Saint Paul Public Library
Saint Paul Public Library Cookbooks
Reading a cookbook cover to cover like a novel is a dreamy way to unwind. Falling down a rabbit hole of researching unfamiliar ingredients from a recipe that makes your mouth water is the perfect distraction from everyday stress. After all, everyone loves to brag on Instagram with carefully lit and positioned photos of their latest creation. It’s fun.
“A cookbook is an invitation, at its most basic, an invitation to try an unfamiliar ingredient, learn a new skill, or a new approach to an old favorite.” So believes local writer Laurie Allmann, who has launched a new project with The Saint Paul Public Library.
Cooking the Books is a joint effort between Allmann and Saint Anthony Park branch manager Cate Sering. Two months pre-pandemic Sering tried to start a cookbook club that never quite took off. When Allmann approached the library with the Cooking the Books concept, Sering was “hooked immediately.” In both blog and podcast form, Allmann explores what it means to accept a particular cookbook’s invitation.
It’s more than just testing recipes, it’s about how a book might lead you to buy from local specialty markets like Bill’s Imported Foods, Joyful African Foods, or local farmers. It’s about discovering those magical interactions can happen on a deadline-free trip to the market. Of her trip to Joyful African Foods, spurred on by the search for ingredients, Allmann writes:
“There are half a dozen men and women in line at the cash register, chatting together and laughing. Even with everyone wearing masks, it feels like an antidote to the year of relative isolation. I am in no hurry for this line to move, and for a long time, it doesn’t. Others join the line behind me. When I eventually work my way to the front, I tell the cashier I like the name of the store. The man next to me in line says, “Yes! Joy is the foundation of daily life.”
The project will likely maintain a Minnesota-focus, redefining and highlighting precisely what makes Saint Paul special. “One thing Laurie and I talked about when planning for the series was that Saint Paul is such a unique place because we have such varied and amazing cuisines that make up our foodie scene, our ‘Minnesota’ food,” Sering noted. “I felt the most important thing is that people realized the amazing way that food and traditions connect us and our hope is for all people to see themselves in some way in these stories.”
The first podcast episode features Hamdi Ahmed of Soo Fariista: Come Sit Down, a Somali American Cookbook. The second is an introspective interview with Minnesota organic Hmong farmer May Yia Lee. Unlike other boisterous podcast hosts, Allmann lets her guests speak for themselves, and when she does interject it is to ask a question in a soft and thoughtful way. She pairs this conversation with a dive into two southeastern Asian cookbooks, Mango’s & Curry Leaves and Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, both available at the library.
As for what Allmann enjoys cooking most, she loves “cooking things that require a lot of chopping and not a lot of measuring, so your mind can wander. Pumpkin bread with chunks of fresh pie pumpkin (a recipe from Big River Farms CSA that we belonged to years ago). Enchiladas with tomatillo sauce made from the garden. Anything Indian or Thai. There is a book called Good Old Food, compiled by Irena Chalmers, that I've used so often over the years that the pages are falling out. There's an eggplant parm recipe in there that we make every fall. The pierogis that came down the family pike from my husband's side. I love the next cookbook too, the one I haven't seen. And all my mom's recipes, written in her hand.”
Now that Cooking the Books has legs, Sering has begun working on other cooking programming focused on the importance of food in literacy and community. “Food programming can be loose-based, as well as hands-on and all ages, which is exciting! This is a passion for me to bring books and food together in our community spaces.”
Stay tuned!
Alicia Banaszewski is a St. Paul-based writer of food and fiction.
