The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul Food with Global Flavors

Invigorating authentic Southern soul cooking with new inspiration, acclaimed chef Deborah VanTrece elevates classic comfort food into unique, surprising dishes worth celebrating.

Deborah VanTrece’s Kansas City roots, wide travel, and celebrated career in Atlanta have gifted her with a uniquely rich way with food--keeping soulful recipes fresh and fun while honoring cultures, ingredients, and tradition. In her first cookbook, the Twisted Soul chef makes clear that soul cooking has always been as seasonally driven as la cucina povera, as versatile as California cuisine, and as impressive as French technique. In VanTrece’s hands, familiar components become dramatic and dynamic dishes, and classic recipes reveal surprising twists.

Across bountiful chapters studded with vibrant photography, The Twisted Soul Cookbook offers almost 100 fresh salads and side dishes, generous main courses, exciting seafood, rich desserts, and brilliant pantry staples to enhance everyday cooking, including dressings, relishes, and sauces. VanTrece is an able teacher and storyteller, guiding the reader through techniques both simple and sophisticated.

Chef Deborah VanTrece opened the acclaimed Twisted Soul Cookhouse and Pours in 2014, and since then, the award-winning soul food restaurant has appeared on numerous Best Of lists, including features in the New York Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Thrillist, Buzzfeed, Kitchn, and Food & Wine magazine, winning acclaim for her mastery of imported cooking techniques and delicious globally informed cuisine. Chef VanTrece is included in 2020’s Tasty Pride: Recipes and Stories from the Queer Food Community; this is her first cookbook.