Monday, November 16, 2009

A Local Table...in stores now!


Here it is folks! I am officially (self) published....A Local Table: the Choices Markets Cookbook launched at Choices Markets and Cookworks yesterday. It has been a labour of love over the past six months and it is amazing to finally see it in print. I hope you all love it!

The cookbook features 98 recipes by Choices Markets' executive chef, Antonio Cerullo. Antonio comes from an Italian fine dining background but he is a bit of a cowboy when it comes to food. No matter what we throw at him, from tofu to gluten free, raw foods to reinvented Italian classics, his flair for creating simple yet elegant and delicious meals that anyone can create makes his monthly cooking classes at our White Rock store pretty popular!

A Local Table reflects what Choices Markets is all about  - there is something for everyone! Many of the recipes are gluten free and there are plenty of meal ideas for the vegan, vegetarian or meatarian in your life. Each recipe is colour coded according to diet suitability and comes with nutrition facts to help make diet planning a snap, just in case you're counting calories....I prefer to count sheep, myself!

What makes this cookbook unique is that not only is it about local foods but it also focuses on what is local right where we live, here in BC. The recipes are divided amongst the seasons -yes, you really can eat local in February! To help prove it, our wonderful friends at Farm Folk/City Folk provided us with their Get Local Metro Vancouver map and they even created an Okanagan calendar for us too! So if you live in Kelowna, you can crack open our book and see that in November, you can get local cauliflower and garlic to make a curry. In Vancouver, you might take advantage of the local potatoes and leeks to make a soup to ward off the rainy days.

We have featured 4 amazing local farms in BC and other local businesses who are making healthy and sustainable food for our family tables. I have also written a section on sustainable nutrition that talks about how each one of us can help to reduce the carbon foot print of our meals every day.

If you are in the Lower Mainland this weekend, join us at Cookworks on West Broadway (near Granville) on Saturday, November 21st between 11:00AM and 4:00PM for our launch party or attend our Cooking Class at our White Rock store on Monday November 23rd (call the store to pre-register).

A Local Table is just $19.95...with $5 dollars from each book to Farm Folk/City Folk!


Let me know what you think of the book...and get cooking!
Desiree