Cuisine of the Creative: A Cookbook [Hardcover]

James Lambeth (Author, Preface), Miles James (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Essentially, "Cuisine of the Creative" is a 232-page book with beautiful color photos of more than 140 recipes and works of art. For the cover of the book, a gorgeous plate of pale yellow-hued stone-crab pasta is arranged in front of a painting by James Rosenquist. Painting by James Rosenquist, 1989, 5x5, Oil on canvas, James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA, New York, N.Y.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you think of food as the ingredients of an art and cooking as a creative pursuit, this book will be like an hors d'oeuvre for you. If you believe the popular saying, "We are what we eat," it will provide you with insight into the creativity of artists like Salvador Dali and Isamu Noguchi, architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, and chefs like Wolfgang Puck. This is a beautiful and elegant book. It is easy to get lost amidst its large, glossy pages and experience the photographs of art, architecture, and cuisine arranged amidst both as a feast for the senses. However, there is also text: an inspirational quotation and skeletal chronological biography for each person, followed by one or more recipes. Some of the recipes (Tarator or Summer Soup and Mad Max's Grilled Rainbow Trout) are both simple and good. The chefs' selections tend to be lengthier and more complicated. Meanwhile some, like Spaghetti al Pesto, prepared without olive oil, and Summer Pudding, which gives no hint of the size of the pudding dish or the amount of fruit required, are suspicious. But then would anyone really take a book that looks like this into the kitchen? -- From Independent Publisher

Nominated as "BEST COOKBOOK; GENERAL CATAGORY" by the James Beard Foundation, 1999, NY, NY -- The James Beard Foundation

Won "BEST GRAPHICS AWARD" from the American Printers Association -- The American Printers Association

Won "BEST PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD" in World Cookbook Competition, Versailles, France, 2000 -- InternationalCookbook Review

From the Publisher

James Lambeth's aim was to include recipes taken directly from artists that both he and Miles James admire and most respect. AUTHOR COMMENT: The collaborative effort was a way for James Lambeth to get to know his new son-in-law, Miles James.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Miami Dog Press; 1st edition (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0960167838
• ISBN-13: 978-0960167838
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,191,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Cook, James

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply stunning!, September 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cuisine of the Creative: A Cookbook (Hardcover)

The stunning, museum-quality photographs were taken all over the world as Lambeth and James photographes the prepared dishes against backdrops of the masters' paintings, buildings and restaurants.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Arrogance and Confusion, July 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Cuisine of the Creative: A Cookbook (Hardcover)

A striking example of displaying one's personal possessions, this book seems more of an ode to the authors' material obsessions than either well designed art book or useful cookbook. The contents are at once arrogant (why do we care about the author's fancy race cars?) and the method inconsistent (do the food selections reflect the artists' preferences? or what the authors' would like to serve them as dinner guests?). The layout and typography is confused and without hierarchy which makes the contents difficult and frustrating to navigate. The "research" seems to be a few quotes culled from cocktail parties and art books - sources generally not considered either reliable or scholarly. The book has nice paper.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars James Beard Award Nominee, October 27, 2000

By 

Im Hun Bae (Fayetteville, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cuisine of the Creative: A Cookbook (Hardcover)

I was at the James Beard Awards Ceremony in New York and think the Nominee, Cuisine of the Creative, should have won. I'm sure it's difficult to evaluate an incredibly beautiful publication when it's equally as stunning for it's art as for it's recipes. I was glad to see that it won Best Photography Award from the International Cookbook Review in Versailles, France!