Delicious Too

Last week Julie Larios wrote here about our new book Delicious.

Her poems are tasty, and it was a pleasure to illustrate them.

It was a pleasure that lasted for a decade! Delicious celebrates street food, much of which is fast, but creating the book was slow. I loved her idea and poems when I first heard them in 2011. I then created sample illustrations using the technique of papercutting.

Julie and I submitted the book for publication in 2012 but the world was not hungry for it yet.

Years later Allyn Johnson at Beachlane had an appetite for this project but wanted paintings not papercuts.

With this painting I figured out my new approach. I began with Julie’s Oaxaca poem because of my deep love for the place – its art and food. (Here and here are links to other posts I have written about Oaxaca.)

Painting the images for this book was a trip around the world. It involved research about the food and also about the places. For example for the illustration about Senegal I looked at pictures of baobab fruit, bouye, bissap water and lots of Senegalese textiles which I referenced in the border and also in the bark of the trees.

SUMMER DAY (Dakar, Senegal)

Cousin, cousin – cold bouye?

Cold bouye from the baobab tree?

And icy bissap water for me.

………………………………………………………………

My imaginary visit to Korea included kimchee and kites.

BEST FRIENDS (Seoul, South Korea)

First full moon day, time to play

You and I with kites in the sky.

Auntie brings us market meals:

mandu for you,

kimchee for me.

………………………………………….

Food is joyful. Food is necessary. Food is a way to keep culture alive and to connect cultures. In my illustrations I celebrate each unique place as well as the food.

After many years of cooking, this feast is ready. Hot dog!