Smith, born in Nashville and raised in Indiana, is best known as the drummer and co-founder of bands such as the Boston-based Blake Babies, Antenna, and the Mysteries of Life. Red Velvet Underground is loosely framed around cooking lessons Smith gave to her eldest son, Jonah, before he left for college. Smith compares her son's experiences to her own--meeting Juliana Hatfield and starting the Blake Babies, touring in Evan Dando's hand-me-down station wagon, and crashing with Henry Rollins, who introduced the band to local California fare--all while plumbing the deeper meanings behind the role of food, cooking, and family.

Interspersed throughout these stories are 45 flexitarian recipes--mostly, but not exclusively, vegetarian--such as red pepper-cashew spread, spinach and brazil nut pesto, and vegan strawberry-cream scones. Throughout the book, Smith reveals how food, in addition to music, has evolved into an important means for creativity and improvisation. Red Velvet Underground is an engaging exploration of the ways food and music have informed identity through every stage of one woman's life.