An Anthology of Intimate Culinary Reflections
Cooking and writing share a fundamental gesture: looking inward. In Comer en primera persona, eight women delve into their personal relationship with food, exploring how a dish can encapsulate memory, desire, identity, or loss.
Edited by Luza Alvarado under the Colima Sabe imprint, the book offers a gastronomic reading that deviates from spectacle and returns to its origins: the connection between the cook, their memories, and what they share.
“We needed to look at gastronomy from an emotional, intuitive, and personal perspective,”
Alvarado, an editor with over fifteen years of experience in culture, travel, and gastronomy projects, explains the need for this emotional approach to food.
Eight Perspectives on the Act of Eating
The volume brings together texts by Margot Castañeda, Annuska Angulo, Andrea Aquino, Libia Brenda Castro, Lydia Carey, Mariana Orozco, Laura Linares, and Diana Solano. Alvarado emphasizes that she did not impose any format or length requirements on the authors, only asking them to speak from personal experience.
- Diana Solano: Explores the world of professional kitchens through literature, revealing their complexities without resorting to denunciation.
- Margot Castañeda: Links the discovery of love with food, finding a metaphor for desire and the body in gorditas de chicharrón.
- Annuska Angulo: Writes about food as a form of attachment to unfamiliar cities.
- Laura Linares: A Venezuelan researcher, narrates the void left by family cooking and the discovery of a new community through shared street food.
Each text confirms that eating is not merely a biological act but a way of being in the world, reflecting common emotions with uncommon honesty.
Gastronomic Literature Beyond Recipes
The book demonstrates that gastronomic literature can exist without recipes or ingredient lists. Here, the kitchen is not a chef’s stage but a language through which life is thought.
“I didn’t want them to talk about restaurants or trends,” Alvarado says. “I wanted them to share what moves them, because cooking is also thought, a place of affections and memories.”
An Independent Imprint with Roots
Colima Sabe, the book’s publisher, began a decade ago as a digital platform dedicated to Colima’s cuisine and has since evolved into an independent editorial house. Its purpose is simple yet firm: to publish works that think about food through culture and affections, not just technique.
Book Presentation Details
- Event: FIL Guadalajara
- Date: December 4, 18:00 hours
- Location: Foro Libros a lo Gusto
- Participants: Wendy Pérez, Mariana Orozco, Laura Linares, and Luza Alvarado
Availability
In Mexico City, the book can be found at La Americana (Condesa), U-tópicas (Coyoacán), and Polilla Librería, as well as their online store. The price is $300 Mexican pesos.
