Have you ever sautéed geometrical sex or eaten fate from the breasts of Minerva? Adjust your palate to the times with the Neo-Decadent Cookbook, the ONLY approved guide to the preparation of metaphysical concepts and other abstractions, alongside recipes likely to cause lasting changes to your internal organs. Editors Brendan Connell and Justin Isis have assembled a diverse list of contributors from around the world, each with their own stylistically novel take on culinary apotheosis. Fragments of fiction, poetry and instructional material will guide you towards a suitably delectable climax. TRUE UNDERSTANDING AND SCIENCE EXPLODE!
CONTENTS
Manifesto of Neo-Decadent Cooking - Brendan Connell and Justin Isis The Bias of Affinity - Ross Scott-Buccleuch London in Three Courses: First Course - David Rix The Mushroom Omelette - Catherine Dousteyssier-Khoze The Devil’s Alchemist - Jason Rolfe Koliva - Daniel Corrick Household Hints - Brendan Connell Cooking Australia - Colby Smith Heavenly Victuals - Jessica Sequeira The Vertical Table - Justin Isis London in Three Courses: Second Course - David Rix Some Necessary Words on the Subject of Fruit - Quentin S. Crisp The Immaculate Scrambled Automat - Damian Murphy Revolt of the Kitchens - Jessica Sequeira The Wild Hunt - Douglas Thompson Machines that Eat Flowers - Justin Isis Seeds - Ursula Pflug The Night-Drinkers - Jason Rolfe Insalata di parole - Brendan Connell A Food Critic’s Nightmare - Jessica Sequeira London in Three Courses: Third Course - David Rix My Dream Vacation - Lawrence Burton Nettle Tea - Ursula Pflug The Enteric Universe - Justin Isis
A fun companion piece to the other Decadent anthologies from Snuggly Books (though this was published by Eibonvale) featuring returning favorites: Brendan Connell, Quentin S. Crisp, Justin Isis, Damian Murphy, and several others. The short tales center around food, ingredients and people. They are rich in detail and surprising in content, since none of them are simple or straightforward. They will force the reader to consider what constitutes the neo-decadent aesthetic and to contemplate the atmosphere of our modern age steeped in ennui, amid a generation braised in technological isolation, marinated in the omnipresent glow of media, and fascinated by the secret byways of human thought. If you appreciate a well-composed feast of sophisticated syntax and savor the sensorium-enhancing delicacies of modern purveyors of weird imagery, then you will relish this delicious confection.
How to describe Neo-Decadent cooking? A thought exercise in esoteric gastronomy? A loose-weave collection of liminal writing exploring the world of food and drink would seem an easy yet simplistic way to describe the Neo-Decadent Cookbook, and if this book is anything it is not simple. The writing is complex, disparate, thematically varied and morally dubious. This collection of arcane cookery texts defies definition, but is wonderfully written and is a short but effective introduction to the world of Neo-Decadence literature.
This book is special, something that radiates an extramurality to its covers, pervading as well as transcending its own cookbook ethos, both playful and serious. And this final work is probably its most difficult one to plumb. I am still working through its coils and tunnel visions. Entire as well as enteric.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here. Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.