Chelsea Comeau talks with Martha Warren

Switching Genres: who says a poet can’t write a cookbook?

Martha Warren, an alumnus of the SFU Writer’s Studio, says that her cookbook, Grill Queen, was written “out of practical necessity.” After she and her boyfriend parted ways, Warren remembers standing outside, wondering what she was supposed to do with a barbecue only her ex had known how to use. The prospect of handling propane and gas made her nervous—something Warren would soon learn was not uncommon amongst inexperienced grillers—but she quickly recognized the need for self-reliance and for finding a use for the spices and liquid smoke her ex left behind! While processing her post-breakup emotions, Warren found it difficult to complete the writing projects she’d already been working on, “but [realized she] could do something more empirical: barbecue and write up recipes.” It was time for her to learn something new!

The process of writing Grill Queen was based heavily on research and revisions. Warren learned that the best way to ensure a recipe’s success was to test the final product and adjust as needed. She engaged in thorough exploration, attending the San Miguel Writers’ Conference where she familiarized herself with a food historian named Francine Segan. She also signed up at amazingribs.com where she “met novice and experienced grillers, all with a shared devotion to barbecue,” and praises resources such as Living High Off the Hog, a book by Michael Olson that divulges pork cooking techniques.

Although Grill Queen opens with the phrase “perhaps revenge is a dish best served grilled,” Warren explains that, in fact, the true message of the cookbook is that one “can take on anything.” Indeed, 2020 seems to be the perfect year to pick up new skills, expand upon our abilities in the kitchen, and become more familiar with the nuances of preparing hearty meals. The “home-and-hearth centred” nature of the barbecue makes broadening one’s grilling repertoire an ideal “pandemic project,” as many turn to developing different hobbies that can easily be executed from home. And, as Warren explains, it isn’t necessary “to be a cordon bleu chef” to prepare delicious dishes.

She “wanted to avoid the smoky, pit-master type of barbecuing,” and opted for “minimalist recipes; light, healthy, fun [and] with s’mores-level simplicity.” Warren carefully “triple-tested each and every recipe” and made sure to take part in a thorough quest for knowledge while writing. The final product is something she says is suitable for referring to “in the grocery aisle on your phone for an ingredients list, or on a tablet standing at the barbecue, with a glass of something in your hand.” Grill Queen also steers away from the present trend of packing published recipes with a great deal of personal anecdotes, while still providing context and connecting with readers on a personal level via the universal experiences of heartbreak and the love of nourishment. Warren explains that it was not only the humour she integrated into her writing that she found healing, but also the experience of gathering around the table with loved ones to feed them.

Warren wants other prospective cookbook writers to know that “it’s important to listen to advice… [but] it’s also important to do your own thing.” It was suggested to her that she would require culinary qualifications before creating and publishing Grill Queen, which, of course, was entirely counterintuitive to the purpose of the book. Although the creation of Warren’s cookbook was not, as she says, “an Eat-Pray-Love type of recovery,” there are few outcomes more empowering than being able to stand on one’s own to do something they were never able to do before.

See Martha Warren’s work at www.carnationpublishers.com Chelsea Comeau is a freelance writer and editor. Grill Queen opens with the phrase “perhaps revenge is a dish best served grilled” … the true message of the cookbook is that one “can take on anything.”