Bastard Cookbook: The Odious Smell of Truth

by Antto Melasniemi

cover of Bastard Cookbook: The Odious Smell of Truth

Rirkrit Tiravanija and Antto Melasniemi have a shared appreciation for breaking the rules, so this book is less of a coffee table cookbook and more like its twisted sister. It comprises a collection of texts, exhortations, culinary scenarios, and ingredients and preparations, and is intended to liberate the modern gourmand from essentialism. The authors offer what one could refer to as an adulterated fare to its purist counterpart, with over 50 preposterous recipes. Through a collaborative exploration into the realms of food and cosmopolitanism, the cookbook proposes that the key to appreciating the idiosyncrasies of an unfamiliar culture is perhaps through a hybridised form.