Hidden Kitchens: Stories, Recipes and More from NPR's The Kitchen Sisters [Paperback]

Nikki Silva (Author), Davia Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2006

Inspired by the popular, award winning radio series on NPR's Morning Edition, Hidden Kitchens explores the world of secret, unexpected, below-the-radar community cooking across America: a midnight cab yard kitchen on the streets of San Francisco, a secret civil rights kitchen tucked away in a house in Montgomery, freighter food from the galleys of the Great Lakes, the most unexpected hidden kitchen of the homeless--the George Foreman grill. The Kitchen Sisters travel the nation in search of unsung kitchen heros, legendary meals, and cooking rituals in this wild, poignant chronicle of American life through food.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

NPR listeners are probably familiar with Nelson and Silva's radio program, "Hidden Kitchens," in which they interview amateur cooks who use improvisational methods to prepare food in unconventional places. This book expands on that concept, with Nelson and Silva offering expanded commentary and a handful of recipes from their interview subjects. While the cooks profiled use everything from George Foreman grills to makeshift fryers to whip up their meals, the recipes assume the reader has a conventional, working kitchen and are fairly straightforward and easy to make. But it's the stories behind the food that comprise the book's soul. The Sisters solicited tips from listeners in researching this book, which provided them with plenty of leads, though the verbatim transcripts of phoned-in tips that appear on nearly every page, and sometimes several times on a page, can make for a frustrating read. However, Nelson and Silva's mini-expose on the popularity of the George Foreman grill among the homeless is a solid piece of reportage that blends in the narrative of Foreman's life with that of the people who depend on his countertop appliance for their meals. The Chili Queens of Texas, women who sold tamales, chili and tacos as unlicensed street vendors at the turn of the century, also receive an in-depth profile, as do cooks on the NASCAR circuit. The book isn't so much about Rube Goldberg-like contraptions used to cook food (although there is some of that) as it is about American ingenuity and people making the most of what they have.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The genius of the Kitchen Sisters has been to discover a nation filled with humor, imagination, and passion."--Alice Waters, from the Foreword

 

"Silva and Nelson catalog and spin yarns about offbeat kitchens of all sorts, from the racing pits of NASCAR to Vietnamese ones in nail salons to those smoking in midnight cab yards. Their stories, highlighted with photos, always grab you." --The New York Times

"The Kitchen Sisters are my favorite storytellers. Their offbeat and heartfelt kitchen stories make me want to walk through my neighborhood, go on a road trip, and eat the food of family." --Francis Ford Coppola

"The Kitchen Sisters have done some of the best radio stories ever broadcast."--Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (August 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594865310
• ISBN-13: 978-1594865312
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #906,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Joy of Cooking in Unlikely Places, May 4, 2008

By 

Carol L. Emory (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hidden Kitchens: Stories, Recipes and More from NPR's The Kitchen Sisters (Paperback)

This was a membership gift from NPR. I thought, of all my choices, it would be most interesting. I'm glad that I didn't buy it. The book focuses more on the narratives of the different cooks in unlikely places than on the recipes that they use. All of the stories are excellent reminders that all people love food, and that we are quite clever in inserting good food in our daily life, wherever that might be. The most inspiring to me was the first story of the homeless and nearly homeless who use the George Foreman grill on the streets or in SRO hotels where cooking is forbidden. This is contrasted with Foreman's life as a child, where hunger was a constant presence. I am sure that I will try some of the recipes, but cannot recommend the book unless you like The Hidden Kitchens on NPR, which I had never heard of until now.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PURE DELIGHT !, October 20, 2005

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hidden Kitchens: Stories and More from NPR's The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva) and Jay Allison (Audio CD)

Someone has said that a kitchen is the heart of a home - it's certainly the heart of this delightful audio book splendidly read by Academy Award winning actress Frances McDormand. Few who saw "Fargo" will forget her command of the screen; few who listen to "Hidden Kitchens" will not be enchanted by her command of the stories, whether they're funny, moving or absurd.

Renowned chef Alice Waters contributes a special commentary in which she notes: "The curious and wonderful thing about the stories in this book is how much they resemble good things to eat. They can be surprising and they can be reassuringly familiar and they can be comforting and they can be outrageous."

How true!

The audio is taken in part from NPR's Hidden Kitchen Hotline, which hundreds of listeners have called with a plethora of messages regarding recipes, kitchen happenings, and cooking successes and failures. There is also a good deal of new material which Nelson and Silva have gathered from a variety of sources.

Listeners will be amazed to hear of the doings in a San Francisco cab yard, or by the lakes of Minnesota, or in a NASCAR kitchen paralleling a race track. And, there's more.

"Hidden Kitchens" is pure delight.

- Gail Cooke

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Random selection of phone messages !?!, May 17, 2008

By 

Ommm "YogaMama" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hidden Kitchens: Stories and More from NPR's The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva) and Jay Allison (Audio CD)

A selection of quirky pieces. Most are phone message left for the kitchen sisters. Some good, some just ramble on and on. I am a fan of the show so I was expecting more.