This Is Not a Cookbook
A Chef’s Creative Process from Imagination to Execution
By Flynn McGarry, illustrated by Adil Dara
At ten years old Chef Flynn McGarry, like many kids his age, had tried many hobbies, from soccer to guitar, baseball and more – but none stuck with him quite like cooking. What first started out as a desire to make better food for his family quickly turned into an intense passion for food cooking. And so, he committed himself to developing his knowledge of food and culinary techniques, intently studying any cookbook he could get his hands on and watching chefs on YouTube and the Food Network. But Flynn wanted to take his skills to the next level, so with the help and support of his parents, he turned his bedroom into his own personal kitchen. Not long after, he found himself cooking monthly dinners for his parents’ friends and friends of friends, creating a make-shift restaurant in his living room.
Realizing his dream from a young age, Flynn has since gone on to receive wide acclaim as a chef – he garnered recognition for his initial pop-up restaurant, Eureka, in Los Angeles, has staged at Eleven Madison Park, Alinea, Next, Geranium, and Maemo, and at the age of 19 opened his own restaurant, Gem, in New York City.
Inspired by his desire to help other kids follow their dreams, Flynn has written This is Not a Cookbook (Delacorte Press – April 18, 2023), an illustrated non-fiction work for young readers that aims to help kids get creative, problem solve more effectively, and find inspiration in unexpected places. This is Not a Cookbook takes kids on a journey through Flynn’s extraordinary life, from his days spent cooking in his bedroom and running his own successful pop-up restaurant, his internship at a restaurant in Denmark at just 16 years old, to the opening of his popular restaurant Gem in New York. Alongside these tales of his successes and failures, Flynn explores the elements of creativity and gives readers insights into his own creative process – how he came up with the idea of turning an ordinary beet into a delicious meat inspired dish, or how he refines recipes through reflection and embraces their imperfections.
Complete with recipes like Flynn’s infamous “Beet Wellington”, This is Not a Cookbook, encourages kids to mix passion, hard work, and their own unique perspective to achieve results that just might be life changing.