked that they were enjoyable night-time company."

Visiting her homes in Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch has been a decades' long wish. So appropriate to be reminded of this as 2021 comes to a close and I'm thinking about the new year ahead.
"You carry your good times with you. If you don't make your own good time, you might not have it.

[Carol Wit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book by a friend who knew I loved Georgia O'Keeffe's art. I was thrilled to receive it as I also have a..umm..*slight* ocd issue with collecting cookbooks. But this book is special, it is more than just a cookbook, It's a personal look into her life and home. I love the stories attached about Ms. O'Keeffes life and gardening with each recipe. The recipes are very simple. Chances are most, if not all, the ingredients are already in your pantry. I already made a couple of the recipes, and as I did, I thought about all I learned from this book about this simple but complex artist with the beautiful paintings.

[Mark Bourdon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Woods stories before each recipe. Some were connected to the recipe, some stories were random stories that gave insights into Georgia O’Keeffe!s life in New Mexico. I look forward to trying some of here recipes. I found this book adding to the mystic and eccentricity of Georgia’s life.

[Beth]

I very much enjoyed this peek into Georgia’s life, through both the types of recipes she preferred and the accompanying anecdotes. The recipes are fairly simple with minimal ingredients and heavily centered around seasonal garden harvests. The stories are short, but capture her spirit. I haven’t made any of the recipes yet, but I do look forward to trying some.

[Kate]

Disappointed that as an artist Georgia O’Keeffe wasn’t eating random sandwiches like peanut butter, lettuce and sardines but just totally normal things like beef stew. I did see a recipe for cottage cheese, sliced orange and white onion 🤢
Each recipe came with a little blurb, but no drawings or photos of finished product.

[Snap · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good companion to PAINTING WITH O'KEEFFE. Full of simple recipes made with local foods sometimes straight from her garden. Margaret Wood was O'Keeffe's companion from 1977 to 1982. The best part, Wood's remembrances of O'Keeffe and her anecdotes. Fun!

[Sandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

No recipes of real interest to me, but Georgia O'Keeffe lived to be 98 and ate simply, so I probably should pay attention to what she ate. Small amount of comments from the author about her time with Georgia O'Keeffe.

[Min · Rating 2 out of 5]

This cookbook did not work for me. It sounded good--fresh ingredients, details about Georgia O'Keeffe's life--and I held on to it for a few years. Finally, I donated it as I never cooked anything from it.

[Jeanine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting history on George O'Keefe, and some interesting recipes. Quick read too, and some lovely photos. I wish I could live her lifestyle, in New Mexico, growing a huge garden so you have all your own vegetables and herbs. Some day.

[Theresa DePaepe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides nice insights into Georgia O’Keeffe in her later years through the eyes of the then young woman and companion who worked for her. Miss O’Keeffe was an early food to table foodie who expressed a desire to write a cookbook which was accomplished by Margaret Wood.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at Georgia O'Keeffe through what she ate. Companion's observations are priceless.

[Patricia]

A fun and quick glimpse into Georgia O’Keeffe’s life in her 90’s.

[marcali · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely; captures O'Keefe's personality with great details. Plus fun seeing all the 'alternative' foodstuffs

[Robin Tobin (On the back porch reading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the glance into Georgia O'Keefe Life.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this glimpse into the daily life of an artist I’ve admired since I found out about her in 4th grade.

[Robin Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this in my stash to give to my mother. O'Keeffe was her favorite.

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting items about Georgia O’Keefe. Delicious clean recipes prepared with mostly things from her garden prepared in her lovely simple kitchen.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything in here is simple and real. Normal cookbooks make food I would never come up with on my own, and use tons of seasoning... but this book uses mostly the flavors found in the ingredients themselves, and herbs O'Keefe grew herself. I'm terrible at using cookbooks and this is the only one that has ever come close to being useful.

[Silky Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georgia was ahead of her time with her strong desire to eat FRESH from her garden -- the recipes are quite simple but the idea is to eat flavorful food that is fresh -- nice anecdotes from the author who was her live-in companion for a few years.