Writing Cookbooks
I work with restaurants, chefs, and wine directors to tell their story through books. My first book, A16 Food + Wine, was published by Ten Speed Press. In January 2007, I was grappling with the manual transmission in a beat-up rented Opel in southern Italy. By October 2008, our team had a physical book in our hands.
The book garnered recognition beyond what any first-time author could imagine. Not only was it honored with the IACP Julia Child/First Book award, but it also was named IACP’s 2009 Cookbook of the Year. In addition, it was selected as Gourmet‘s cookbook of the month and praised in O, The Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Cucina Italiana, and Publishers Weekly. Food & Wine included recipes from the book in its 2009 Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes.
Since A16 Food + Wine came out, I’ve continued working with restaurants on cookbooks. In April 2012, Ten Speed is publishing The Preservation Kitchen with Chicago-based chef Paul Virant. I have another book in the works for fall 2012 with Shelley Lindgren and Matthew Accarrino of SPQR in San Francisco. This one takes me back to Italy.
Crafting the story is only part of the job. I also work as a project manager, keeping deadlines and details in order down to the last teaspoon and gram. If you have questions about what it takes to write a recipe, or if you’re curious about what it takes to write a cookbook, drop me a note at kaleahy [at] gmail [dot] com.
