Food Writing, Studying Citrus & Mojito Cookies with Aaron Hamburger

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with author, food writer, and recipe writer Aaron Hamburger. His novels include “Faith for Beginners” and “Hotel Cuba;” which is based on his grandparents’ immigration story. Hamburger also developed the babka recipes for Lesléa Newman’s children’s book “The Babka Sisters.”   While food informs all of his genres, cooking has not always been his thing.    “I could barely boil water for a long period of my life,” Hamburger explains.    Around the time his first book, a short story collection called “The View from Stalin’s Head,” came out, Hamburger’s publicist went on vacation to cooking school. He liked that idea, and decided to attend the Institute for Culinary Education in New York.   Once bitten by the cooking bug, Hamburger started taking as many classes as he could, collecting cookbooks, and learning through trial and error. After a while, he decided to combine the two interests.    “Food's [even] been present in all of my fiction, just in different ways, often depending on the places or topics that I'm writing about,” Hamburger says.   Hamburger also believes that food writers, fiction and nonfiction, tend to over-write the food description.    “Fiction writers tend to … describe [food] in lofty, elevated terms, rather than just dealing with it frankly and head-on, like what kind of food is it and how it functions in this world," he explains.    So, if you're writing about food, either fiction or nonfiction, be direct, specific, and accurate.     Hamburger talks about the advantages of being a former non-cook; the impact of food in history, relationships, and conversations; and how to really examine food, especially when you plan to write about it. He also shares his love for baking - particularly seven-layer cake and cookies (“almost anything can be made into a cookie”) - along with his recipe for mojito cookies, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.    Learn more about Aaron Hamburger and his books at AaronHamburger.com. For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.