Daynah’s Review – Pixar: The Official Cookbook

Pixar The Official Cookbook
Author and Recipe Developer: Tara Theoharis
Author: S.T. Bende

Are you ready to embark on a mission and launch your kitchen “to infinity and beyond?” Pixar: The Official Cookbook is now available – an inspirational cookbook featuring more than 75 delicious recipes inspired by the beloved Pixar films!

The vivid worlds of Pixar Animation Studios come alive as you flip through the pages of this cookbook. The book is filled with delicious recipes inspired by nearly every beloved Pixar short and film, including Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Turning Red, Inside Out, and so much more!

With more than 75 recipes, there is something for everyone to enjoy. This cookbook features stunning food photography, suggestions for alternate ingredients, and tips and tricks from beloved characters, memorable moments from the movies! Pixar: The Official Cookbook makes the perfect companion for chefs everywhere—because after all, “anyone can cook!”

One unique feature of this cookbook is that it is not organized by the type of recipe or food being prepared, but by the timeline of the Pixar films over the decades. Chapter 1 begins with the early years (1984 – 1999) of how Pixar got its start. The Adventures of Andrea and Wally B inspired a dessert called Bee Stings which are honey-flavored donut holes molded into the shape of stingers. They’re soft, sugary, and packed with a powerful sweet punch! Recipes for Luxo Jr ball cookies and shredded coconut snowball cookies represent the next Pixar shorts (Luxo Jr and Knick Knack).

A typical recipe in this cookbook has these parts:

• Pixar film that inspired the recipe
• Dish Type | Recipe Yields | Diet Type
• How the Pixar movie ties in with the dish
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Stills from the Pixar movie that inspired it
• Large photo of the finished dish

The pages of this deluxe cookbook are filled with tasty appetizers, sides, snacks, entrees, desserts, and drinks inspired by Pixar films and is divided into 4 chapters, each representing a different decade of growth and innovation in the company:

• Chapter 1: The Early Years – 1984-1999
  In the early years, there was Bee Stings, Luxo Jr, and Knick Knack. Each of these films inspired a dessert in the cookbook. For me, the most notable movie was Toy Story from 1995, which has a Pizza Planet Pizza recipe, inspired by Andy’s favorite restaurant.
• Chapter 2: The Next Generation – 2000-2009
  This chapter was inspired by Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, and Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, and more. The most notable recipe for me in this chapter was the “Abominable Snow Cones” which takes me back to the scene of the Abominable snowman treating Boo and Sully to snow cones. I want to try making the cloud concoction (inspired by Partly Cloudy) when I have cotton candy available. It’s a drink topped off with cotton candy on top to look like clouds – delicious!
• Chapter 3: Advances in Technology – 2010-2019
  This chapter was inspired by Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Brave, Monsters University, Lava, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, Coco, Incredibles 2, and more. That Watermelon Splash – a spritzer with blended watermelon, mint, and lime — recipe inspired by Luca is one of our favorites. Simple and refreshing, especially for these summer days.
• Chapter 4: The legacy Continues – 2020 – Today
  This chapter was inspired by Onward, Soul, Luca, Turning Red, Lightyear, and Elemental. The most interesting recipe in this chapter is Smiling Congee, inspired by Turning Red. Congee is traditional Chinese breakfast that offers a healthy, protien-packed start to the day. The twist is the lovely smiley face added on top for decoration, and of course a big smile on the one eating it.

The front of the book has a timeline of when all the Pixar films were released and you can see the progression of each one. This sets you up for all the recipes to come. At the very end of the book, there is a page that organizes the recipes by type – appetizers, sides, snacks, entrees, desserts, and drinks. This makes it convenient if you are used to reading recipe books in that order.

Not only do you learn how to make scrumptious dishes, you also have the opportunity to learn some historical facts about the Pixar movies and their influences in the Disney parks. Disney historians would be delighted by all the movie spotlights sprinkled throughout the book. I enjoyed learning a new thing or two about some of my favorite Pixar movies. Some movie spotlights include more details about Toy Story, Cars, Ratatouille, Coco, Luca, and Turning Red. Did you know that the Pizza Planet Delivery Truck, first featured in Toy Story is also hidden in nearly every Pixar film? Cars also became so popular that in 2012, Pixar debuted the fully immersive Cars Land in Disney California Adventure so fans were able to step inside the world of one of their favorite Pixar films!

Overview

The Pixar Official Cookbook is jammed packed with a lot of delicious recipes, beautiful food photography, Pixar historical tidbits, and so much more. It is the perfect gift for a big Disney fan and foodie. I enjoyed learning a little more about each of the films and it inspired me to watch the ones that I missed.

Throughout history, Pixar has used food to push their storylines forward and at the same time, pull their characters together, over a good meal, of course! Pixar knows how to portray all aspects of the human experience while tugging at our heartstrings in the best possible way. Pixar has used food as a tool by which its characters experience amazing key and meaningful moments. In Ratatouille, Remy had an emotional response when he combined strawberries and cheese for an amazing burst of flavors. In Turning Red, we saw Jin’s thoughtful presentation of his lovely crafted stir fry (which is also a recipe in this book) that made his family feel loved. Food is a thread that weaves many of Pixar’s heartwarming moments together and we can experience many of those moments through this culinary collection of recipes.

The easiest recipe in the book is “5-second Rule Grapes,” which are frozen red grapes dusted with sugar. It sounds simple, and it is, and quite delicious too. What I really love about this recipe is that my younger daughter read it and made a batch of grapes herself and was very proud of completing a whole recipe on her own. That is what I will remember from this book the most.

As Gusteau said, “You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true – anyone can cook… but only the fearless can be great.”

This cookbook has instilled in her confidence in the kitchen and I cannot wait to see what she cooks up next. In the meantime, I will be cleaning the trials and errors in the kitchen!

Sample Pages from the Pixar The Official Cookbook

Notes:

* This post contains affiliate links, as an Amazon Associate the site earns from qualifying purchases.
** A review copy of this book was provided to us