A Cookbook to Give Betty Crocker the Vapors: La Figa – Visions of Food and Form
by Larry Cox on Sep. 27, 2011, under UncategorizedLa Figa: Visions of Food and Form by Chef Tiberio Simone and featuring the photography of Matt Freedman (Book Publishers Network, $39.95)
This is the kind of cookbook that would make Betty Crocker swoon and force her to take to her bed with a cold compress. In addition to 20 recipes, there are 40 essays on food, life and love, and more than 160 full color images by the renowned photographer, Matt Freedman. It is a lavish book and a feast on several levels but to say that it is sensual is an understatement and a little like claiming that Bernie Madoff made a few bad investment decisions.
Chef Tiberio Simone was born in Neviano, a small town in the boot heel of Southern Italy. He eventually joined the restaurant industry in Seattle and after winning several major awards as the pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hotel, he opened a catering business. He chose the name “La Figa,” a natural. As Chef Simone explains, in Italian, la fica refers to a fruit, the fig. La figa, on the other hand, means a beautiful, sexy woman. Since the pronunciation and spelling are so similar to the English word “fig,” Chef Simone used the “g” instead of the “c” with the result, La Figa. He adds that the name also inspires images of freshness and beauty — whether it’s the freshness of a fig or the beauty of a gorgeous woman.
“La Figa: Visions of Food and Form” is a book that is difficult to define. It is less a cookbook than a work of art. The stunning images of Seattle photographer Matt Freedman feature nude models wearing nothing more than the edible creations of the James Beard Award-winning chef. It examines the relationship between food and touch in such an unique way it is certain to rearrange the furniture in your head so that you come away with a new and better understanding between what we eat and how we connect with each other as sensual brings.
