Book Review: Once Upon a Rind In Hollywood
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Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) enjoys a $5 shake in Pulp Fiction. (Miramax)
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Once Upon a Rind In Hollywood: 50 Movie-Themed Cheese Platters and Snack Boards for Film Fanatics
By Rachel Riederman
Ulysses Press
February 14, 2023
$19.95
Buy It
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
As someone who loves movies, food, and puns, this book was a grand
slam even before it arrived in my mailbox. Once Upon a Rind In Hollywood: 50 Movie-Themed Cheese Platters and Snack Boards for Film Fanatics includes fifty actual
recipes for cheese platters and charcuterie boards, and each one has
been carefully thought out to incorporate elements from fifty movies.
(The movies themselves are also miraculously well-chosen. Just about
everyone alive would name at least one of them as a personal favorite.)
Some examples include a recipe for "Miracle Max Pills" (peanut butter,
crushed pretzels, honey, salt, and chocolate chips) from The Princess
Bride, a Bento Board for My Neighbor Totoro, peanuts, Cracker Jacks, and
mozzarella balls for A League of Their Own, Reese's Pieces peanut butter
blondies for E.T., a BB-8 cheese ball for Star Wars, Royale with Stilton
sliders and $5 shakes for Pulp Fiction, an Italian board (including
Clemenza's Sunday sauce) for "The Gouda-father," a Silence of the Lambs
platter with (of course) fava beans, a spicy Some Like It Hot platter,
some "Nachos Libre," a platter based on the Breakfast Club lunches (Pixy
Stix included), and even a lovely Christmas board for It's a Wonderful
Life. Some recipes seem prettier than practical, such as the Wizard of
Oz rainbow board, consisting of an odd mix of colored fruits and candies
to make up a rainbow (raspberries, orange gummy bears, mandarin slices,
yellow cheese, green gummy bears, blueberries, purple gumdrops, and
blueberry chèvre cheese), but it makes for a great photo. You'll have to
see the Willy Wonka photo to fully appreciate it. The recipes are
divided by movie category: Romance, Kids & Musicals, Action & Drama,
Horror, and Comedy, and author/photographer Rachel Riederman provides at least one photo for each,
as well as punny intros. If any of this whets the appetite, then this
book is highly recommended. It's really the bee's chee... er... knees.
