Please Feed Me: A Punk Vegan Cookbook [Paperback]

Niall McGuirk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2004

Developed from the Hope Collective, a popular punk venue in Dublin, Ireland, this unique cookbook links healthy eating with the punk rock community and subculture. With over 120 vegan recipes and personal anecdotes collected from bands who performed at the club, Please Feed Me presents tasty offerings such as Fugazi Chocolate Cake, Bikini Kill Chili non Carne, and Neurosis and Pincer Martin Tomato and Orange Soup. Also included are thoughts on punk rock culture as a vital underground network, and insider stories of well-known U.S. and international bands.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two vibrant countercultures collide to fizzling effect in this memoir/cookbook. McGuirk was one of the founders of the Hope Collective, a long-running Dublin community that promoted punk bands in the 1980s and '90s. The evolution of the Hope Collective and McGuirk's decision to go vegan seem born from the same activist impulse, and the author tries, through his recollections here, to focus a lens on a time in his life that was both revolutionary and spiritually nourishing. Yet for all the book's name-dropping (Fugazi, Bikini Kill and Chumbawamba were among the bands involved) the punk scene just doesn't come alive on the pages of this remembrance: there are few interesting anecdotes and a decided lack of a gritty, revolutionary spirit. It's a stretch to call this a cookbook, since the recipes take up less space than the photos and blow-by-blows of various shows. The dishes McGuirk shares, however, are simple, international comfort foods like Mixed Veg Noodles, Root Vegetable Soup with Greens, Vegan Tapenade, and Maple Sweet Potato Pudding. They aren't bad, considering that they were written by rockers instead of chefs, but foodies won't find anything truly inspired. In the end, only die-hard vegan punk-fans will be entertained—and that may be all the author intended. (Mar.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (November 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932360093
• ISBN-13: 978-1932360097
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Please feed me, January 13, 2005

By 

Justin (Louisville) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Please Feed Me: A Punk Vegan Cookbook (Paperback)

Alright, I got this last night and read through most of it. About half of the text is devoted to telling the story of a volunteer-run club and all of the punk bands and experiences that the people who worked there have. The other half of the text is devoted to vegan recipes that they collected from the bands.

I'd say the best part about the recipes is that they all seem really cheap - lots of lentils, rice, potatoes, and other cheapo-staples.
The recipes are fun, but you could definetly get by without this if you have much experience. There are ALOT of curries and like 3 guacamole recipes. There are several things like burritos that are just obvious - crumbles, veggies, salsa, and guac. Then there are some really cool ones. There was a squatter that had a recipe that involved finding a hubcap, sterilizing it with booze, mixing in all the crusts, skins, (and no, not crusties or skinheads, but it's funny that I wrote that without thinking) or any kind of food that you can and put it in with either water or more booze, then cook it over a campfire. There was also a "bread sandwhich" recipe, which was a slice of bread in between 2 slices of bread.

I'd say for me, it was worth the $10 because I enjoyed reading it and probably will make the stuff that seems really cheap, and alot of the curries too. There was a sheapard's pie that I'm itching to make in it too. Plus I had fun reading about all the punks and how the collective operated. I'm not sure if the average person would be into it though.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange little cookbook, April 27, 2005

By 

Helmine (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Please Feed Me: A Punk Vegan Cookbook (Paperback)

This presents first as a memoir rather than a cookbook. Must have been a magical era in punk music-- I'm dead envious reading about the musical experience. The food is somewhat remote, no pictures except of the bands. The recipes come from the bands as well, and can be chaotic. Which is fine-- it is, after all, a punk cookbook. Not well organized from the cookbook point of view-- contents are presented according to concert playlists, and not well indexed. I haven't made any of the food, but it's an interesting read, if repetitive. The intro is pieced together from the recipe copy-- you'll recognize entire sections as you skim along. I was hoping for something more like Cooking with the Dead, by Grateful Dead writer Elizabeth Zipern, which is more approachable from the food angle. I'm going to try a few recipes to see if this one is worth keeping long term. It'll be tough to judge, though, as all the recipes are by different cooks. So, overall interesting, but definately not an overview of fundamental vegan cooking. This one is more of a curiosity, a vivid portrayal of a period in punk music, complete history of the Hope Collective, with probably a few recipe gems. If you were fortunate enough to be in Ireland with these guys, it'll be a treasured keepsake.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deadly, May 29, 2006

By 

nellie throwbart "hardly spoken" (dublin, ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Please Feed Me: A Punk Vegan Cookbook (Paperback)

i lived through the time spoken about in this book and it shares many good memories with the reader. The recipes are straightforward vegan fare but good enough to eat. I found it the sort of book you could pick up and open on any page and read about how bands like Green Day and NOFX played in Dublin with no contracts and to crowds of 50 people. You can then try the recipe associated with that gig and feel part of this wonderful punk rock community