To start, I have to say that I hate the title. As a curmudgeon, I think that using trendy buzzwords in your title is off-putting and will age both badly and quickly. In addition, I think it’s misleading. A hack is creating a shortcut or workaround. That covers about half the book, but the book is really about developing and building on kitchen skills. The book takes the reader from still living in their family home through dorm room cooking, the first shared kitchen, to the first solo kitchen. I got this as an advance reader copy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve had a lot of conflicting feelings about the book. On the positive side, it covers many kitchen fundamentals including food safety, cleaning, knife skills and how to read a recipe. As the book progresses, it builds on some basic recipes and evolves them as the reader’s skill, space and equipment grow. I appreciated that the authors encourage the reader to be creative and adapt recipes to what’s available and to taste. I liked the explanations of ingredients and the suggestions about how to put menus together.
In addition to disliking the hacking conceit, I had a couple of other issues. One of the first things that struck me about this book was that the authors are assuming a certain level of wealth. I don’t mean luxurious wealth, but there’s an assumption that the reader will have access to a variety of groceries and equipment. The authors also make some cultural assumptions about what foods form the backbone of a diet. It’s a very white American diet.
What I did find more problematic was the “Healthy Hack” on page 94 that recommended replacing butter with coconut oil. Coconut oil’s problems are well documented – very high in saturated fat (80%!!!!!!), and it’s benefits are dubious at best. I find it wildly irresponsible to declare coconut oil a healthy alternative when AT BEST it’s potential health benefits are not well documented and the American Heart Association, among others still identify it as unhealthy.