Loved the rich colorful graphics and the book is very insightful. But I thought it contains at least a handful of recipes. The book turned out to be about famous chefs/cooks. A good read overall,

I LOVED this book! It is a beautiful snapshot of women cooking today and made me feel like I was part of the movement in my own small way as a home cook. I was thrilled to see such eloquent and broad explorations and examinations of why women cook within these pages. Lindsay Gardner has curated a highly compelling work of food writing that I hope becomes a classic of the genre. One of my favorite sections was the contributors in conversation about "How do you balance your work and personal life?" Reading about how these highly skilled women within a field notorious for being all consuming find moments of balance was wonderful. Even the pragmatic remark of "I haven't figured that out." by Anita Lo was highly relatable. I encourage anyone who cooks to pick this book up, you will be blessed with more than just delicious recipes with this book!

I chose this book purely for the cover, and this definitely did not disappoint. Not quite sure if this is a first purchase, but definitely a backlist bump

A much-needed book, Lindsay compiles a beautiful array of stories, facts, and experiences from the women in the culinary world whether they are home cooks or professional chefs, How women experience and navigate the culinary landscape is such an interesting and worthwhile research endeavor and story to tell. Lindsay's illustrations are an additional treat that pulls readers in.

Why We Cook actually made me emotional. The book is a collection of essays, recipes, vignette's of the lives of women in the food world, quotes, and beautiful illustrations. But what stands out is how all of these stories of women collectively explain the female experience in America - the connections women have to history, to the earth, to food, to cultures, to family. I loved reading about lives of women I'd never heard of before and feeling such deep appreciation for the work they are doing and hopeful for the world they are creating around them through food. Why We Cook reminds me a bit of The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich, in that when you start tying together the experiences of so many woman around a central topic, the incredible collective power of women is bared and inescapable, as it should be.

This is a beautifully illustrated book with stories and recipes from a diverse group of female chefs.

If you like cooking, baking, food, eating, reading about food, beautiful illustrations, or any combination of these things then you'll find something to like in this book. Profiles of chefs and food industry women, home cooks, recipes, essays, memorable meals, and more. There's something for everyone and you can dip into this book randomly to find something beautiful that will make you hungry for something you've never heard of, or something you've had a thousand times - just without that new description.

There's something so pleasing, I think, in reading about food and cooking. Especially when the content is all coming from or about women. I liked this book a lot. I know I didn't capture everything in my first read/glance through, and I'm looking forward to getting to know the book and the women inside a little more.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I admit it, I am one of those people who read cookbooks for fun, and I am addicted to shows like “Great British Baking”. There is something so heart-warming and wholesome about the act of doing, or even thinking about, food preparation for the people you care about - to me it really is a “food is love” thing.

Enter this lovely book.

The best way to describe it is a beautifully illustrated series of conversations, short essays, recipes and musings from the contributors, who represent a broad and inclusive set of women across the food industry. You can read it straight through, or pick up and read a section at a time as you would any coffee table book.

I read this book more casually, over the course of several days and found the comments provided touched all the right notes. Many of the stories emphasized the way we all would love to eat - based on the traditional cultural focus of locally sourced or harvested food and fresh herbs and their preparation in season.

There’s a lot of content, nicely laid out, and some of the highlights for me included:

- What preparing food means to women and how our roles in food preparation within the family are evolving.

- How culture is reflected in cooking and how deeply intertwined our memories/emotions from our homelands and our childhoods are to food.

- The contributors reflect the ever-growing appreciation for diversity and inclusivity in the cooking industry. I for one am so grateful for all the multi-cultural ingredients, recipes and videos that are out there now, and am looking forward to trying several of the recipes in this book.

4 wonderful stars.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Workman Publishing Company, and the author for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented here are my own.

Women have long been in the kitchen and making magic there each and everyday. A book actually celebrating these women and their talents was a wonderful idea. I enjoyed the art work in the book as well as the stories told by chefs and cooks in the industry. Women have a very unique way of story telling and the experiences that brought us these recipes and the talents of these exceptional women should not be missed.

This is an eclectic mix of stories by and about real women and their motivations behind what gets them into the kitchen. While everyone has a different story, many of the components were the same. It was interesting, but I don't feel like I would have missed out on anything if I hadn't read it.

