I Like Food, Food Tastes Good

If there's a candidate for the group with the worst eating habits in existence, touring rock bands would seem to be right up there with the guy who eats whole bicycles.

Guess I'm wrong, though. Modern indie bands talk the talk and eat the eats, making mostly vegetarian or vegan delicacies even while on the road.


Who knew? Kara Zuaro. She started collecting recipes for the awesomely titled I Like Food, Food Tastes Good: In the Kitchen with Your Favorite Bands after interviewing Death Cab for Cutie and discovering their vegan sausage and peanut butter sandwich. Some were upscale (Patrick Phelan's Swanky Mac N Cheese, featuring lobster and white truffles); some were weird (a combination of onions, peppers, cheese, eggs and refried beans that Silkworm calls a Cheesy Sleazy); some are indescribable (because they don't make sense even when described: NOFX's El Hefe says "make some mac and cheese, then mix in a can of nelly chilly ... word). Zuaro wrote the recipes in the musicians' voices, so your tolerance may be limited if you're like, you know, an adult.

Maybe this is a book to offer to your college-aged kid, to get them to cook something healthier than take-out and ramen (although Strung Out's Rock 'N' Ramen secret is using two Ramen flavors). As you would expect, the recipes are mostly pretty simple and straightforward (there's one for a bologna sandwich).

I started out married life depending on a cooking for college kids cookbook and it helped almost every day. I Like Food, Food Tastes Good may not be the only cookbook to rely on but if it gets read all the way through, that's got to be a good thing.