The Cantastic Cookbook - a quirky little cookbook zine that celebrates the contents of your tin stash!

Hello boys and girls!

I'm sorry it's been a little while. I like to babble you see, so I seem to think I need time to babble if I'm going to sit and blog. But I know I should blog more and babble less so here's a quick hello and an update on one of my latest projects... The cantastic cookbook.

The Cantastic Cookbook on my etsy shop

I decided to make a cookbook zine when I was preparing for Sheffield Zine Festival in February. I was told by one of the organisers that my work would fit in well, even though I didn't have any zines exactly. Securing a place at the zine festival seemed like the perfect excuse to set myself the challenge of producing my first zine.

Some bits from my sketchbook

A lot of people have asked me what a zine is, so incase you don't know, it's basically a self made publication, often on a (sometimes very niche) topic or theme that the maker or writer is passionate about. And I'm passionate about food. Very! Food is my hobby and I love to think and talk about it as much as possible, as well as eat it. So a cookbook zine was the natural result of my brainstorming. I am also a very thrifty lady and I pride myself on my moneysaving weeks between food shops (struggling artist and all that), when I get creative with what's in my cupboards when all the fresh things have gone.

All the copies were hand folded and stapled,

with the covers printed on lovely multi-coloured sugar paper

I definitely want to make more food zines in future - there are so many cross referenced collections in my notebook of different things I make for different reasons... I'm a big believer in medicinal cookery and will tell anyone who will listen! Some people won't believe that there are foods that can help stop a cold in it's tracks for example. I'll save that for another day, anyway, or another zine...

I do feel like quite a healthy lady and there was a time when I couldn't imagine feeling like that. It's happened over a long time, but if you'd have told me five years ago that I would end up over four stone lighter (or that I would love mushrooms, or get a kick out of kidney beans), I wouldn't have believed you. Don't get me wrong, my love for food combines treaty things with lots of healthy food too. But I think it was still worth noting that I'm quite mindful with food and that the recipes are balanced, use lots of veg, don't involve any suspicious processed ingredients and are pretty low in fat and sugar.

That was the serious part! But rest assured my zine is actually quite silly and hopefully a bit funny. Producing it as a zine made me feel more comfortable in being myself and letting my quirky humour be free. Readers will hopefully get to know me a little and laugh a bit at the same time.

I shall leave it there and hope that people let me know what they think!

Here is the link if you want to get your mitts on a copy for just £3. It is also currently available to buy in my Artist Showcase in The Civic, Barnsley.

Thankyou for reading, have a fantastic or cantastic day (whichever suits). Guess I did have time to babble after all!