Shelf Esteem

Celebrate Food through Art and Cooking

As James Beard said, “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” For Marcella Kriebel, it has been the fuel that drives her passion for watercolor art and her illustrated cookbooks. Marcella Kriebel Art & Illustration is her collection, perfect for people who love to cook and are foodies at heart.

With a paintbrush in hand, Kriebel has us craving everything from fresh veggies and fruit to cocktails and more. The food artist and illustrator, cookbook author, and overall food lover creates beautiful cookbooks, art prints, stationery, kitchen towels, all celebrating food and travel. Her collection includes two illustrated cookbooks and more than 100 vibrant watercolor prints. She paints watercolor designs of food and flower images that truly relate to everyday life.

Mi Comida Latina Cookbook is a collection that includes many of her favorite dishes, desserts, and drinks inspired by her travels in Central and South America; tamales, ceviche, empanadas, flan and many more favorites from countries including Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Puerto Rico. She has also included pages about ingredients that are less commonly found in the U.S. including prickly pear, yuca root, and epazote.

A Cuban Culinary Journey Cookbook, her second book, Comida Cubana, beautifully illuminates a variety of Cuban Classics. She traveled to Cuba in 2016 and cooked with over a dozen people on the island, sketching and recording her travels along the way. Her experiences unfold in the headnotes of every page and the book is comprised of over 100 distinctive hand drawn recipes in watercolor and pen and ink. Like her first book, Comida Cubana is an art piece and a cookbook in one but dives deeper into the history and origin of recipes and includes her vibrant watercolors on every page.

With wit, skill, and an eye for nature’s beauty, she has also embarked on a journey to give back. She is a partner of José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen and has created prints and illustrated recipes for their food distribution programs, as well as murals narrating their initiatives globally. She is also supporter of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, donating profits of her recent calendar to their cause supporting farm workers’ rights, and social justice initiatives of Latinos in Central Valley California. Painter, author, muralist - art embodies everything she touches.

(Images provided by publisher)

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