A Good Meal Is Hard to Find: Storied Recipes from the Deep South (Southern Cookbook, Soul Food Cookbook)

A Good Meal Is Hard to Find is a wonderful retro-quirky painting, narrative, and recipe collection by Amy C. Evans & Martha Hall Foose. Due out 28th April 2020 from Chronicle Books, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a wonderfully curated collection of southern (USA) homestyle recipes. Each of the recipes has a short anecdotal story as introduction. They are arranged roughly thematically: breakfast, lunch, afternoon, dinner, and sweets. Each recipe includes an introduction with other info such as portion control and yields followed by bullet list ingredients in sidebars with prep-time estimates. The recipes' ingredients lists are provided with American standard measurements only. Special prep tips and info are provided in colored sidebars in the recipes.

The book does include a list of illustrations and a good cross referenced index. The effect of the whole book with combined recipes, stories, and artwork is quirky and charming. The recipes themselves are appealing and retro. There are no photographs included with the book, but the instructions are very clear and the lack wasn't a minus.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.