I recently had the pleasure of cooking my way through the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook and it proved to be a true culinary adventure.  The book contains a fascinating variety of recipes from the stars and staff of the well loved television program, and it offers the reader an unusual opportunity to get to know a little bit more about the Dark Shadows cast and crew through some of their own favorite recipes, proving again perhaps that you are (or might be) what you eat

The collection of recipes has an impressive range and variety.  In it you'll find everything from bologna sandwiches to beef Stroganoff, classic spaghetti and meatballs to frozen Daiquiri soufflé, and from barbecued chicken to Maine lobster.  There are a wealth of interesting soups, salads, and main dishes, many with an exotic and international flair, such as Danish Onion Soup, African Strip Beef, French Fettuccine, and Curried Chicken Salad.

It's great fun as well as a real pleasure to experience dishes like Louis Edmonds' famous Gumbo, Jonathan Frid's Lemon Broiled Fish, and Lara Parker's Shrimp Diable.  The book is also peppered with the unusual offering Dark Shadows cocktails like Vampire's Delight and Dracula's Sunset, and novel recipes for tantalizing dishes like One-Eyed Egyptian Sandwiches.

This is a cookbook that is sutiable for a balanced diet as well since there a number of healthy recipes for things like Marie Wallace's famous Wheat Germ Bread (which is truly delicious), Low Calorie Chicken, and the curiously cleansing Bieler Broth.  And the desserts are all top drawer treats that you will want to make again and again.

Another interesting aspect of the book is that several of the actors on Dark Shadows who contributed to the book are in real life very accomplished cooks and published cookbook authors, like Diana Millay (who would rather eat than act), Donna Wandrey, and Marie Wallace.  The final pages of the book include still photos of Dark Shadows episodes where food is featured and some food quotations from various Dark Shadows scripts.  All in all, The Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook is lots of fun and is indeed a recipe collection with style and sophistication as one might expect from the characters and creators of Dark Shadows.  I hope it not only has the long life it deserves, but that it has a second incarnation as well.