How to cook like you are from ..., when you are not

Our vision for this website is to share our authentic recipes from our diverse ethnic backgrounds with people all over the word.

When I write "our diverse ethnic backgrounds" I do mean exactly that. We come from all corners of the world. Authentic means just that, these are not cookbooks and recipes from people who have tried to recreate a flavor or recipe these are people who were born and raised in every corner of the world and carry their traditions to the dining room every day in our own homes.

So what will you find on our site? We have contributors from the following countries and backgrounds, listed in no particular order, as we begin the project:

Argentina
Costa Rica
Morocco
Germany
Lithuania
Mexico
Dominican Republic
Yemen
Israel
New Orleans, Louisiana


Interlaced into those backgrounds we have Ashkenazim and Sephardic Jews, vegetarians, healthy bakers, and scratch bakers. We are the United Nations of cooks.

We have a wine aficionado too, who will be providing a wine guide offering pairings and suggesting little known vintners and guidance on why certain wines work better with certain courses or ingredients.

We have contributors with special knowledge of the healing properties of certain foods, herbs, and spices. Interlaced on the website and in the cookbooks will be information about the healing properties of certain foods, herbs, and spices which will help you to live a healthier life with no more effort than cooking breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

We even have a tea aficionado who will offer a guide to creating a sensational "tea party". Our tea aficionado is also one of herb gurus.

As a group we are like a casserole, many diverse ingredients mixed together to make a single delicious end result.

http://howtocookbooks.com is a joint venture of cooking enthusiasts who, as one of our contributors put it "cook like a painter paints". Now what the heck does that mean, you may be asking. What it means is that we cook from the heart, or in other terms are open handed cooks. We start with a blank canvas and we add color until we are pleased with the outcome. In the case of cooking that means we add ingredients, spices, and herbs without following an official recipe.

That is the most challenging aspect of taking our recipes and making them into cookbooks that someone else can follow, and duplicate the recipe.

Ultimately our goals with this project and our cookbooks are to help people keep their ethnic traditions alive, introduce people to new cultures and cultural traditions, renew "family dinner" and face-to-face dinner conversation, encourage people to eat in a more healthy way, save money, and improve their lives and relationships.

While some may consider those goals lofty and perhaps even quixotic, we are passionate people who have never thrown up our hands in despair in the face of challenge.

Please join us on this cultural journey and take your place at our table.