SMASHING: The Vegan Cookbook is the brainchild of Australian creatives Wilful Willow and Melbourne Art Nude (aka M.A.N) - first made available in early 2021 and chock-full of not just vegan treats but super hot imagery that's sure to appeal to both aspiring chefs and kinksters alike.
SMASHING is a hard-cover publication, featuring some thirteen recipes hand-crafted by Willow and accompanied by gorgeous imagery by M.A.N - with the overall feel of the cookbook totally blurring the lines between "fetish" and "foodie".
Below we chat with Willow and M.A.N about the process of creating the cookbook, what the photoshoot for the publication was like and just how messy they got on set...
Tell us a little about your inspiration for creating Smashing…
M.A.N: The inspiration for smashing came from the ever creative mind of Wilful Willow. She is an incredibly talented baker and we talked about wanting to create a scene that is very true to who she is as a person. It is such a blessing as a creator myself to be surrounded by people who are so full of such exciting and original ideas.
WILLOW: ‘Smashing’ was first and foremost the designation of a photoshoot that MAN and l devised. The inspiration for the cookbook came several months later.
Anyone who knows me understands that l am obsessed with food. I happen to be particularly enamoured with baking sweet goods; l cannot be dissuaded from force-feeding my friends and loved ones. In addition to this l have a love of pageantry in all aspects of my life, which is displayed as an impeccable presentation of my cooking. When the opportunity arose for the incredible photographer MAN to take pictures of me and my baking l jumped at the chance.
Several months after the saucy images had been finalised l was formally writing down my recipes to share privately with friends and family, as a result of my versions being too light on detail. I consider myself to be an intuitive cook, and as such, the recipes needed to be greatly expanded upon for accessibility. The majority of my recipes had either an ingredients list with no amounts specified, no method listed, or unlisted ingredients which l tend to add automatically. The Berry Muffin method in particular consisted merely of an oven temperature.
Once the recipes had been enhanced l decided to print myself out a selection of my staple dishes. It was an immediate decision at this point to add the incredible photos of myself surrounded by and covered in baked goods for my enjoyment; I happen to be a bit of a fan of myself, and I strive to be surrounded by as much unapologetic sexuality and nudity as possible. It was at this point that my friends began to express a desire to own my book for themselves. I was taken aback. I could not believe that others would show such interest in my little passion project. As a result, l invested a great deal of time in perfecting the volume to make it available for public consumption.
Why ‘smashing’? How did you decide that you wanted to turn a cookbook into a kinky creation?
M.A.N: What sexier way to sell some recipes than by pouring all of the ingredients over a naked body? WILLOW: The route to the final product was not a straightforward one, however l am able to trace back firstly my interest in this area and secondly how an idea for a photoshoot produced a kinky cookbook.
Two noteworthy inspirations are likely to have had a hand in the creation of a kinky cookbook. The first is Nigella Lawson. I have always had a love of her sultry manner, unapologetic ability to eat as much as she desires, and her famously killer curves. I have always intended to display my body accurately on social media without retouching or hiding my lumps and bumps. For this shoot in particular I intended to show as many rolls and curves as possible; the real body of someone who puts food above all else and eats without guilt. The second is the book ‘The Naked Chef’ by Jamie Oliver. I recall how much lost potential l felt when I discovered that the book involved no nudity and that it was a downright shame that Jamie would not be gracing us with his naked glory.
The original concept for ‘Smashing’ was a photoshoot to combine my passion for food and an exhibitionist streak. Those of you who are familiar with MAN’s work will be unsurprised at how well the photos came up. His work is so incredible that there was no question, something had to be done with the images. I assumed the recipes would appeal solely to myself and that readers interests would lie with the incredible photography. As a result, we decided to make a book closer to a coffee table book than a cookbook, where the images are the highlight, and the recipes are closer to a gimmick. When the cookbook was produced and required a name, it made sense to give it the designation of the photoshoot. We intend for this book to be displayed on tables and left open on shelves for appreciation, not tucked away with the other house cookbooks.
How does ‘smashing’ itself work into your own kinky lives? Do you enjoy other types of messy play, like sploshing or gunge for example?
M.A.N: I haven’t done much in the way of overly messy play in my personal life I have to say. It’s definitely not something I’m against, so I can see myself trying this at some stage. But for now my only real experience has been assisting Willow in getting absolutely drowned in cakes. WILLOW: One of my first interactions between sexuality and food which l was exposed to was a video of a woman who used her breasts to mix cookie dough which I saw when I was a child. I was transfixed, and while the video no longer exists l have thought about it over the years and planned to create a version when l was older.
I am however unsurprised that it took me until now to explore this realm, as my first time trying it in my adolescence during my earliest sexual encounter was rejected immediately. My first boyfriend had immediately fetched a towel to wipe the honey away to avoid making a mess.
I have always loved getting messy in one form or another in non-inherently sexual contexts, however, the ‘Smashing’ photoshoot was my first real exploration into food play.
In this photoshoot l was able to experience pouring batter all over myself, smearing myself with cake and lastly cake sitting. I had an incredible time during this shoot and started to get really into it and turned on. l recall mentally trying to keep myself on task while dearly wishing that I could pull MAN in to join me in the fun. Other than that, the ‘Smashing’ inspired Livestream was the only other instance of sploshing. That is not to say that there will not be more experimentation in my private life. Who would like to come and get creamy with me?
What was your favourite part of the book creation process?
