Following the lead from other pioneering celebrity chefs, Delia Smith today launched a new cookery book for the Marks and Spencer generation just in time for the January sales. What distinguishes her literature from other staid and mundane middle class tomes is the fact that all her recipes and cooking instructions have been portrayed in the style of Japanese Manga comics.
‘I have always been a great fan of Japanese popular culture,’ said Norfolk resident Ms Smith, ‘many people think that Manga is simply the preserve of the middle aged adolescent male who fantasises about psychopathic brutality and hardcore pornography. But plainly, this is not the case. This is why I chose to be far more experimental with my 2011 cookery book. To be honest, not only was it about time, but it was also far less expensive than coming up with some old crap about organic farming in Yorkshire featuring Janet Street-Porter.’
Celebrity-cookery-literary-criticism, already a degree subject at Nottingham-Trent University, has celebrated the dawn of what it calls ‘a new era’ of culinary prose. Special praise has been bestowed on the advice Ms Smith gives on how to loosely chop shallots: “Leap six feet into the air whilst deploying one’s samurai sword (available at Marks and Spencers as part of the Dine in for 2 for £10 offer), and while making observations about one’s plans for ultimate revenge against a dangerous local crime lord, bring down said samurai sword in straight and even cuts on the peeled shallot.’
Some, however, have been less enthusiastic in their review of the new style. ‘Delia Smith is merely cashing in on an established format to make more money for herself,’ said the producers of the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise, ‘We are unimpressed with her recipes and they reveal nothing new. Also, we have serious concerns that she has, in fact, overcomplicated some very basic culinary tasks. We think that very few people have the skills, let alone the inclination, to find the ideal sniper’s position from 1.5 km away, calculate the drop and intended ricochet, just so they can take the core out of an apple.’