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 “𝗪𝐇𝐘 𝗪𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐊”⁣
𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫: Lindsay Gardner ⁣
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: March 2nd, 2021⁣

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𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: last month I made the decision of reading at least one food and beverage related book a month, to keep learning and being inspired in my field of work. This month’s choice was “𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘞𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘬”, a collection of POVs, recipes, essays from women of hospitality around the world. ⁣
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I learned so many things with this book! It’s not a surprise to me that the high positions of this field are mostly occupied by man and it was inspiring to hear stories of how women are opening the path for more female voices in the industry. I loved reading how these women (chefs, restauranteurs, sommeliers, etc) identified the problems and overcame them. The way the book was put together is very dynamic - mixing interviews with essays, profiles and storytelling. ⁣
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One of my favorites phrases of the book was: “𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 (𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 - 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺” - Jude Rodil (Master Sommelier)⁣
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Unfortunately my reading experience was a bit ruined by the format that the book took on my kindle, mixing up phrases and paragraphs - but the version for sale is a beautiful table coffee book with a hardcover and Gardener’s beautiful illustrations. ⁣
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I will definitely buy this book once released and recommend it to my female colleagues in the hospitality and F&B fields! ⁣
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Thank you @netgalley and @workmanpub for gifting me this eARC in exchange of an honest review. ⁣

Why We Cook is an important contribution to the food cannon. Lindsay does a beautiful job of getting over 100 women to share their stories about food in all its forms and iterations. I enjoyed the snapshots into these women's lives and learning more about their relationships with food. This book is for passionate foodies and people who want to learn more about the way in which women relate and identify with food and cooking.

Why We Cook is a great book focused on women chefs and their experience in the kitchen. I wanted to like this book but it really lacked diversity - with few exceptions, the women included in this book are young(ish) and white. Also the book is done with artist renderings (watercolor paintings) by the author and not my preference for cookbooks. This book has some interesting essays and recipes, but overall a disappointment.

It's refreshing to normalize hearing a diverse range of voices and culinary backgrounds represented in Why We Cook. I also appreciate the different styles of storytelling throughout the pages, from quick Q&As to chef profiles and recipes scattered throughout. This is a book I anticipate flipping through again and again to find new inspiration and revisiting favorite passages, and I foresee it acting this way for many readers to come.

3.5 stars. Beautifully illustrated compilation celebrating women in food. The book contains essays on Memorable Meals, Kitchen Portraits showing them in their kitchens and giving their backgrounds, essays, Home Cooks in Conversation (q&a with home cooks), a handful of recipes, Profiles, and Contributors in Conversation (q&a with chefs). There's a lot of info in here on food, cooking, the planet, and difficulties women in the restaurant industry and related food associated professions encounter. There were lots of great quotes. The recipes were unique and included because of a story from the creator.
This would be a good gift for a woman who is very interested in food or hoping to make it a career.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly a work of art and something I would like to own some day. Exploration of women and their relationship with food/cooking through all different lenses: chefs, activists, reviewers; recipes, quotes, stories. Love the illustration style as well.

I enjoyed that this was a book about famous chefs/cooks, but I was hoping that it would at least have one recipe by each woman.

This book was a delight! The paintings are beautiful and provide a beautiful backsplash to the inspiring and entertaining stories, quotes, and recipes of home cooks, professional chefs, activists, and others. If you love to cook and also have a penchant for justice and equity, you will certainly enjoy this book. It would also make a great gift for the feminist cook or baker in your life. I'm glad I read this and would wholeheartedly recommend it to others.

In most homes, the female role more often than not is the family household cook; but many of the famous chefs around the world are male. This book's concept and showcase of this book are beautiful in highlighting women. In a world where photos are so prevalent in social media, it is great to take a step back and process the illustrations for the chefs and food displays, especially when so many of the recipes come from a traditional 'comfort food to me' perspective. The questions and statistics featured throughout are thought provoking.

I love to cook, so I was excited to receive Why We Cook as an e-ARC through NetGalley. This beautifully illustrated book was a compilation of essays, recipes, Q&As, and more from over 100 female professional and amateur chefs.

What I Liked:
The illustrations were the best part of this book. They were absolutely stunning and I ended up reading this on my phone to be able to see them in color (versus reading on my Kindle). I also love books have recipes inside that aren't a straight up cook book and I will be trying out some of the recipes.

What I Disliked:
I didn't care for the structure of this book. It felt like it jumped around a lot and there did not seem to be cohesion from one essay, Q&A, etc to the next.

For foodies or those who watch food shows (Food Network, Netflix, etc) this book is an easy, entertaining, impressive read into the lives of female chefs.