On Why Cookbooks Matter

I started with a single cookbook. I purchased it out of desperation. I was an unschooled young chef in Key West and realizing I had a f’ing ton of catching up to do with the others I was suddenly working with. The ones in that kitchen steps from the ocean that really rang that bell in me were, for the most part, recent graduates of the Culinary Institute of America. They too found the siren call of that Island at the end of the road. As I heard them speak to one another they used jargon I had not experienced in my previous five years of slaving away on hot lines from Illinois to Colorado and at this point, Florida. Like someone who’d landed in a strange new land where artful presentations and exciting flavors existed on a higher plane. James Beard’s ‘Theory and Practice of Good Cooking’ was the first cookbook on the path for me. ‘AI’ is all over the news these days. I like ‘LI’…. Library Intelligence.