Personal exploration of French cuisine through a cookbook of classic recipes adapted for home cooking.
A culinary challenge
During the pandemic my husband and I decided to expand our food palettes and culinary skills by learning to cook a new-to-us cuisine. We spent a year exploring Korean food by researching recipes, discovering where to locally source specialty ingredients, and learning traditional preparation methods.
The next year we decided to keep the habit going with a focus on Jamaican food, followed by North Indian recipes. In 2024 we travelled to France for our 10th anniversary and chose to dedicate that year to French cooking. Having the first-hand experience of the authentic cuisine inspired me to develop a cookbook showcasing our favorite dishes as a memento of both the trip and our culinary journey.
Recipe development & Book design
A collection of our favorite French dishes became the cookbook Hearty French: Classic recipes for home cooks. I chose lifestyle food photos to show that, even though French cooking can seem complicated, the recipes are actually quite straightforward and approachable. In a nod to authenticity I included the French translations of each dish and organized the book based on the traditional courses of a French meal. A two column page layout makes it easy to identify and reference ingredients while scanning the instructions. The color palette is inspired by the food itself and Provençal dinnerware.
See the recipes: French Onion Soup, Vegetable Toast, Deviled Eggs, Chicken with Wine, and Creme Brulee.
cover design development
Inspiration for the cover came from exploring archetypal French themes: art deco fonts and design elements, the french flag, chalkboard lettering and illustrations, rustic patterns and colors, and photography showcasing classic ingredients and dishes. I wanted the cover to communicate approachability so I selected a lifestyle photo with a slate gray background reminiscent of a chalkboard and paired it with swashy and script fonts and doodles of classic equipment and ingredients.