Food is a medium like any other. Through the creation of a recipe or the plating of a dish, what is edible allows us to transmit a message, express attention or even transmit emotions. In her cookbook, Persephone, a story to taste: recipes and symbols, published by Ofr., Joumana Jacob uses food as raw material.
In this work, halfway between a recipe book and a story, the chef of Lebanese origin cooks food to tell a story: that of Persephone, mythological figure from ancient Greece, goddess of the underworld, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, wife of Hades , god of the underworld.
On the one hand, the cook at the head of Maison Joumana, a catering service in Paris, develops her story through poems in free verse. We witness the kidnapping of Persephone by Hades, her uncle, her journey to the kingdom of the dead and the incipient passion that inhabits them. On the other hand, Joumana Jacob illustrates his narrative through culinary scenography, impregnated with symbols.
At first, Persephone appears in the form of labné, this famous concentrated Lebanese yogurt of immaculate white color. “Milk is a symbol of abundance, youth and purity,” the author specifies. Demeter, nourishing mother of the earth, is represented by a brioche bun. Hades, who rules the underworld, is a coal-fed bread.
Labné, persimmon carpaccio, black sesame jelly
Later, when Persephone travels to the land of the dead for the first time, the labné is wrapped in a shiso leaf (aromatic plant) and accompanied by a persimmon carpaccio. The persimmon, also called “Charon’s fruit”, refers to the figure of the boatman who, in Greek mythology, takes the dead to the Underworld and takes them across the Styx. When Persephone reaches her destination, she transforms into a dark, icy black sesame jelly.
When her romance with Hades begins, the reader tastes a scallop carpaccio with passion fruit. The shell is a symbol, used since Prehistory and Antiquity, of rebirth, love and spiritual purification., remembers Joumana Jacob. Meanwhile, Demeter desperately searches the universe for her daughter. A feta, mint and zaatar cake, decorated with a moon, an eye and a star, symbolizes his adventures.
In her search, the goddess of agriculture and harvest turns over the earth pebble by pebble. Pebbles that here take the shape of small meatballs decorated with parsley, ricotta and parmesan, wrapped in chard leaves. In total, food is included in the story through about twenty recipes. They are an integral part of the work, like the paint on the surface of a painting or the marble of a statue.
The graphic key Engravings and ceramics by the artist Virginie Clavereau, which illustrate the story.
The surprise ingredient The bread sculptures that star in Joumana Jacob’s culinary scenography.
Persephone, a story to taste: recipes and symbols, by Joumana Jacob, Ofr., 96 pages, €19. On sale at the Ofr bookstore. (Paris 3my).
