Knives and Needles

by Molly A. Kitamura

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Knives and Needles: Tattoo Artists in the Kitchen is an interesting cross section of tattoo artists (mostly from the west coast of the USA) who are foodies and photographic gallery of their ink and a carefully curated selection of recipes. Released 28th Oct 2019 by Schiffer, it's 224 pages and available in hardcover format.

This is an extremely eclectic collection of recipes. The first one in the book is for a homemade pipe made from an apple. The contributor recommends acquiring some "grade A pot" and then cooking and enjoying the recipes from the rest of the book. The recipes are a mixed lot. There's a definite west coast USA and Mexican/Hispanic/Asian fusion vibe to a lot of them. There are a few vegan/gluten/sugar free recipes. Nearly all of them are simple enough for the average home cook to replicate and most of the ingredients are easily sourced and familiar.

Each of the featured artists has a short bio and a few action cooking shots as well as full color photos of their tattoos and some piercings. The photos are colorful and the tattoos are incredibly detailed and well done (in varied styles). The full body tattoos are tastefully semi-nude. Each of the recipes include a sidebar with a bullet list of ingredients. Measurements are given in US standard. They also include step by step instructions; some (not all) include yields. There's a table of contents, but no index.

This is an interesting intersection of two of my favorite obsessions: body art and cooking. This would make a great gift for a tattoo or cooking interested reader. It's definitely worthy of the 'coffee table' book category.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.