ABECEDARIO della CUCINA

Abecedarium for the Kitchen
(1998)

The book is in Italian and uses the Italian alphabet of 21 letters. A page opens behind each drawing to reveal a recipe that incorporates the food depicted. I went to Rome during the time I was working on this, and I asked friends to suggest a food beginning with the letter H. One evening at a restaurant the topic took over the conversation and spread to the staff and other tables. We were about to conclude that no food beginning with H existed in Italian, when someone called out “Hot Dogs!”

watercolor, colored pencil and ink on Italian butcher paper, collapsible box
calligraphy by Paul Shaw
last of 2 versions
6 x 4 inches / closed
$1,900