Publishers Weekly
10/26/2015
In this homage to local food, Dooley paints an exquisite portrait of Minnesota and those who call it home. Arriving from New Jersey as a young woman, the author learns to absorb the culinary traditions of her new home. Each of Dooley’s 12 chapters showcases a different local food such as apples, wheat, chestnuts, cranberries, corn, wild rice, and sweet potatoes. The author includes a few recipes but explains that this is not a cookbook; rather, it is the story of the author building relationships with the “small, independent farmers, processors, and chefs” who make their living building and contributing to local economies throughout the Upper Midwest. Dooley’s narrative weaves in ideas surrounding our broken food system and explores how we can begin make changes. When confronted with the persistent question of whether local foods can ever really feed the world, Dooley responds that the locavore system’s “highest consideration is the future, not the immediate impact on the bottom line.” (Dec.)
From the Publisher
Praise for In Winter's Kitchen
"Dooley does much more than recycle familiar arguments for eating local; she personalizes the path from farm to fork with heart and skill. Unapologetically sentimental, deeply informative, and always practical . . . In Winter’s Kitchen is essential reading." —Wall Street Journal
"Through her passionate yet straightforward and enticingly simple prose, Dooley invites us to share in her bounty. Like any good book about food, In Winter’s Kitchen inspires us to cook." —Kansas City Star
"In this homage to local food, Dooley paints an exquisite portrait. Each of Dooley’s 12 chapters showcases a different local food such as apples, wheat, chestnuts, cranberries, corn, wild rice, and sweet potatoes. The author includes a few recipes but explains that this is not a cookbook; rather, it is the story of the author building relationships with the 'small, independent farmers, processors, and chefs' who make their living building and contributing to local economies throughout the Upper Midwest.” — Publishers Weekly
"Beth Dooley has written the book we need, a collection of stories about the foods we eat in winter, the season that is so often ignored, as if it doesn’t count somehow, or even exist. Part memoir and part serious food study with beguiling but essential recipes, a wonderful work!"— Deborah Madison
"That Beth Dooley is a dynamite cook and journalist is a given in my book. She’s the expert who is deep in the trenches with the farmers, the artisans, hunters and the gatherers, and every important dimension of food today. With this book you get outstanding recipes and get Beth sharing her stories, people, and insights."— Lynne Rossetto Kasper
"Beth Dooley’s In Winter's Kitchen is a reflection on the way that we become at home in the world, by coming into deep relationship with our food, our farmers, our family, and the land. Each chapter celebrates the relationship between land and culture, from Anishinaabek wild rice to Hmong sweet potatoes. Her warm prose invites you to the kitchen table and reminds you of what we’re all really hungry for: connection. I wanted to linger with the lush images, ripe with memory and mothering."— Robin Wall Kimmerer
"Beth Dooley creates culture in the kitchen, connecting readers, farmers, and food in the soup pot of biological diversity. Knowing where we are by the food we eat was the reality of the past and is the trend of the future. In Winter’s Kitchen is a fascinating read; cultivating the knowledge we need to make diverse, local food a reliable reality—the most crucial task of our time. Read this book, and pay attention as if life depends on the truth it contains. It does."— Atina Diffley
