Josefina's Cookbook

by Tamara England (Editor), Mike Wimmer (Illustrator), Susan McAliley (Illustrator)

Easy recipes help make Josefina's favorite foods. Color photographs and party tips bring New Mexican cooking to life.

Genres: Cookbooks, History, Cooking, Food and Drink, Food, Nonfiction

44 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I write this review, a pumpkin roasts in the oven, and dough is resting in the fridge. They will soon be turned into tasty pumpkin empanaditas. Some of my earlier cooking experiments were from this cookbook. The recipes are easy to follow, teach very good cooking techniques, and are delicious. Of the American Girl doll books, this one is the one used the most in my house. I may have added some of my own adjustments to the recipes over the years as I gained more experience or started using these as base recipes to be experimented with, but I still get requests for those Pumpkin empanaditas.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This title was the hardest to find out of all the American Girl craft and cooking books, and I was thrilled to finally seize on an affordable copy. I really enjoyed it, and appreciated the unique insights into Mexican food, indigenous dietary influences, and practical aspects of cooking in Josefina's environment. I was very impressed with this, and it would be a great way for kids and their parents to explore Josefina's historical time period and culture.

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When I first pursued the American Girl craft books, I wasn't sure if I was even interested in the cooking series, since I am on a very restricted diet for health reasons and wouldn't be able to use almost any of these recipes in the kitchen. However, I knew that I should get the Molly cookbook for the WWII-specific recipe ideas and historical information about rationing, and I decided that I may as well get all of the books. After all, after being on a very restricted diet for the past ten years, it's hard for me to come up with stuff for my characters to eat when I'm writing. It's all research!

I am very glad that I got these books, and they far surpassed my expectations. Although I enjoyed the craft-related books and would be far more likely to use them, the domestic history in the cookbooks absolutely fascinated me. These are far more than just recipe collections, and include detailed, specific information about domestic life and women's experiences. I would recommend the series to kids who are interested in making food that their favorite American Girl characters ate, but I would also recommend this series to adults who are interested in women's history or cultural anthropology related to food.

Each book includes introductory information and sidebars related to what cooking was like during the character's era, how cooking and food connected with the daily rhythms of family life, how people preserved food, and what was unique about cookbooks during that time. The recipes themselves also briefly include historical information, and the team responsible for these cookbooks did an amazing job of selecting recipes that kids and their parents can realistically make with minimal hassle, while still truly experiencing the types of foods that were common during specific times in history. Each book also concludes with ideas for themed parties that would connect to the character's background and celebrations that they would have participated in.

[Little Seal]

Why yes, I did buy this online in order to veganize the recipes. Note: Date finished reading is literally just that, not the competition of making the recipes vegan.

Also holy fuck, it's gonna be hard to veganize these ones.

[Renee Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

For refreshment ideas for a Josefina/American Girl program at the library.