Cancer may have robbed Roger Ebert of the ability to eat, but it won’t stop him from dishing out cooking advice.
Four years after cancer surgery left the famed film critic unable to speak or eat, Ebert, 68, is publishing a cookbook dedicated to rice cookers, a kitchen appliance he lovingly calls “The Pot” and champions as an answer for those strapped for cash, time and counter space.
“To be sure, health problems have prevented me from eating,” Ebert writes in the book. “That did not discourage my cooking. It became an exercise more pure, freed of biological compulsion.”
The idea for the book came after a 2008 blog post he wrote about rice cookers prompted hundreds of comments.
“I think I was somewhat frustrated by not being able to eat, and I wanted to live vicariously,” he said during an interview at his Chicago home, his laptop computer speaking his typed answers.
The book includes many of those comments, as well as more than two dozen recipes for dishes such as chili, risotto, jambalaya and oatmeal — Ebert’s favorite. he took a witty and funny tone when writing it; he says he didn’t want it to sound too specialized or difficult.
“The basic recipe is: throw everything in the pot and slam on the lid,” said Ebert, who has battled cancer in his thyroid and salivary gland for eight years.
He now uses a feeding tube for nourishment. his book, “The Pot and how to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker,” will be released Sept. 21.
during his recovery, Ebert turned to social media such as Twitter and his blog, cultivating a tremendous following. Increasingly, he has reached out to mainstream media to tell his story. in February, for example, he talked to Esquire magazine about missing his former late movie review show co-shot Gene Siskel, who died in 1999.
Ebert fell in love with the rice cooker after receiving one as a present for his 1992 wedding. The Chicago Sun-Times critic says he even took the rice cooker with him to the Sundance Film Festival.
“We used to take the rice cooker almost everywhere we went,” his wife, Chaz Ebert, said.
But writing a cookbook when you can’t eat?
It isn’t as sad as one might imagine that he is unable to eat or drink, he wrote in a blog post earlier this year. rather, he misses the loss of dining with friends and family.
“The food and drink I can do without easily,” Ebert wrote. “The jokes, gossip, laughs, arguments and shared memories I miss.”
Ebert cookbook is work of love - KansasCity.com