Book: Seven Recipes for Revolution by Ryan Rose
Reviewed by Rallie X
Rating: 4/5
This is such a wild and wacky (affectionate) book - take The Name of the Wind + Dungeon Meshi and you've kind of got the shape of it.
“Oil and Holy Trinity first,” Mother instructed, spooning carrot, onion, and green pepper into the pot— all diced by her steady hands.
The whole book is told through the framework of the Butcher King narrating these events to an archivist, so in between the first person narrative there are brief third person vignettes that keep us tied to the "present". I loved the care and attention the author brought to showing a society so deeply entrenched in a capitalist monarchy and the dangers of rebellion as they impact real people and not just "a movement". There are so many elements to this book (which I know is setting up for a multi-book series and OH BOY DOES IT MANAGE THAT!), I just want to outline a few...
“We’re all tools, stage. The only meaningful choice in life is to determine what tool we become. I chose to be a chef’s tool, a knife. If I teach you anything, let it be this: be a knife. The rest are worthless.”
Magic Academy but it's cooking school: Pretty much exactly what it says. In this world, food is magic, divine even, and the ambitious seek to become Chefs at the Culinary Academy (some take the practical route, some are more interested in theory of flavor and the like). The Rare/upper class can get into the academy with a letter of introduction, but Commons - like Paprick - have to invent a Greater Recipe, aka Magic. I loved the different classes (Knifework, Theory of Flavor, Logic aka Propaganda, etc) and the way it mirrored a lot of the tropes you find in magic academy settings while also bringing something totally new to the table. They're learning to make the perfect ice cream, not how to turn rats into spoons or whatever.
They were calm and thankful. I was ravenous with jealous rage. Anger that this was forbidden. That common would never know fullness, let alone this.
Chosen One behavior: Paprick gets treated as a Chosen One even though he very much isn't, and has to rise to that expectation while also just trying to get by in a society where capitalism is everything (the whole system is just so generally fucked y'all), and if he's going to be this Chosen One then he has to stand up for what's right (which he was going to do anyway) which gets him and his posse of 3-4 into mortal peril, as the story always goes...
“Fires hot! Knives sharp! Plates clean."
Food is magic (but actually though): this is my FAVORITE PART OF IT ALL. The magic system is so deeply cool and embedded in society, with Lesser Recipes (normal recipes) and Greater Recipes (magic recipes) made with emphon meat. The way they talk about food is entrancing, it's like alchemy but using a language that generally makes sense to us on a normal level. I mean, Paprick's mother refers to the Holy Trinity with real reverance rather than the everyday term for the aromatic base in vegetable dishes. Food is tied to culture as well in this, and so much of what Paprick contends with is Identity and what counts as "good food". Who gets to decide why a consomme is better than a taco?
Just overall what an excellent, entertaining book. I loved that different sections were broken up with real-world versions of Paprick's Greater Recipes, and the tone of Ryan Rose's narration was delightful to read - it's clever, it's inventive, it's a little wacky in a charming way. I cannot wait to dive into the next one and see where the Butcher King goes!