The idea of a cookbook for gay bears sounds pretty dumb at first: do gays really cook differently than straight people? Past attempts prove this outright – the 1960’s American The Gay Cookbook might even be funny with its camp style, but the more modern Cocina para gays is so sappy that you’d rather crawl back into the closet or ask for electroshock to wipe out every trace of homosexuality from yourself.
That’s why it’s important to make it clear: Cooking with the Bears is not a book for gay bears, but a collection of recipes made by gay bears. The book uses cooking as an excuse to give a glimpse into this gay subculture’s world. Bears are those guys who completely reject the classic gay beauty ideal: no muscles, no shaving, no Dolce&Gabbana. Instead they are hairy, bearded, pot-bellied, soft. Looking at their bellies from their eating habits, it’s obvious they don’t live on salad and don’t count calories like the gym rats they share the same preference with anyway.
The book’s author, Italian photographer Angelo Sindaco, wanted to enter the bears’ world exactly through the kitchen. “The idea came two years ago,” he told El Comidista. “I wanted to show a world that is almost unknown especially to the straight audience, and for that I used the simplest, universal key: food. I kicked the balls hard of that sterile cookbook image where only star chefs or women evoking the 1950’s housewife stereotype appear.”
In Cooking with the Bears single or couple-living bears share their own home recipes, which are strongly based on Italian traditions: Sicilian lasagne, bucatini all’amatriciana, tagliatelle alla bolognese, alternative caponata, then the usual heavy desserts like “mascarpone sky” or Guinness cake. “We travelled all over Italy and we were in kitchens that were the most beautiful and the most horrible you can imagine – but the food was always first class,” remembers Sindaco. The book’s subtitle ironically promises: “healthy recipes from hairy guys”. In Italy they say: what doesn’t kill you makes you fat. So as long as you enjoy it, it’s fine. Oh, and pasta is actually very healthy!
The book’s eroticism is already visible on the cover. The photos show naked flesh, provocative poses and obvious sexual hints, but all with humour. “It’s mainly a provocative book. There are people who get outraged: ‘Gay, hairy guys cooking together? Are you crazy?’ That was exactly the goal. Others find it erotic, good for them. My best friend Andrea Signori was a huge help so we wouldn’t fall into the usual gay sexual stereotypes. Interesting that loads of women buy the book worldwide and support it enthusiastically.”
The photo style of Cooking with the Bears is far from the usual shiny-glossy cookbook pictures. According to Sindaco this is more punk: no cute porcelain, checkered tablecloth, Provence kitchen. Instead raw, unfriendly, even dirty locations, but that’s exactly why they are much more alive and real. The photographer doesn’t retouch anything, “100% without photoshop”. “Because I’m shit at retouching. If the picture is bad, the next one will be better. And I hate those guys who always come with the ‘film vs. digital’ talk. I use any camera, in any conditions, even with my shitty phone. I rather focus on the creative process.”
Besides sex and food, what really makes the book special is that it tells human stories. There’s Enzo, who works at a fast-food chain and collects Barbie dolls. Ilario, who plays rugby and is the family’s official cook. Or Mauro, the ambulance driver who secretly wants to be a fashion designer. Guys who accepted their bodies as they are and were able to reject the mainstream beauty ideals. As Angelo Sindaco says: “somehow all of them are incredibly cool people”.
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