OUT OF SIGHT
Okay, maybe I'm being dramatic. But the news that I need reading glasses has hit me hard. I am actually in disbelief, despite the fact that 43 is pretty much the exact age everyone suddenly needs them. As William Saroyan put it, "Everybody has got to die, but I always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?" Anyway, a little nudge that I'm getting older, and "now what?" comes in the form of sexy-librarian tortoiseshell spectacles.
In other news, the season for author events is heating up. Not only did we have some great in-store events in September, but I was also invited to participate in a couple wonderful street fairs: the La Cocina Street Food festival in S.F. and the Eat Real Fest in Oakland (where I sold meat books for the Butcher's Guild). Both were a great way to connect with the community outside my shop, let new customers know about us, and stuff myself with tamales, ice cream, and ramen noodles (yeah, probably in that order). The best part was that my partner, Paula, joined me at both and was a fantastic ambassador for Omnivore. Thanks, baby!
Coming up in October, we've got about a million events, from in-store author talks to restaurant dinners and another food festival (also called Omnivore, but these folks are based in France, so I won't sue them for stealing my name - their website is in progress, so stay tuned). The two dinners I'm co-hosting are for Bruce Aidells' new edition of his Meat Cookbook (at Mijita, a multi-course family-style Mexican dinner that includes the new book, a bargain at $80), and a dinner for Yotam Ottolenghi and Sammi Tamimi at Camino in Oakland. If you don't know who they are, you should familiarize yourself immediately.
Since you can read about all the wonderful authors of excellent upcoming cookbooks coming to Omnivore below, I decided to list some lesser-seen but equally deserving cookbooks on my New Books page. Most of these folks aren't coming to Omnivore because they're based in Britain and France, but I've imported their books because they are well worth the extra cost. Two I'm particularly excited about are Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries II and a book of fold-out French butcher cuts called Decoupes des Viandes.
Remember, if you can't make it in to my shop, and you want a signed book or any of the new or vintage books listed on my site, just give us a call, and we'll be happy to accommodate you,
Yours,
Celia Sack, Owner
Omnivore Books on Food
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Upcoming Events at Omnivore Books
Thurs. Oct. 4 • Jeffrey Pilcher • Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
In Planet Taco, Jeffrey Pilcher traces the historical origins and evolution of Mexico's national cuisine, explores its incarnation as a Mexican American fast-food, shows how surfers became global pioneers of Mexican food, and how Corona beer conquered the world. Pilcher is particularly enlightening on what the history of Mexican food reveals about the uneasy relationship between globalization and authenticity.
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Fri. Oct. 5 • Charlotte Druckman (with Elisabeth Pruiett and Emily Lucchetti) • Skirt Steak: Women Chefs on Standing the Heat and Staying in the Kitchen • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
In this in-depth, behind-the-scenes tell-all about the lives of women chefs, journalist Charlotte Druckman walks the reader into the world behind the hot line. But this is a different perspective on the kitchen: one told through the voices of more than 100 of the best and brightest women cooking today.
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Tues. Oct. 9 • Laura Weiss • Ice Cream: A Global History • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
In Ice Cream, food writer Laura B. Weiss takes the reader on a vibrant trip through the history of ice cream from ancient China to modern-day Tokyo in order to tell the lively story of how this delicious indulgence became a global sensation.
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Wed. Oct. 10 • Diane Morgan • Roots: the Definitive Compendium • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Discover the fascinating history and lore of 29 major roots, their nutritional content, how to buy and store them, and much more, from the familiar (beets, carrots, potatoes) to the unfamiliar (jicama, salsify, malanga) to the practically unheard of (cassava, galangal, crosnes).
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Thurs. Oct. 11 • Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger • The Lost Arts of Hearth & Home: The Happy Luddite’s Guide to Domestic Self-Sufficiency • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
This book is is a recondite treasury of arcane secrets. How to make: Kombucha, Ambergris, Butterscotch, Rings for Weddings or Amusement, Birch Beer, Lacto-fermented Pickles, Pickled Pig's Feet, and much more!
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Fri. Oct. 12 • Kathleen Flinn • The Kitchen Counter Cooking School • Book release party! 6-8 p.m. • FREE
Come toast the author with wine and snacks! After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, writer Kathleen Flinn returned with no idea what to do next, until one day at a supermarket she watched a woman loading her cart with ultraprocessed foods. Flinn's "chefternal" instinct kicked in: she persuaded the stranger to reload with fresh foods, offering her simple recipes for healthy, easy meals.
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Sat. Oct. 13 • James & Caitlin Freeman • Craft of Blue Bottle Coffee • 3-4 p.m. • FREE
Coffee is experiencing a renaissance and Blue Bottle Coffee Company has quickly become one of America’s most celebrated roasters. Famous for its complex and flavorful coffees, Blue Bottle delights its devoted patrons with exquisite pour-overs, delicious espresso, and specialized brewing methods.
