Teenager’s cookbook championing her family’s ‘special’ recipes goes viral

A teenager who wrote, illustrated and designed a cookbook championing her family’s recipes has expressed her joy and disbelief after it went viral on social media.

Isabelle, who did not wish to share her surname and is from London, attends an International Baccalaureate school in the Netherlands.

The 16-year-old, who is of English and Spanish heritage, decided to pay homage to her family through writing and illustrating some of the recipes close to their hearts in the form of a cookbook called A Taste Of Tradition, as part of a personal project assignment.

From March 2024 to February, when she was 15, she planned which recipes she would include and listed out the ingredients, before drawing and painting her own unique versions of dishes including her Spanish great aunt’s paella, her Spanish grandfather’s empanadas and her English grandfather’s cottage pie.

She was inspired by watercolour illustrations of food she researched online, then drew her own, practicing various painting techniques until she settled on something that represented the ingredients best.

“I grew up cooking because I’m part Spanish and it’s very linked to our culture,” Isabelle told the PA news agency.

“The Spanish recipes are my favourite to not only eat, but also draw and paint because there’s so many bright colours.”

“The empanada recipe is very special to me because it’s something very close to my heart – we make them with my grandfather every time we go to Spain.

“The paella one was the most fun to draw and paint because it includes lots of bright and interesting seafood. It was really fun to experiment with different painting techniques and colours.”

She said her family were “very emotional” when they saw the finished product, and added she was “shocked” as it ended up looking better than anticipated.

“They’re all begging for a copy,” Isabelle added.

“My mum’s a writer as well so it was very special to share it with her.”

Natali Simmonds, 46, Isabelle’s mother, added her father is a graphic designer so creativity runs in the family.

“My dad’s a graphic designer, and his father was an artist, so I come from a long line of creative people. It was really special that my father got to see her painting, drawing and designing the book,” the thriller writer said.

“It’s nice that she has her own published book to look back on as her creative journey continues.”

Ms Simmonds posted about her daughter’s project on X earlier in the year, which was viewed by over half a million people and received thousands of likes.

Hundreds of people also commented, saying how amazing the book was and asking if they could purchase a copy of Isabelle’s handiwork.

“I didn’t expect that type of a reaction,” Isabelle said.

“I’m quite critical of my work so I thought I could have done better but I’m glad to see all the effort was worth it and people enjoyed it.

“I would not be opposed to designing a less personal version to sell. I really enjoyed the process so I would love to do it all again when I have the time.”

Isabelle said she first developed an interest in design at the age of eight and already began researching which universities she might like to attend in the future at that young age.

She said completing the project “opened my eyes” to the possibilities a career in design could offer her, and she next plans to study art and product design at a sixth form school in London in September as two of her A-level subjects.