College Student Cookbooks
I've been collaborating with Health Services at the University of New Hampshire on a project to encourage students to eat better. As part of that effort, I have reviewed several cookbooks aimed at college kids.
These cookbooks all promise to provide healthy, easy-to-make recipes that can be prepared by anyone with virtually no cooking knowledge or equipment. They have two main aims: to help students survive by providing easy recipes, and to help them learn to cook overall. In the table above, we've rated each book with an overall grade and number of recipes, and we've noted whether the book is primary geared to survival ("Just follow the directions and don't ask questions"), or also attempts to teach general cooking savvy. We've also noted whether the author is a student or a mom, as the tone, vocabulary and even the recipes vary greatly according to that author's point of view.
Students' College Cookbook
by Carole Raymond (Prima Publishing)
This was the healthiest, most comprehensive cookbook in our survey. Carole Raymond is the mother of two college students who writes with a respectful adult-to-adult tone. The book's recipes are simple but appetizing; if you know nothing, you will learn to shop for good food and prepare it, with recipes that cover everything from coffee to quesadillas. Information about basic cooking equipment and procedures is tucked into each recipe, so that you learn a great deal unobtrusively, without tedious "read this first" lectures. Despite the name, this is not specifically a student cookbook. It could be a mainstay in your kitchen for decades without making you feel like a case of arrested development, since it doesn't try to be hip and wise-ass. Again despite the name, this book would be wonderful for meat-eaters too: Just add a slab of meat and use these recipes for side-dishes, and you would eat very well. My only complaint is that the book is perfect-bound, so it doesn't lie flat as you cook. Highly recommended. Buy this book at Amazon.com
Healthy College Cookbook
by Alexandra Nimetz, Jason Stanley & Emeline Starr (Storey Books)
Three Williams College students teamed up to write this cookbook. The recipes are plentiful, appetizing and easy. Some (like Sole with Orange Sauce) sound more sophisticated than typical student fare, but with almost two hundred recipes in the book, there's no harm in having an impress-your-date recipe mixed in with scores of simple ones. I give this one a big thumbs-up for its easy-to-read, two-color layout, with icons to help find the quickest recipes, vegetarian dishes, and tasters' favorites. Again, this is a book that could be a kitchen mainstay for years after college. It's the only surveyed cookbook that includes nutrition facts for each recipe—an inclusion which could be a liability with the target audience. Better, maybe, to simply include healthy recipes without having them shout "Look, I'm nutritious!". Perfect bound. Recommended. Buy this book at Amazon.com
Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen
by Kevin Mills and Nancy Mills (Chapters Publishers)
Nancy (the mom) started slipping recipes to son Kevin in college after he went broke buying take-out food. Together, they decided to write a book that's appropriate for students and for twenty-somethings. The book is written in Kevin's voice, with Nancy adding "Mom Tips" as sidebars. This format adds useful variations, safety tips, shopping advice and more, while keeping the basic recipes simple and uncluttered. Recipes are divided into three categories: Very Easy, Easy and a few Not-So-Easy recipes. All are basically healthy (outside of a few rich desserts), though there's no egregious effort to preach nutrition. For most students, this "stealth nutrition" approach will probably be most effective. After all, no one wants to hear Mom say, "Eat your vegetables" over and over. But if there are vegetables included in a tasty recipe, there won't be any leftovers. Perfect bound. Recommended. Buy this book at Amazon.com
The College Students' Cookbook
by Joshua N. Lambert (Blue Mountain Arts)
If you want to learn fairly healthy mainstream cooking, Josh (a 2001 Harvard grad) will teach you how. I liked the way he explains the basics of cooking eggs, or making a stir fry, instead of just printing a single recipe. It's as is he's determined to teach you how to fish, rather than just give you the fish. Once you've worked your way through this book, it's likely you'll have the knowledge and confidence to make up your own recipes from whatever you find in the fridge. And it's likely you'll have some decent food in that fridge, because Josh included excellent information on shopping, with a basic pantry-stocking list and his "15-minute twice a month shopping plan." The tone of this book is aimed solely at students, with advice on breakfasts to make when you're late for class, how to overcome hangovers—and how to beg for food outside closing restaurants when you've spent your food money elsewhere. Not a book to grow with for life, but a great way to get launched on a lifetime of feeling comfortable in a kitchen. Wire-O binding and stiff pages make this book easy to handle in the kitchen. Recommended. Buy this book at Amazon.com
College Cuisine
by Leila Peltosaari (Tikka Books)
There's something very retro about this book. Although it came out in 1997, it has a 1957 feel about it. Maybe it's the Kielbasa and cream of celery soup recipe. Or the crowded layout. Or the inclusion of more sweets and desserts than any other book. Yet I found a lot to like in College Cuisine. Leila Peltosaari comes across as a caring mom who just couldn't leave anything out once she started writing. "Oh! I'd better include six variations with this milk shake recipe. And I'd better tell these kids not to use wet potholders; they'll get hurt." The book has a great section on how to recover from cooking mistakes, and good icons to find "quick," "cheap" and "vegetarian" recipes. It's basically healthy, although even in the vegetarian section there's nothing on whole grains. In the final analysis, this book is so visually busy and so loaded with recipes and hints and variations that a novice cook would probably find it overwhelming. But someone who had cooked a bit at home before leaving for college might welcome this small but copious wire-bound reference. Recommended with reservations. Buy this book at Amazon.com
The Starving Students' Cookbook
By Dede Hall (Warner Books)
Perhaps the original college cookbook, this one was originally released in 1982, and updated in 1994. Its format is excellent: one recipe per page, with margins showing prep time, sketches of pans needed, and cooking method/temp/time. But the recipes for the most part are not inviting. Several contain alcohol, though most students are underage. A few call for processed cheese spread. Others sound unappetizing—like the sort of dishes students might invent without a good cookbook. (Example: Chicken, one can diet orange soda, 1/4 cup soy sauce.) Still others seem unrealistic: will students really cook a roast beef or a tuna souffle, even if the recipe is simple? Perfect bound. Not recommended.
The Kitchenless Cookbook
By Suanne Beverly (Intermedia Publishing)
This book was a total turn-off for me. It assumes you have a microwave, a blender, a sink and a refrigerator. Period—no hotplate, no oven, no electric frypan. There may be some folks, including students, with these restrictions. But I find it hard to imagine anyone living solely on microwave cooking, especially using these recipes, many of which seemed unappetizing (sweet and sour sauce made of ketchup and gingerale, for instance). Beyond the iffy recipes, I was also turned off by the running dialog of pointless juvenile remarks between the author and her editor at the bottom of most pages. My only positive comments: To its credit, the book assumes no cooking knowledge. It teaches everything from how to boil water, and clearly lists both tools and ingredients needed in each recipe. And it's spiral bound, so it lies flat. Not recommended.
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Review © 2002 Cynthia Harriman.
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