i read a lot of cookbooks and it’s always interesting to see the divide between like. an old fashioned recipe book that’s got lots of staples and realistic recipes for a family on a budget and, a cookbook that claims to be that but is actually completely fucking delusional and just one guy jacking himself off for a hundred or so pages
just had the displeasure of reading this one in which the chef goes on a rant about what’s real food and what’s not and how you should never buy packaged things, it’s literally killing you, and shames people for buying things like margarine because it’s soooo bad for you and why buy it when you can buy butter? i know there’s such a thing as different target audiences and if you’re an upper middle class white woman with a crusty white dog and model home you’d probably love this shit but it’s genuinely so insulting every time. like “on a budget” to these people means talking to your white woman friends over $6 coffee about how you got SUCH a deal at costco, and it’s actually not that expensive to make lamb sauce from scratch, or whatever. just a different fucking world these people live in
if i’m gonna do this long ass rant post i may as well say eat well on $4 a day is the best cookbook i have ever seen, it’s genuinely a godsend. it has staples but it also has sort of interesting takes on really really basic meals, it’s specifically made for people on food stamps/in poverty and it’s so thoughtfully designed. there’s a free pdf online just google it it’s saved me so many times
