Printed on #100 Ultra Premium Text Paper

Aqueous Gloss Coating & Perfect Binding

8x8, 24 page count plus accompanying online media

Cooking for card people has been my personal project since January. It is a cookbook made with cardists and playing card enthusiasts in mind (hence the title) but the recipes I have presented here have something to offer for everyone. If you are unfamiliar with cardistry or what the heck I’m talking about, click here. It’s essentially a bunch of nerds, like myself, who just really enjoy shuffling cards. It has nothing to do with card magic, though many of us practice it on the side. It is more accurately defined as a flow art, something like dancing or pen spinning. The concept of the book is to pair certain decks of cards with these dishes via abstract sensory connections. Keeping that in mind, paying attention to the playing card element of the book is not at all required, and I believe the recipes I have presented here will be enjoyable to all readers.

To cardists: I choose to believe that playing cards, and the way that we use them, are as valid an art form as any other. The elements involved in our practice match so many other fields in their depth and complexity. In our solo videos, we wear certain clothes, perform to certain music, and sometimes travel to different locations, incorporating its unique culture, people, atmosphere, and indeed its food into the video. Using a different deck can sometimes make me perform my moves differently. Mere millimeters in the thickness of paper could influence a new motion or movement. Even the smell of a vintage deck steers me in certain creative directions. Naturally cardistry favors the visual aspect of the five senses. The purpose of this book is to suggest what other senses could possibly contribute to a more immersive cardistry experience. More than to just teach how to cook, this is a study on the aesthetics of playing cards and the history and influences of our community. I just happen to enjoy cooking. I encourage you to pick up the matching deck of cards after each meal and try to make the sensory connections I have proposed. To begin each chapter, I give a brief description of what these shared themes are. Play a little game of, “do you see what I see?” with me. I understand that it may take a bit of leap, and may take a bit of imagination to connect food to playing cards as I have aimed to achieve. If you’ve kept yourself entertained shuffling cards for as long as I have, I’m sure you have all the imagination you need.