In the 1970s Vincent Price, the actor best known for his roles in horror films such as The Masque of the Red Death, made a television series to indulge his love of food. This book was a follow-up to it. He had, apparently, written several cookery books previously and had always wanted to be a TV chef. His aim back then was to encourage people to eat food from other countries. In the book he bemoans the fact that people would only eat spaghetti from a tin, chopped up and in tomato sauce, but would not attempt the real thing.

Luckily times have changed but this book remains a delightful culinary journey with clear, concise recipes. There are only a few pictures, in a colour insert, but these include some wonderfully comic shots of Vincent in action in his kitchen. Although I'm not sure that the humour was intended, Price's innate originality and eccentricity shine through and often raise a smile, for example when he discusses the benefits of eating with your fingers.

Most of the recipes contain meat so this is a book for perusing and possibly adapting rather than as a source of vegetarian recipes.

If you are familiar with the films of Vincent Price it can, unfortunately, be difficult to disassociate the image of him cooking here from his performance in Theatre of Blood where he dresses up as a chef for a fake TV show called 'This Is Your Dish' with a particularly gruesome meal on offer but, in a way, this is all part of the fun which this book provides.

You won't find this book on the shelves of your local bookshop but if you can track it down it is well worth it for its novelty value alone.

 

Alibris, Inc.