Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking with What You've Got

“Jam Today is just my kind of book—one of those rare trackings of the healthy human animal rustling about the kitchen then settling in at the table. In addition to some great meals made to satisfy desires, needs, whims or simply to make use of what’s at hand, Jam Today is a complete pleasure to read.”—Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors and What We Eat When We Eat Alone

“The spirit of M.F.K. Fisher surely hovers over this book, amused and beguiled by a cook whose prose has the same artful composure, and whose cooking possesses a similar innate sense of style. I believe that good cooks are born, not made—but steep your culinary self long enough in the pages of Jam Today and it might just be born again.”— John Thorne, author of Outlaw Cook and Mouth Wide Open

It’s one person cooking with what she has, in her own way. It’s one person’s diary of some really swell meals: meals alone, meals with a loved one, meals with friends, even meals for the dog. There’s even a chapter on delicious things you can do with turnips, among other things.

It’s about cooking in your own way, with what you have, for your own happiness and that of the people around you. After all, happiness has got to start somewhere.

From Jam Today:

Here are my secrets for cooking without recipes. Know what you want to eat. Keep it simple. Enjoy yourself.

Come to think of it, those are my secrets for having a good life, too.

Today the kitchen, tomorrow the world…

Tod Davies, passionate home cook and omnivore, thinks if you want the world to be a better place, you should start by making sure everyone is well fed. She lives in the mountains of Oregon with her vegetarian husband and two carnivorous dogs.