Review of Cooking with Rockstars

Links on the Cooking With Rockstars homepage take users to individual pages for individual musicians, each containing a short bio, links to related webpages, a video interview (shot in locations ranging from tour buses to the rockers’ home kitchens), and a detailed recipe from the artist or band for viewers who want to try cooking the meals on their own. Robbins’ affable demeanor and casual tone lends itself well to the interviews, where she’s often able to get her subjects to go into considerable depth about personal culinary history, from the influence an Italian-American upbringing had on Sam Fogarino (Interpol) and his delicacies of choice to the vegetarian diet of Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley). Since Robbins often catches up with her subjects while they tour, concert footage gets edited into a majority of the vids. Like Fogarino, recent interviewees are indebted to their families: Ben Kweller

offers a Latin American grilled chicken dish created by his uncle, while Rufus Wainwright serves up the secrets of mother Kate McGarrigle’s borsht. Robbins’ brother, writer/director/utility infielder Liam Lynch, even gets a spot. Being awesomely creative and artistic must run in the family.

Cooking With Rockstars is update about every two weeks and includes all sorts  of interesting rockstars. Jack Black drops his usual manic persona to impart the majesty of his invented Dorito Burrito, and Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab For Cutie and the Postal Service) claims his preference for utility over quality (peanut butter veggie sausage toast) informs his culinary choices. Not surprisingly, it’s a preference many of the interviewed rock stars seem to share.