Some people see dips as the fallback potluck plan when you’re short on time, cash and imagination.
Alyse Whitney sees much more.
In the “introdiption” to “Big Dip Energy: 88 Parties in a Bowl for Snacking, Dinner, Dessert, and Beyond!” (Morrow, $29.99), Whitney calls the title of her debut cookbook “a lifestyle and a personality trait.”
She goes on to explain that having BDE (“big dip energy”) means you’re “magnetic.” You’re “confident but not cocky.” You “sparkle like a dipsco ball, radiating light and reflecting back what you’re given.”
Whitney built her reputation as “the Dip Queen” working at magazines (she’s Cosmopolitan’s first food editor), hosting Netflix food shows, and “showcasing major PDA (public dipsplays of affection)” on social media with #DipPics and videos.
She braces readers for her uncontrollable penchant for puns. That’s her self-deprecating way of saying she doesn’t take herself too seriously. But she’s serious in her instructions for letting loose and having fun by way of the dip bowl.
Assisting in this endeavor is a photographer and team of stylists who present her recipes in settings as clever as they are appetizing. Toum Raider (AKA Korean-ish Whipped Garlic Dip) peeks out from under a “tomb” covered in crumbled Rainbow Dumpling Chips; Trippin’ Dip (Mushroom Dip with Pesto Swirl) fills a bowl resembling a disco ball; gummy worms crawl across a bucketful of Dirt Pudding Dip (crushed Oreos, cream cheese, chocolate pudding mix and Cool Whip).
Recipe chapters include 5-Minute Dips, Layered Dips, Dips for Dinner, and DipsSerts, with sections on handcrafted dippers, designing the perfect snack plate, dip etiquette, and more. A cartoon mascot named Chippy pops up with “tippys” throughout.
I flipped to the Astro Dip section to find my “dip horoscope” to choose a recipe to take to my book club. I was advised that Spanakopidip (based on the creamy spinach filling of the classic Greek pastry) would appeal to Virgos’ “detailed nature.”
Three words, to echo the author, sum up the verdict: “Dip, dip, hooray!”
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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