During the pandemic, after cooking everything I knew how to make at least three times, I realized that somewhere on my journey to cooking excellence, I’d missed the offramp to Flavortown. My food, I thought, tasted a little blah.
So I hit the books.
I’ve owned some excellent cookbooks: Marcella Hazan’s books on Italian cooking, which have been called “exacting,” “dogmatic” and “perfectionist” by people skilled at using a thesaurus to say she knew what she wanted, can teach you how to make that simple, amazing tomato sauce and so much more. (And you’re in luck because a documentary about Hazan premieres today on PBS’s “American Masters” so you can learn more about this scientist-turned-Italian food icon).
Through books, I’ve learned from Madhur Jaffrey, Alice Waters, Samin Nosrat, Anthony Bourdain, and Mark Bittman, not to mention pored over collections like “The Silver Palate Cookbook,” “The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone,” and even the sturdy, informative “A Good Day for Soup.”
Plus, bringing home a beautiful cookbook from somewhere you’ve visited – as I did from London’s 26 Grains a few years back – can provide a souvenir that keeps on creating good memories.
(And yes, I have also spent time watching “The Great British Baking Show” and “The Bear” while mmm-scrolling YouTube and Instagram for recipes and cooking tips from Lan Lam, Carolina Gelen, NoMeatDisco’s Sam Jones and even a guy called Sauce Stash who has a lot to say about chickpeas.)
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But cookbooks can be meaningful in ways that go beyond mere instruction and more as heirlooms and artifacts. My father kept his prized meat loaf recipe inside a disintegrating copy of “The Joy of Cooking,” a stained, scribbled upon and notecard-stuffed wreck held together with a thick rubber band — and I bet someone in your family had something similar, too.
Earlier this year, author and actor Sonya Walger told me about losing her personal library of books, 25 years of journals and a wall full of her beautiful, often-used cookbooks in the Palisades Fire.
“With every book comes a story, you know? Part of what you lose in a fire is your story. You lose all the stories – where I bought that cookbook in Greece and that plate came from Morocco,” she says. “All of that goes in the fire.”
In a moving act of support, Walger’s friends came together to raise funds to help her rebuild her lost library.
And as it turns out, a bookstore in L.A.’s downtown had an even more ambitious idea …
After the Eaton and Palisades fires earlier this year, the loss of family cookbooks and all the the lore and history they hold was on the minds of Ken Concepcion and Michelle Mungcal, the owners of Now Serving, a cookbook bookstore located in Chinatown’s Far East Plaza.
The couple, whose Pasadena home just blocks from the burn zone survived, launched an effort they’re calling Friends Of The Shop: LA Wildfires Cookbook Initiative to help impacted families replace cookbooks lost in the fire.
“If you’re an impacted individual or family, you can fill out and submit an intake form that’s on our website and request up to 10 books to rebuild your cookbook collection,” says Concepcion, who was collecting donations yesterday morning when we spoke.
The effort has kept them busy. “We have over 500 submissions for the intake forms,” he says, which represents thousands of book requests.
For those wanting to get involved, there are different ways to contribute: You can go to the bookstore’s website and purchase a book to give to someone in need, or scan the list of books people are seeking to replace and donate some of those.
“If you go on our site, we have a list of books that are available to gift. So it’s almost like a registry,” says Concepcion. “Anyone can go on our site and gift a book to to an impacted individual.”
The list of requested titles is enormous and varied.
“The document is over a thousand unique titles, which is kind of staggering, and the list itself is really interesting to dig into,” he says.
Some of the most sought-after titles include “Salt Fat Acid Heat,” “The Joy of Cooking,” “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and “anything by Ina Garten.”
And the list includes a cookbook meaningful to Concepcion.
“Before we opened the shop, I worked as a chef,” says Concepcion, who didn’t go to culinary school but eventually spent years working for Wolfgang Puck. “I just kind of learned on the job by working in restaurants and would go home and read books after service. And ‘The Zuni Cafe Cookbook’ really kind of opened my eyes.”
The book remains a personal favorite, he says.
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But note that the time for dropoffs is winding down: Monday, July 14, is the last scheduled day (though if you miss that deadline, Concepcion says to call to see if something can be arranged). The plan is to process the donated books over the next few months and begin distributing them by the end of summer or beginning of fall.
Just that morning, Concepcion says he’d received a large donation from a store regular who told him it was gratifying to know the books would soon be part of someone’s new home.
“The people who are coming in to donate feel like they are finally able to really help specific individuals,” he says.
“We felt like this was the best way we could help our community.”
And as we wrapped up, I asked Concepcion what the store itself might need.
“I really appreciate that question. What would help the store is basically for people to buy books and come into the shop and pick up a book or pre-order something that’s coming out in the fall,” he says.
Things are tough. Small retail businesses and local restaurants are facing challenges that make the pandemic “look like a cake walk,” he says.
“We are really struggling right now.”
If you need help or would like to provide help, check out the Now Serving website for the most accurate and updated information.
If your cookbook collection was lost in the LA wildfires, request up to 10 titles here: https://nowservingla.com/pages/la-wildfires
If you’d to give a book to help rebuild a collection, go here: https://nowservingla.com/collections/friends-of-the-shop-rebuilding-cookbook-collections
Explore the list of books that people are seeking for donation: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LgMfDGcx2j2DdkG3kgYpJDRN4iqeiXYpA-htIEc8cIs/edit?gid=0#gid=0
And if you’re interested in buying something from Now Serving – books, gift cards, linens, totes, cards and more – go to the website or head out to the store this weekend as they are having an in-store summer sale July 12-15.
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