Cook Beautiful

Athena Calderone believes that food simply tastes better when it’s visually alluring and made with love. As the voice and curator behind EyeSwoon, Athena cooks with top chefs, hosts incredible dinners, and designs stunning tablescapes, while emphasizing the importance of balancing the visual elements of each dish with incredible flavors. In Cook Beautiful she shares how to achieve her impeccable yet approachable cooking style in every season.

Few cookbooks for the home cook focus on the visual side of cooking, which is why dishes so often don’t turn out like the picture. In Cook Beautiful, every recipe is accompanied by a “Swoon Tip,” in which Calderone spills her secrets for making food look as good as it tastes, and each section closes with a tablescape inspired by nature, along with specific table décor and entertaining tips. The book includes 100 recipes with step-by-step advice on everything from prep to presentation—from artfully layering a peach and burrata salad to searing a perfect steak.

Cook Beautiful is where design meets food, where culinary tradition marries food styling, where home chefs become experts. These are luscious dishes to make for friends and family, with advice that will inspire visually stunning and delicious culinary masterpieces.