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Country pop singer Martina McBride’s sold-out appearance at Napa’s Calmére Estate Winery last fall was nothing short of a spectacle. The Grammy winner delighted her fans, who came from far and wide to catch a glimpse and maybe an autograph, before tucking into a multicourse lunch against the rolling Carneros hills.
Despite the ticket price — $145 per person — this wasn’t a concert. It was a Book Passage event for “Martina’s Kitchen Mix: My Recipe Playlist for Real Life,” the Food Network star’s second, highly-anticipated cookbook, and the party featured her down-home recipes prepared by the winery’s culinary staff.
“It was almost like a wedding,” recalls Marguerita Castanera, director of the independent chain’s Cooks with Books program, which started 23 years ago. “We had assigned seats. I wrote the guest’s names on placecards. Everyone has such a great time at these cookbook events, including the authors, who get to connect with their fans in an intimate space.”
Fans? Oh yes.
Ina. Emeril. Samin. In the era of reality TV, chefs and cookbook authors have attained their own brand of mononymous fame that has transformed book signings and readings — through shops like Book Passage, Omnivore Books and Rakestraw Books — into events with delicious food that draws eager home chefs and line-cook fan boys alike.
“You essentially get to meet and break bread with the person you watch (on TV) or read all the time,” Castanera says. “People leave there hugging us.”
They also leave with a signed copy of the cookbook, which is included in the ticketed price, and often a selfie with the author. No two events are the same: One could be an intimate Q&A with 20 people; the next might be a 200-person fete.
Most are held in the spring or fall, when publishers release cookbooks and send their authors on tour, be it on site at an indie book store or in collaboration with a restaurant, such as Larkspur’s Left Bank, where Ruth Reichl recently did a Cooks with Books appearance for “Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir.”
Last month, at Insalata’s in San Anselmo, Janet Fletcher fans got to meet the Planet Cheese blogger and feast on Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops with Pomegranate Marinade from her new cookbook, “Wine Country Table: Recipes Celebrating California’s Sustainable Harvest.”
“Heidi really outdid herself,” Fletcher says of Insalata’s chef-owner Heidi Krahling, also a beloved cookbook author. “I think she must’ve brushed the lamb chops forever to get that sweet-tart glaze. Everything was amazing.”
Castanera has watched the interest in food-driven book events rise in the past two decades and credits reality TV with the boom.
“Historically, there’s pre-Food Network chefs and authors, like Janet or Ruth, who’ve paid their dues and worked hard to earn the respect, sales and household names,” she says. “And then there’s the new generation. It’s interesting to see who’s a TV star and who’s been cooking or writing for years in the trenches.”
In some ways, Book Passage’s once-or-twice monthly events paved the way for San Francisco’s Omnivore Books, where owner Celia Sacks focuses solely on cookbooks — and holds 120 events a year in the 600-square-foot Noe Valley bookshop and at restaurants or community centers. Word of mouth and social media have helped put her shop on the international map.
“The first time Nigella Lawson came from London to speak at Omnivore, she said, ‘(Yotam) Ottolenghi has told me so many wonderful things about your shop,'” Sacks recalls. “That was huge.”
Sacks has hosted everyone from Eric Ripert and Samin Nosrat to the late Anthony Bourdain. Her in-store events are free, intimate and often standing-room-only affairs, often with wine or nibbles provided by the author or Sacks. No need to RSVP or even buy a book. But most customers do.
“I recognize that you can’t have that in a lot of cities,” Sacks says. “People have the finances and conscientiousness here to back up an independent shop like mine, instead of buying the book for less online.”
And look at what they’re getting in return. Sipping mezcal with Cala’s Gabriela Cámara, San Francisco and Mexico City author of the new “My Mexico City Kitchen: Recipes and Convictions.” Nibbling cookies with Christina Tosi of New York City’s Momofuku Milk Bar. Indulging in ice cream with Salt & Straw’s Tyler Malek when his cookbook debuts May 20. Or eating Ottolenghi’s legendary Middle Eastern food … with Ottolenghi.
“People have been idolizing him for years, and to have him talk to a room of 60 people and answer all their questions was so exciting,” Sacks says. “To connect directly with fans, make eye contact. I think this format means the world to the authors, too, not just the guests.”
When Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen came to Omnivore Books, people lined up all the way down and around the block. “Even though they couldn’t hear anything, they just stood there for the whole hour looking inside,” Sacks recalls.
Sacks is expecting mobs when Southern chef and cookbook author Sean Brock, who was recently featured on Netflix’s “Chef’s Table,” visits. In addition to resurrecting indigenous Southern ingredients, he speaks and writes openly about his path to sobriety. His follow up to “Heritage” debuts this fall and he’ll be heading west for book signings.
“It’s going to be packed,” Sacks says. “He’s a big influence on young chefs and someone that they idolize so much.”
IF YOU GO
Book Passage: This indie bookstore holds author events at its shops in the San Francisco Ferry Building, as well as Larkspur and Corte Madera, and Cooks With Books events and locations in Marin County and Wine Country. Upcoming events include a vineyard luncheon for the authors of the new “Stone Edge Farm Kitchen Larder Cookbook” on May 25. Find out more at www.bookpassage.com/cooks-with-books.
Omnivore Books on Food: This cookbook-centric San Francisco shop hosts author events throughout the year, primarily at the store at 3885A Cesar Chavez St. Upcoming author events include Tyler Malek discussing the new “Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook” and dishing up scoops on May 20. Find details at omnivorebooks.myshopify.com.
