Help Me Publish My Shakespearean Cookbook

Dear Friends,


I’m writing another cookbook, and I need your help to make it happen.  Working with Shakespeare companies all over the country, I’ve seen boxes of Bard-themed kitsch overflowing the gift shops.  From scholarly (if slightly dull) books unpacking literary themes, to charming children’s books, to curious items like Shakespeare Massage Oil, there is no shortage of Shakespeare for sale.  He should have had a better licensing deal.  

Lacking, however, is a really good cookbook.  Yet Shakespeare’s world is full of food.  His characters speak verse about food.  He names characters after food.  He bakes some of his characters into the food! It’s clear he knew his cuisine.  We, however, do not. So I want to write a book that is authentic, beautiful to look at,  and actually fun to cook at home.  


The perception of Shakespearean cuisine is that it’s heavy “Feast Food”: Gristle-y, roast-y, and often strewn about the room by fat royalty in front a roaring fire.  This perception couldn’t be further from reality.  In fact, the cuisine from Shakespeare’s time was, in many ways, delicate, wildly diverse, theatrical in presentation, and full of flavors far from our ‘modern’ palate of fried salt.  

I want to introduce people to this diversity of forgotten flavors.  So I’m raising money to continue the research to write and print the first run of Fat Rascals:  Dining at Shakespeare’s Table. Once inside the book, you will discover about 150 recipes authentic to the era, but updated for the modern kitchen. Accompanying each recipe will be a series of photographs taking you from preparation to presentation.  Drawing  from the recipes, the book will culminate in a series of suggested feasts for entertaining. I will then sell this cookbook to classical theaters all over the country, and based on sales numbers, will order and print subsequent editions.  

$5000.00 is no easy target, but in the world of quality book printing, it’s peanuts.   Each person that donates any amount of money will get a free recipe from me with a handwritten thank you, and each person that donates $100.00 or more will get a signed copy of the book.  If you’re crazy, and you donate more than $500.00, I’ll come to your home and cook you a multi-course Shakespearean Feast.  

So pitch in! Help out! Let’s time travel!

~John