In “Cookbooks & Culinary Reads” I share some of my favorite cookbooks and literature regarding cooking, dining, eating, foraging, and gardening. I hope you discover something new!

If you don’t know Salvador Dali, you might live under that proverbial rock. So I’ll just assume we’ve all had some exposure to the prolific surrealist who, you might not know, published a slightly insane cookbook in 1971 (at age 68) called Les Diners De Gala.

While actually being a working cookbook, this masterpiece explodes with photography, art, and literary genius that convey Dali’s sensibilities about culture, his sense of humor, and his ability to skate on the line of the surreal and absurd.

If you like your cauliflower served in a golden shoe atop a loaf of Roquefort, you’re in luck. If you enjoy guessing the ingredients to a pastry dessert that looks like a wishing well simply for the reading pleasure, this is the book for you. If you wish you had a template for creating a potted duck with olives (a real duck, re-sculpted in an amazing array of antipasto garnishes)…and holding a wedge of orange in its bill), why, look no further.

This book is equal parts cookbook, artistic expression at its best, and coffee table fodder. You can get it here (hardcover, beautiful color printing, 300+ pages).