“Beauty should be edible, or not at all.” – Salvador Dalí
Extravagant and exotic
I have my eyes on the book with surrealistic dishes Les diners de Gala. Dalí published this cookbook in 1973. Only 400 copies were thought to remain after the first print. Some collectors paid as much as $25,000 for the precious first edition. Thankfully, over 40 years later book publisher Taschen printed the book again in 2016. The artistic culinary masterpiece is still available, for now…
Dinner parties thrown by the artist and his wife and muse Gala were legendary due to most visionary and sensory menu being served. Thinking about ingredients like truffles, frog legs, and Viking herbs makes me want to experiment in the kitchen or canvas.
The only thing on my wish list
The book is on my Christmas wish list. I have read on other blogs that they don’t print too many copies and I am freaking out that my Santa might not get it if he waits too long. I will publish my wish list early this year, I don’t want to be disappointed. I don’t need anything else. Just this book.
I know it is early but…
Imaginary fall
It is the middle of October already. I can feel it is fall and almost hear the rustling leaves. I can thank my imagination for that. It is hard to notice fall in Florida, especially in the beginning. Humidity disappears and days are a little shorter. Lucky me because I love dark long evenings.
My thoughts about Dali
I am a huge Dali fan. Ever since he appeared on the horizon of my own existence, probably in my high school years I was fascinated by his persona and art. Complicated, vivid, different and yet so deeply personal. Each Dali painting is more like a journey into his dream. He called Freud his father. I absolutely love the elephants in his paintings Swans Reflecting Elephants and butterflies in Butterfly Ship. Always thinking if he really saw it. Birds are no strangers on his dinner table. Peacocks with feathers as decorations and ducks for the plate. Another observation is that his paintings are very futuristic.
The connection to TV show
If you watched Hannibal series you must have noticed super fancy cosmic dishes he prepared and served his guests. Strangely Dali’s cookbook ends with his painting called History of Cannibalism. I don’t know how the executive producers came up with the presentation of the dishes but I hope it was Dali who inspired the gourmet side of the show.
Edible art edible dreams
There are 136 recipes in the book with great photography and sketches. I can’t wait to hold the book!
Any art-loving person or a chef would love to have this book in their library or on a coffee table.
Thousand Year Old Eggs or Veal Cutlets Stuffed with Snails, anyone? I rather drive in the Cadillac Rainy Taxi decorated with them.
I will settle for smoked eel on my next trip to Poland where you can buy them from vendors by Baltic Sea. That will be instead of Dali’s Conger Eel of the Rising Sun.
I certainly would love to try Toffee with Pine Cones for dessert!
All book photos courtesy of Taschen
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Public only sees small piece of what went on. Public only reads certain articles and not all. Public moves on. I move on but keep going back very often. Everywhere my daughter goes she meets kids who were in 1200 building or people who knew somebody. She comes back with a lot of stories.
