Cookbook Writing: Tell Stories Through Recipes
Writing a Simple Recipe
A course by Sumayya Usmani , Creative Writer and Food Educator
About the video: Writing a Simple Recipe
Overview
“Let’s start writing recipes! The first one we'll explore is a simple recipe: one without complicated ingredient lists or complex methods.”
In this video lesson Sumayya Usmani addresses the topic: Writing a Simple Recipe, which is part of the Domestika online course: Cookbook Writing: Tell Stories Through Recipes. Take readers on a journey of culture and flavor by creating a cookbook that combines recipes with storytelling.
Partial transcription of the video
“In this lesson, I'm going to teach you how to write a simple recipe. A simple recipe is a recipe with a single element to it. That is, it doesn't have very complicated ingredients. or complicated methods and processes to it. But in this course, we're going to focus on writing a simple recipe with a very simple style. Recipe styles also change according to your publisher's needs and wants. and different ways that you have to present the recipe. Some publishers have in-house styles you might have to adhere to. But here is a general style for writing a simple recipe. So we begin with the title...”
This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.
Course summary for: Cookbook Writing: Tell Stories Through Recipes
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Category
Culinary, Writing -
Areas
Creative Writing, Non-Fiction Writing, Storytelling

Sumayya Usmani
A course by Sumayya Usmani
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, award-winning creative writer and food educator, Sumayya Usmani, spent her early childhood travelling the world with her parents. She explored various cultures, countries, ingredients, and cuisines and watched in wonder as her mother lovingly prepared meals. Later, when the family settled back in Karachi, Sumayya observed grandmothers and aunts cooking with ‘andaza’ - an Urdu word for using instinct and estimation. These experiences created Sumayya’s strong foundations and connections to cooking and in her adulthood she found she could cook by simply following her own intuition and senses.
Sumayya went on to practice law for 12 years in London and Pakistan. However, in 2012 she quit law in pursuit of her passion; food writing and teaching. Now based in Glasgow, her life-long love for writing, along with her natural flair, has led her to publish award-winning cookbooks. Her latest book is a food memoir, and ventures further into creative writing, which has won the Scottish Book Trust’s Next Chapter Award in 2021. Sumayya regularly appears at multiple book festivals such as the Edinburgh Book Festival, she has written for and appeared in numerous publications including in The New York Times, The Guardian, and on BBC Food, amongst others. She’s a guest speaker on many podcasts and a regular on BBC Radio. Sumayya also hosts cooking classes, and is a committee member of the Guild of Food Writers.
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- Level: Beginner
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