Book Report: Jackson Pollock, Chef?
Part history book, part cookbook, Dinner with Jackson Pollock is a glimpse into the artist’s life from a fresh perspective: What did he eat? The book by Robyn Lea and Assouline is comprised of gorgeous photos of the Pollocks’ home, kitchen, and every day artifacts, and recipes that give a glimpse into their lives, torn from cookbooks, written hastily by Pollock’s wife Lee at dinner parties, and scribbled on notebook paper. These are not just Lee’s recipes, either. Many were found in Jackson’s handwriting, some were even written on paper from his psychiatrist’s office. Who’d have thought, for example, that Jackson Pollock baked an expert apple pie, one that won competitions? Or that he loved to treat his friends to his famous fluffy pancakes?
The recipes in the book are solid. You’ll find everything from Swedish meatballs to stuffed onions to spaghetti sauce to banana cake. But perhaps more interesting than the recipes themselves are the bits of history that accompany them – like which recipes were affected by World War II rations, how Jackson always wanted to grow his own vegetables, how Lee liked to roast her chicken in a Le Creuset pot. Also interesting are the various food remedies suggested to treat Jackson’s alcoholism – some of these programs are the ancestors of juice cleanses and include things like sauerkraut juice and dandelion juice. The book, in addition to being a gorgeous artifact in itself and fascinating in a trivia sort of way, also serves as a good reminder that no matter how famous we are or what our reputation, we’ve got one thing in common: We all gotta eat.
Here, you can (basically) breakfast with JP: Jackson Pollock’s Sour Cream Griddle Cakes