be a rebel in the kitchen
Rebel Girls started as a book, to encourage girls to follow their dreams and become their best selves, inspired by women who have gone before and done amazing things. Then there were more books, and activities, and an app, and now it’s a movement that spans the world. What’s next? Taking over the kitchen.
Rebel Girls Cook is a beginning cookbook to teach girls how to take over their kitchen. It teaches basic knife skills, like how to cut an onion or mince garlic, how to pit an avocado, and how to juice and zest citrus. These are taught with lots of color photos, so girls can see just how to hold the knife, how to make the cuts, and how to hold the tools like the juicer and the knife. It teaches girls to read the recipe all the way through (twice is even better) before starting and to prep all the ingredients before you start cooking. And once this groundwork is laid for the young cooks, it’s all about the flavors.
The chapters are divided into basic meal times: breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, and dessert. There are over 100 recipes that include quick meals and longer cooking projects, with basic comfort foods and international dishes to try. And there are lots of places where the rebel girls can put their own spin on a recipe and try new flavor combinations. There are recipes that are vegetarian or vegan, and others that an be made that way with some small substitutions. Many of the recipes do require the use of knives, the oven or stovetop, or other potentially dangerous equipment (blender or food processor, for example), but those steps in the recipe are clearly marked, so young cooks know when to ask for help or supervision.
The recipes teach a lot of basic recipes, like roasted vegetables, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, tacos, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies. But there are also several Asian and Middle Eastern dishes that young cooks can try. And a lot of those international recipes are presented along with the chefs who created them. Chef Lauren Toyota shares her Chickpea “Tuna” Melts, Priya Krishna shares her favorite Mushroom and Cheese Roti Pizzas, Asma Khan shares her Salmon Kebab Patties, and Portia Mbau shares her South African Peanut and Greens Stew. Each of the 14 chefs who created recipes for this cookbook also share some of their cooking journeys and inspirations, encouraging girls to find joy in cooking for others.
Rebel Girls Cook packs an impressive amount of inspiration in these recipes, including tidbits about famous women in history, like how Amelia Earhart ate hard-boiled eggs on her flight from Mexico City to New York because they were easy to eat in her small cockpit. But one of my favorite parts are the quotes throughout from real girls who tried the food in these recipes and weigh in with their opinions. To me, that was so inspirational. Rebel Girls is about the women who have gone before, but it’s also about the girls who are coming up now and how their voices are just as important.
It’s been a minute or two since I was the age of girl this cookbook is targeted to (7-12 is the reading age, but it would be helpful for any beginning cook), but I would have loved this at that age. I would have learned so much about the basics of cooking and been given easy steps to try new flavors and ingredients that I didn’t get a chance to try until I was an adult. Rebel Girls Cook would make an ideal gift for any girls wanting to learn more about cooking.
A copy of Rebel Girls Cook was provided by Ten Speed Press, with many thanks, but the opinions are my own.