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Mon. Oct. 15 • Ludo Lefebvre • LudoBites: Recipes and Stories from the Pop-Up Restaurants of Ludo Lefebvre • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Ludo Lefebvre is a culinary prodigy who worked at his first three-star Michelin restaurant at age fourteen. By twenty-five he was running his own kitchen in Los Angeles—winning accolades for serving the most imaginative, forward-thinking food the city had ever seen. LudoBites is the chronicle of his journey. Each chapter showcases the story and the outrageously inventive food of the seven different LudoBites incarnations.
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Wed. Oct. 17 • Kevin Gillespie • Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
"Cooking is figuring out the great qualities of any food and making those qualities shine." That’s the inspiring message of Fire in My Belly by Top Chef fan favorite Kevin Gillespie. Fire In My Belly celebrates good ingredients with more than 120 hip, accessible recipes presented in a cutting-edge design. Let's impress him by not asking a single question about Top Chef!
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Thurs. Oct. 18 • Magnus Nilsson. Faviken • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Faviken is the first major cookbook by Magnus Nilsson, the 28-year old chef whose restaurant is located on a 20,000 acre farm and hunting estate in Northern Sweden. It has recently been called "the most daring restaurant in the world" by Bon Appetit. The food served at Faviken - from the dairy to the meat to the vegetables - is harvested, butchered and preserved by hand using the most natural and primitive methods possible, and Nilsson is in factor of simple cooking methods such as roasting over open coals. This approach results in the highly creative food and intense flavors of which, far from seeming traditional, are remarkable.
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Mon. Oct. 22 • Modernist Cuisine at Home • with Scott Heimendinger from the Modernist Cuisine Cooking Lab Team • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
The Cooking Lab, publisher of the encyclopedic six-volume set Modernist Cuisine, which immediately became the definitive reference for this revolution, has now produced a lavishly illustrated guide for home cooks, complete with all-new recipes tailored for cooking enthusiasts of all skill levels. Modernist Cuisine at Home, by Nathan Myhrvold with Maxime Bilet, is destined to set a new standard for home cookbooks.
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Wed. Oct. 24 • Linda Lau Anusasananan • The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from Around the World • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Veteran food writer Linda Lau Anusasananan opens the world of Hakka cooking to Western audiences in this fascinating chronicle that traces the rustic cuisine to its roots in a history of multiple migrations. Beginning in her grandmother's kitchen in California, Anusasananan travels to her family's home in China, and from there fans out to embrace Hakka cooking across the globe--including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, Peru, and beyond.
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Thurs. Oct. 25 • Jose Garces • The Latin Road Home • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Spanning cultures and continents, The Latin Road Home is a look back at the many food traditions that have shaped Garces’ culinary life. Beginning in Ecuador, ancestral home to his family and the foods nearest to his heart, Garces celebrates the traditional recipes of his childhood. The book makes its way through Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru—extraordinary cuisines Garces has come to know, love, and master.
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Fri. Oct. 26 • Bruce Aidells • The Great Meat Cookbook, Revised • Mexican Meat Party at Mijita in the Ferry Building!
A three-course family-style meal and a copy of the book are your ticket to a great night out. Email the restaurant for reservations. In the last decade since the publication of Bruce Aidells's hugely successful The Complete Meat Cookbook, called by the Washington Post "authoritative" and "all-encompassing," the world of meat cookery has changed radically. In sidebars illustrated with color photographs of each cut, Aidells shows how to pick the best steaks, chop, roasts, and ribs.
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Sat. Oct. 27 • Shelley Lindgren & Matt Accarrino • SPQR: Modern Italian Food and Wine • 3-4 p.m. • FREE
The Roman Empire was famous for its network of roads. By following the path of these thoroughfares, Shelley Lindgren, wine director and co-owner of the acclaimed San Francisco restaurants A16 and SPQR, and executive chef of SPQR, Matthew Accarrino, explore Central and Northern Italy’s local cuisines and artisanal wines.
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Sun. Oct. 28 • Dinner with Yotam Ottolenghi and Sammi Tamimi at Camino Restaurant in Oakland • 6-9 p.m. $100 incl. wine.
Call the restaurant for further details and reservations: 510-547-5035. Russ and Allison will cook a fabulous, 3-course family-style meal from Yotam and Sammi's new cookbook, Jerusalem. Please join us!
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Tues. Oct. 30 • Yotam Ottolenghi & Sammi Tamimi • Jerusalem: A Cookbook • 6-7 p.m. FREE
In Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city—with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. Both men were born in Jerusalem in the same year—Tamimi on the Arab east side and Ottolenghi in the Jewish west. This stunning cookbook offers 120 recipes from their unique cross-cultural perspective, from inventive vegetable dishes to sweet, rich desserts.
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Sat. Nov. 3 • Tom Douglas • The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle • 3-4 p.m. FREE
Seattle's most popular chef and James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur Award winner Tom Douglas shares his secrets for 125 scrumptious treats. Here, you will find chef-tested recipes for breakfasts, pastries, tarts, pies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, puddings, ice creams, sandwiches, and jams that are guaranteed to work in the home kitchen.
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