Invigorating authentic Southern soul cooking with new inspiration, acclaimed chef Deborah VanTrece elevates classic comfort food into unique, surprising dishes worth celebrating. 

Deborah VanTrece's Kansas City roots, wide travel, and celebrated career in Atlanta have gifted her with a uniquely rich way with food--keeping soulful recipes fresh and fun while honoring cultures, ingredients, and tradition. In her first cookbook, the Twisted Soul chef makes clear that soul cooking has always been as seasonally driven as la cucina povera, as versatile as California cuisine, and as impressive as French technique. In VanTrece's hands, familiar components become dramatic and dynamic dishes, and classic recipes reveal surprising twists.

Across bountiful chapters studded with vibrant photography, The Twisted Soul Cookbook offers almost 100 fresh salads and side dishes, generous main courses, exciting seafood, rich desserts, and brilliant pantry staples to enhance everyday cooking, including dressings, relishes, and sauces. VanTrece is an able teacher and storyteller, guiding the reader through techniques both simple and sophisticated.

BIO

Chef Deborah VanTrece opened the acclaimed Twisted Soul Cookhouse and Pours in 2014, and since then, the award-winning soul food restaurant has appeared on numerous Best Of lists, including features in the New York Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Thrillist, Buzzfeed,  Kitchn, and Food & Wine magazine, winning acclaim for her mastery of imported cooking techniques and delicious globally informed cuisine. Chef VanTrece is included in 2020's Tasty Pride: Recipes and Stories from the Queer Food Community; this is her first cookbook.

REVIEWS

"Chef Deborah VanTrece has taken her brilliantly colorful imaginative culinary passion for global nuances and bold flavors to heart in this beautiful, exciting, eatable bible of soulful recipes. A must have celebration of life, food and love . . . on a plate!" --Alexander Smalls, James Beard Award-winning chef, author, and restaurateur

"The recipes in The Twisted Soul Cookbook make my mouth water. Chef Deborah VanTrece brings her vibrant personality and eclectic background to the dishes she has created here. I can't wait to taste them." --Tanya Holland, award-winning chef, restaurateur, and author of Brown Sugar Kitchen

"The Twisted Soul Cookbook, without any doubt, is not only about the delicious traditions of both soul & Southern food, it further establishes both as the cuisine of America--all centered around Deborah's hospitality and inclusion of all seated at the table." --Todd Richards, chef and author of Soul: The Evolution of a Chef in 150 Recipes

"In her debut cookbook, Deborah VanTrece doesn't just take us around the world, she brings us home. Filled with stories and flavors, The Twisted Soul Cookbook reminds us that every meal we prepare is an opportunity to have some fun." --Julia Turshen, founder of Equity at the Table and author of Simply Julia

Rizzoli International Publications  /   March 16, 2021

1.0" H x 10.2" L x 8.2" W (2.6 lbs) 208 pages