Three Many Cooks: One Mom, Two Daughters: Their Shared Stories of Food, Faith & Family

When the women behind the popular blog Three Many Cooks gather in the busiest room in the house, there arenever too many cooks in the kitchen. Now acclaimed cookbook author Pam Anderson and her daughters, Maggy Keet and Sharon Damelio, blend compelling reflections and well-loved recipes into one funny, candid, and irresistible book.

Together, Pam, Maggy, and Sharon reveal the challenging give-and-take between mothers and daughters, the passionate belief that food nourishes both body and soul, and the simple wonder that arises from good meals shared. Pam chronicles her epicurean journey, beginning at the apron hems of her grandmother and mother, and recounts how a cultural exchange to Provence led to twenty-five years of food and friendship. Firstborn Maggy rebelled against the family’s culinary ways but eventually found her inner chef as a newlywed faced with the terrifying reality of cooking dinner every night. Younger daughter Sharon fell in love with food by helping her mother work, lending her searing opinions and elbow grease to the grueling process of testing recipes for Pam’s bestselling cookbooks.

Three Many Cooks ladles out the highs and lows, the kitchen disasters and culinary triumphs, the bitter fights and lasting love. Of course, these stories would not be complete without a selection of treasured recipes that nurtured relationships, ended feuds, and expanded repertoires, recipes that evoke forgiveness, memory, passion, and perseverance: Pumpkin-Walnut Scones, baked by dueling sisters; Grilled Lemon Chicken, made legendary by Pam’s father at every backyard cookout; Chicken Vindaloo that Maggy whipped up in a boat galley in the Caribbean; Carrot Cake obsessively perfected by Sharon for the wedding of friends; and many more.

Sometimes irreverent, often moving, always honest, this collection illustrates three women’s individual and shared search for a faith that confirms what they know to be true: The divine is often found hovering not over an altar but around the stove and kitchen table. So hop on a bar stool at the kitchen island and join them to commiserate, laugh, and, of course, eat!

Advance praise for Three Many Cooks

“This beautiful book is a stirring, candid, powerful celebration of mothers, daughters, and sisters, and of family, food, and faith. The stories are relatable and real, and are woven perfectly with the time-tested, mouthwatering recipes. I loved every page, every word, and am adding this to the very small pile of books in my life that I know I’ll pick up and read again and again.”—Ree Drummond,New York Times bestselling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks

“As a little story about mac and cheese illustrates, when it comes to family, the trick is to make a masterpiece with the ingredients you’ve got.Three Many Cooks is the perfect encouragement to work with what we have: one another.”—Kelly Corrigan,New York Times bestselling author of Glitter and Glue

“Pam Anderson is the consummate test cook—smart, thorough, and curious. Her new book,Three Many Cooks, puts cooking in the context it ultimately belongs, at the center of friends and family.”—Christopher Kimball, founder and editor,America’s Test Kitchen

“A wonderful, honest account of food and family, Three Many Cooks deliciously reveals what I’ve suspected all along: Cooking for people you love pays back enormous dividends.”—Jenny Rosenstrach,New York Times bestselling author of Dinner: The Playbook

New York Times bestseller and author of seven books, Pam Anderson is AARP’s official food expert and aRunner’s World contributing columnist. She is the former executive editor atCook’s Illustrated. She and her two daughters, Maggy Keet and Sharon Damelio, are the voices behind the blog Three Many Cooks, featured in several national publications, includingWoman’s Day and Redbook. Anderson lives in Connecticut with her husband.

Maggy Keet graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in English literature and sociology. After several years in the social-work field, she went back to school, graduating with a master’s degree in globalization and international development from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. After living in Malawi and building a maternity clinic, she moved with her husband, Andy, to New York City where she now works fund-raising for Haiti.

Sharon Damelio graduated from Williams College with a degree in English and classics, and spent the next two years working atFine Cooking magazine as assistant web editor. She recently graduated from Yale Divinity School with a master of divinity and now works at a nonprofit in Atlanta that provides programs and services to homeless and near-homeless individuals.