Fall Cookbooks!
Hello everybody! Welcome to the best part of the year, when the most exciting cookbooks are published. A fact I did not know when opened my shop is, publishers wait for fall to unveil their heavy-hitters. On this side of the pond, we're talking about Charles Phan's Vietnamese Home Cooking, James & Caitlin Freeman's Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery, and SPQR: Modern Italian Food and Wine. In addition, we'll see books from Susan Feniger, Tom Douglas, Ludo Lefebvre, Hubert Keller, Yotam Ottolenghi, Bruce Aidells, Magnus Nilsson, Kevin Gillespie, Deb Perelman, Eric Asimov, and many more.
From England, I'll be importing Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries II, Diana Henry's Salt, Sugar, Smoke, and Fergus Henderson's Complete Nose to Tail (as well as his wife, Margot's new cookbook, You're All Invited), to name just a few. Adding to the excitement are some wonderful ethnic cookbooks coming out this season: The Hakka Cookbook, Naomi Duguid's Burma: Rivers of Flavor, Japanese Farm Food, and The Encyclopedia of Japanese Cuisine are four that come to mind.
Of course, I'll be hosting events with many of these authors, and I'll also be the bookseller at the cookbook author talks at the JCC of SF (note: the Thomas Keller talk on Dec. 8 is almost sold out!). In addition, I'll be providing cookbooks for some of the author demos at San Francisco's newest cooking school! Local cookbook author and Tante Marie teaching phenom Jodi Liano has struck out on her own and opened the San Francisco Cooking School, and I wish her the best of luck.
Some of you may have read about the theft of some valuable antiquarian cookbooks from my car a couple weeks ago. I've sadly not yet recovered them, but am trying to be zen and remember that this is, in fact, what makes rare books even rarer (right?). Thank you to so many of you for your words of support and sympathy… and if you see some fine old cookbooks in hand-bound clamshell boxes at a flea market, they're probably mine.
Meanwhile, onward. Please join us for some of our great upcoming author events, including this Friday, when Bob Spitz will read to us about Julia Child while we sip ethereal wine donated by Smith-Madrone Winery. Come help me drown my sorrows.
Warmly,
Celia Sack, Owner
Omnivore Books on Food
Follow us on Twitter
Upcoming Events at Omnivore Books
Fri. Sept. 7 • Bob Spitz • Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child • 6-7 p.m. • FREE, with wine provided by Smith-Madrone Winery! www.smithmadrone.com
In Bob Spitz’s definitive, wonderfully affectionate biography, the Julia we know and love comes vividly — and surprisingly — to life. In Dearie, Spitz employs the same skill he brought to his best-selling, critically acclaimed book The Beatles, providing a clear-eyed portrait of one of the most fascinating and influential Americans of our time — a woman known to all, yet known by only a few.
Add this event to your calendar.
Sun. Sept. 9 • Sara Forte • The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods • 3-4 p.m. • FREE
Sara Forte's love of seasonal produce was born while working at an organic farm. Later she teamed up—in life and in love—with photographer Hugh Forte, and they started the Sprouted Kitchen blog. Combining Sara's health-craving instincts with Hugh's bright, clean aesthetic, The Sprouted Kitchen shares original recipes (plus a few blog favorites)—including Buckwheat Crepes with Lox and Meyer Lemon Farmer's Cheese, Asian Pear and Tofu Tacos, and Zucchini Snack Cookies—to nourish readers through the day.
Add this event to your calendar.
Thurs. Sept. 13 • Nancy Singleton Hachisu • Japanese Farm Food • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Nancy Singleton Hachisu lives with her husband and teenage sons on a rural Japanese farm, where they prepare these 160 bright, seasonal dishes. The recipes are organized logically with the intention of reassuring you how easy it is to cook Japanese food. Not just a book about Japanese food, Japanese Farm Food is a book about love, life on the farm, and community. Covering everything from pickles and soups to noodles, rice, and dipping sauces, with a special emphasis on vegetables, Hachisu demystifies the rural Japanese kitchen, laying bare the essential ingredients, equipment, and techniques needed for Japanese home cooking.
Add this event to your calendar.
Sun. Sept. 16 • Jenna Weber • White Jacket Required: A Culinary Coming-of-Age Story • 3-4 p.m. • FREE
What do you do when you've just graduated from college and aren't sure what your next step should be? Jenna Weber, whose Eat, Live, Run blog has a huge following, turned to culinary school--but to become a food writer, not a chef. Jenna's charming coming-of-age story follows her ups-and-downs as she confronts the rigors of training, gets her first job, deals with a family crisis, and enters into a love affair.
Add this event to your calendar.
Fri. Sept. 21 • Susan Feniger • Susan Feniger's Street Food • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Over her thirty-year food career—from being one of the original Food Network stars and opening Border Grill to appearing on Top Chef Masters and creating STREET—celebrity chef Susan Feniger has continually found inspiration for her renowned cooking in street food carts around the world. In Susan Feniger’s Street Food, she shares 83 of her favorite recipes with home cooks, giving them a taste of these unexpected, tantalizing dishes.
Add this event to your calendar.
Mon. Sept. 24 • Naomi Duguid • Burma: Rivers of Flavor • 6-7 p.m. • FREE
Naomi Duguid’s heralded cookbooks have always transcended the category to become “something larger and more important” (Los Angeles Times). Each in its own way is “a breakthrough book … a major contribution” (The New York Times). And as Burma opens up after a half century of seclusion, who better than Duguid—the esteemed author of Hot Sour Salty Sweet—to introduce the country and its food and flavors to the West.
Add this event to your calendar.