M.A.N: I was only really brought in to take the photos on this one, Smashing was very much Willow’s brainchild and I was so honoured to be a part of it. So for me it was obviously the creative problem solving of: how does one make cake smashing and batter pouring visually appealing and sexy. I think we nailed it don’t you?
WILLOW: The process of creation for this project lasted for several months with some aspects being considerably more enjoyable than others.
Hands down the most enjoyable part of the process was the photo shoot, as you can imagine. The whole weekend was ideal as I spent the day beforehand whipping up vegan treats, the day shooting with MAN and then the night eating cake with friends; it is a very unusual task to decide which cake is edible and which has been sat on a fraction too much.
In the process of constructing the cookbook, it was very rewarding to legitimise my recipes. My recipes tend to be very succinct, and as a result, required expanding out to three or four times the original size for methodological clarity. The fact that l have print versions of my recipes, and may proclaim that l have a cookbook is incredibly gratifying. I had previously never toyed with the idea of legitimising my hobby of cooking in my adult life; my parents made sure l knew that a food-based career was not a viable option for me. As a result, stumbling into having my own cookbook is more than I could ever have hoped for in my dizziest daydreams.
My least liked part of the creation process certainly included the two separate times that the book was permanently deleted by the printing company. The first was at about 95% completed and the second at approximately 60%. The iteration that made it to the public is the third iteration from scratch and the fourth version of ‘Smashing’. As a result, it took me six months and countless hours of book creating to make it to the first print.
Likewise, what’s your favourite recipe featured in Smashing?
M.A.N: All of them. Willow is a phenomenal cook and I am constantly being fed with all sorts of goodies anytime I’m in her vicinity. As someone who is a big lover of food like myself, Willow is the best friend or partner you could ask for.
WILLOW: ‘Smashing’ is a collection of several of my favourite and most reliable recipes which I have crafted over the years. As such it is very difficult for me to choose a single one. I have however always been incredibly fond of my Banana Bread recipe, as this was the first one that l perfected. l started experimenting with vegan baking ten years ago when there was very little in the way of accessible food allergen-friendly recipes. My standards didn’t waiver with the exclusion of animal products, leading me towards years of experimentation until l was completely satisfied with the final product. As a result, l began toying with an adaptation of the proportions of ingredients in recipes, as well as considerations regarding ingredients and methodology requirements to meet my insanely high standards of food taste, texture, and presentation. Each recipe is special to me and represents hundreds of experiments, failures and delicious outcomes.
What was the clean up like after the shoot?
M.A.N: Horrendous. It was a long and grueling task for both Willow and myself. The last scene we did involved her pouring raw cake batter down her back and on her arse and as a result of this a lot of it ended up in her hair. So once we had finished filming and taking photos I was given the task of cleaning up the entire kitchen. Now it looked like an entire party of six year old kids with no attention span and no supervision had been having a food fight in the kitchen, so obviously this took me the better part of half an hour or more to clean up. Before I had finished however I hear my name being called down the corridor followed by a small little “....heelllllp”. Upon further inspection I discovered that cake batter actually does bake into hair under the temperature of a hot shower and poor Willow needed some assistance in getting this mixture out. I gave her some help before cleaning up the rest of the kitchen, and lucky for me that was the easy part. Willow came out of the shower some 45 minutes later with not all, but enough of the cake batter out of her hair to be declared clean.
WILLOW: I happily left MAN to do what I assumed was the brunt of the kitchen cleaning while I showered the cake batter off my body. It did not take me long to realise that I had been mistaken, and my task was the more arduous of the two. In the process of shooting, l had managed to get a large amount of cake batter in my hair which had dried. After MAN had finished cleaning up the kitchen l mewed at him from the shower to help me clean my hair, as it had coated the strands and didn't want to budge. I was not impressed when MAN burst out laughing after l asked if I had removed an acceptable amount from the back of my hair. I was in the shower for forty-five minutes to an hour in total. From this experience I learnt, as noted in the cookbook, to use custard powder (vegan options available) for future sploshing activities and avoid using flour in a batter like a plague.
Can we expect another edition of Smashing in the future or are you planning on working on another project together?
M.A.N: Willow and I always have several ideas on the go, but unfortunately none of these involve another cookbook for now. I can tell you though that there may be some yet unreleased video footage of this day that I haven’t got around to editing yet...so stay tuned for that.
WILLOW: Flatteringly, we get asked this question quite frequently. It makes me incredibly happy that you all enjoyed the first edition so much. MAN and I are continuously working on projects together, however, we do not have another cookbook in the works for several reasons.
The first relates to the intent of the cookbook. I developed ‘Smashing’ as a tool to allow our readers to be able to cook any number of varied baked goods with a single reliable basic recipe. This is in place of the arduous and risky task of attempting a new cake recipe each time you seek a variation. As a result, a very small number of recipes are required to achieve readers' baking desires meaning that a book bursting with recipes is not required.
It has also been proposed that we could do a savoury version of this book. Sweet baking, however, is my heart and soul, where my passion and mindless flow states lie. Savoury cooking is very important to me, l do not class it with the same zeal.
Lastly, the recipes in this book have been crafted and perfected over the past decade. The standard to which l hold my recipes is insanely high. In publishing recipes, I want to ensure that a certain benchmark may be achieved, not just for myself, but also for those baking along with me. If I am to release more recipes l would likely require several more years of experimentation and polishing.
Get your hands on a copy of SMASHING here.
CONNECT WITH WILLOW & MELBOURNE ART NUDE:
On Instagram at @Wilful.Willow and @Melbourne_Art_Natural
and online via www.tiaow.myportfolio.com and www.melbourneartnude.com