Cookoff: Recipe Fever in America

Food writer Amy Sutherland has written a fascinating behind-the-scenes expose of cook offs and recipe contests. From the outside, such contests seem rather boring, with middle-aged housewives preparing grandma's handed-down recipes. However, much more is percolating under the surface! Sutherland traveled around the country for over a year, attending cook offs and interviewing numerous contestants to write her book. She covers many of the biggest contests, such as the Pillsbury Bake-Off, as well as smaller ones, including State Fairs and chili cook offs. These cook offs, some of which have been around for decades, have become big business with huge purses and prizes, leading to increased drama. Sutherland details the cooking disasters, failed recipes, and occasional squabbles. Sutherland also paints a vibrant portrait of the cook-off regulars, who calls themselves "contesters." These contesters enter numerous cook offs, make many of the finals, and are absorbing to read about. At the end of most chapters, she includes winning recipes from the contests she discusses - so don't flip ahead or the suspense will be ruined! The final chapter gives practical advice to readers about recipe contests and cook offs. After reading this book, I'm eager to enter a contest on my own. A most enjoyable book - highly recommended!

Who knew! Leave it to Americans to making cooking a sport, one where the freshness of a garnish can make the difference between winnng the big bucks or not. Sutherland is an apt guide of this world of competitive cooks with all their quirks. This book is not just for foodies, but for anyone the least bit interested in American pop culture. The cooks are vivid and compelling. The food ingenious to appalling. Part travelogue, food history and culinary who-dunnit, Cookoff is a winner.

Before I read this book, I was only vaguely aware of the competitive cooking circuit. That is, I'd heard of the Pillbsbury Bakeoff, of course, and knew of chili contests. I had no idea there was a year-round series of national competitions, a la the PGA Tour or perhaps more appropriately, the Pro Bowling Tour.The whole concept of a year on the competitive cooking circuit was a new one for me and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about it. Sutherland's reporter-style writing, lots of facts and descriptions, not too much analysis, really works. She examines the competitions, profiles some contestants, looks into the preparation for an event, discusses the history of cooking contests, and addresses the phenomenon of "contesters".I have to agree with another reviewer that photos would have been a welcome addition to this book, the few on the jacket are great, but left me wanting more.Apparently, cooking contests are uniquely American. According to Sutherland, "Through contests we embody the founding fathers' ideal... to make of ourselves what we can... Even if you are stuck in a dead-end job in a dead-end marriage on a dead-end street, in America you can rise above your station and reign supreme at the bowling alley or the dog show or the poker table."Cookoff isn't really about cooking, it's about the competition.

What a marvelous mix of entertainment and information on an issue I knew nothing about! Sutherland's journalistic approach takes amazing and colorful twists and turns as it lays out the inner-workings of the cookoff circuit where the players range from highly entertaining to overly competitive and crabby. I found myself dying to meet the queen of the cookoff, Diane Sparrow and wanting to cry over Cindy Shmuelling's bittersweet story. If you are interested in what makes people tick, this book is for you. As with all books worth their salt, I relished each new chapter and felt sad when it was over!

I could not put this one down. It's hilarious, suspenseful, and surprisingly inspiring. Sutherland has written a book that's about more than competitive cooking...it's about competitive America, about the beauty of improvisation, and our sense that nothing--not even a drippy Tunnel of Fudge--is impossible. Sutherland introduces a fantastic parade of characters, as amusing as they are driven, as creative as they are kooky, and as truthfully and warmly rendered as I've read in any book anywhere. If you enjoyed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, or more recently, Wordfreak, you will love Cookoff. Highly, highly recommended.