If you don’t know August 1st is spider man dayone day in 1962, Marvel Comics Spider-Man was first published in Amazing Fantasy #15. What better way to celebrate everyone’s favorite wall-crawler than cooking up his favorite meals in his hometown? New York City. How could you possibly know what his favorite food is? Like most things, there’s a book for this, Spider-Man: The Official Cookbook: A Guide to Friendly Neighborhood Food in New York City, the Spider-Verse, and Beyond
Written by Jermaine McLaughlin, Paul Eschbach, and by Diaz, This coffee table book is the perfect combination of a guide, a cookbook, and an insight into the culinary world of Spider-Man. Through the voice of Spider-Man, readers will embark on a culinary journey through New York and receive recipes to recreate dishes from the journey.
A few weeks ago, I interviewed one of those writers, Jermaine McLaughlin, a former writer for The New York Times. beatat a very impromptu signing ceremony anyone comics The book is set in Brooklyn and raises some questions.
George Carmona No. 3: Is this Spider-Man’s version of the food of the five boroughs of New York mixed with what other superheroes in the Marvel Universe think is best?
Jermaine McLaughlin: For all intents and purposes, we work out the recipes first and then we figure out what works best in each borough. You’re going to have a lot of repetition of dishes as far as nationality, where the dishes are from, but there are some things that are clearly Queens and some things that are clearly Bronx, even though they’re all Cuban, so it’s just a matter of figuring that out The question of what fits, what Spider-Man villains, what fits Marvel heroes. That’s the fun part. The heroes and villains almost popped into my head once we wrote down their recipes and it was a fun ride.
Carmona 3rd: How did the journey begin? Did anyone contact you about writing this book? Did you vote? Did you have an idea in your head or did they say, hey, we have an idea, can you help us flesh it out?
McLaughlin: This is for me. They already have a chef, they just need someone who knows a lot about how the Marvel Universe works. They came to me and asked me to submit some samples to see what I thought about it, and they liked what they saw. From there, it was just a matter of taking years of useless Marvel lore and putting it into this book, and it actually came together pretty well.
Carmona Three: You’re talking about useless knowledge. Let’s talk about how you handle this. Whether they give you a list of recipes and say pin it to that place or what you love about these foods will definitely pair with this superhero, let’s break it down that way.
McLaughlin: It’s a combination of all those things. Some editors and chefs know where it’s going, and then I chime in and say no, like shredded cheese. This was going to be a weird thing in Brooklyn, and I fought fiercely to get the shredded cheese shipped to the Bronx.
Carmona No. 3: Chopped cheese is an uptown specialty.
McLaughlin: Exactly. From the initial plans we made, some things worked, in terms of which borough they were assigned to, and some had to be a bit of a friendly battle to get the right borough, but once we all got our act together, it all worked out The implementation is in place. For some strange reason, I particularly like Harlem chicken and waffles. Harlem is a special place to me, so all the recipes from that borough seem to fit right in with me.
Carmona Third: You wouldn’t just have Harlan represented entirely by Luke Cage and Falcon.
McLaughlin: No.
Carmona 3rd: I was thinking of places like the Lower East Side and Katz Deli. Is this book more suitable for comedians, chefs, home cooks, or both? Have you tried any of the recipes yourself?
McLaughlin: not yet. But the recipe that’s high on my list right now is Bavarian Pretzels and Ricotta Cheesecake, just because we’re close to a popular cheesecake shop in Brooklyn. So when I saw the recipe, I thought, yes, this could work. But the Bavarian pretzels definitely top the list. Being able to put Nightcrawler into that particular story kind of makes me smile.
McLaughlin: It hits all the categories because I put a fair amount of effort into it and it was fun to voice Peter in that way. But Von Diaz and Paul Escobar do a great job of putting these recipes together. So whether you’re just a food lover, this is a fun four-color tour. If you’re a Spider-Man fan, I hope I’ve spun a story that entices you to try some dishes you might not have known you might actually like. So it’s fun to try. I hope these stories will drag you into the food and then you can get out of there.
Carmona 3rd: You talked about how people collaborate, but what is the mutual benefit in that? They might have missed something where you’d say, hey, we need a cheesecake place, or do you know a place that has fish fry?
McLaughlin: Paul Eschbach, the co-author of this book, was very helpful to me. He’s originally from the East, but currently works in places like San Francisco. He’s a world-renowned chef, extremely talented at what he does, and he’s a huge fan of the Marvel Universe. Von is responsible for the very specific Miles (Morales) recipes, and Paul is responsible for much of the tri-state area cooking tour we’re doing on this matter. He lays a quality foundation and the only thing I would say in terms of adding recipes, I would only have to add one or two at most to round out the true New York flavor of the book, but overall he covers something suitable for everyone Most basics of borough recipes. I just need to patch two or three holes from there, as far as we should do this, we should do this. But overall, he knows his stuff.
Carmona 3rd: We’ve already discussed the book, but let’s talk about you and your background. I’ve known you for 25 years, almost 30, and damn I feel old. For those of you who don’t know you, your background, and what you’ve become as a Marvel expert, hey, I know about heroes and food.
McLaughlin: I’m a 16-year veteran of DC Comics. I know this doesn’t exactly line up with all things Marvel, but I’m a lifelong comic reader. The DC thing keeps me involved in comics. I have friends, colleagues, writers, and artists who I’ve met over the course of my career and become very close to. I’m very interested in both Marvel and DC lore. After graduating from DC, I started doing oral histories for websites Shengfengyuan wire DC and Marvel characters. I have perfected my knowledge of comics history in terms of storylines and characters. And then adding to its breadth with the artists and writers who put those stories together. I take a very holistic view of the stories surrounding the legends and putting them together to allow a specific story to continue, and I hope this book reflects that.
Carmona Three: Let’s do something controversial here, give me your favorite Spider-Man from TV or movie, top five.
McLaughlin: Oh well. I’m a big fan of Josh Keatonvoice actor spectacular spider man. Tom Holland Keep killing it. Of course, I went back and watched them recently, and yes, they were terrible, but Nicholas Hammond, your original live-action Spider-Man will always hold a special place in my heart. Just to perfect the voice actors Spider-Man 90s shows, Christopher Daniel Barnes. Finally, let’s move on Andrew GarfieldI think he was never treated fairly.
Carmona Three: To be honest, I really like his portrayal of Peter and Spider-Man. I feel like he really needs more time in this suit. Is there anything else you would like to add? Like where can people follow you and possibly get their own copy of the book? Will you go on tour?
McLaughlin: Well, we’re working on covering more locations, and tonight we’re signing at Anyo Comics. I hope to embellish the borough, if not multiple boroughs. This summer, just to promote the book, I thought it was going to be a fun ride. This should be interesting for fans of the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man in particular, and fans of some of the good stuff, because I’ve shown it to people who don’t have any comic background and it appeals to them and it appeals to comic fans. I can be found at Twitter/X and Instagram. I will do my best to promote the book more during the summer and hope to see you at signings.
Spider-Man: The Official Cookbook It can be found in most bookstores, and you might be lucky enough to get a signed copy at Anyone Comics.
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