They Draw & Cook

With the website They Draw & Cook, a brother-sister artist duo gives fellow illustrators around the globe a place to share their favorite everyday dishes—even fried calf brains.

By Kristin Donnelly Updated March 31, 2015

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They Draw & Cook: The Food Takeaway

On the website They Draw & Cook, smiling monkeys bake a pineapple upside-down cake and angry pirates make caponata by forcing vegetables to walk the plank into boiling water. Those are two of the more than 1,200 illustrated recipes on They Draw & Cook (also compiled in a new book of the same name, out in October 2011), created by sister-and-brother team Salli Swindell and Nate Padavick.

"Food is a fun subject to play with," says Swindell, who illustrated her recipe for pineapple grilled cheese (left) exclusively for F&W. "And food doesn't care if it has a big butt." Thanks to an interactive map, the site provides a fascinating glimpse of what everyday cooks are preparing in, say, India (chickpea curry), Argentina (puff-pastry empanadas) or Russia (fried calf brains). With their next project, Swindell and Padavick continue their efforts to conquer the world, or at least illustrate it. They just launched a new website: They Draw & Travel.

They Draw & Cook: The Food Takeaway

Beet Dip

English illustrator Corrina Rothwell of corrinarothwell.co.uk mixes chopped precooked beets with plain yogurt, salt and pepper to serve with crackers.

Salsa Verde

Mexico-based illustrator Geninne Zlatkis of geninne.com toasts tomatillos and chiles on a griddle, then purees them with white onion, fresh garlic and cilantro leaves.