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Jessica Battilana:
Reading, Writing and Food: A Cookbook Writer’s Secret Sauce

Thursday August 23rd, 2018

Ever wondered what motives a chef or celebrated cook to write a cookbook? How do they choose which recipes to include and why do other recipes end up on the proverbial cutting room floor? Join cookbook author, chef and freelance writer, Jessica Battilana, for an evening about cookbooks; the how and why. Drawing from her own experience of writing cookbooks and collaborating with celebrated chefs, she will talk about the process and her own revelations in producing numerous cookbooks and articles about food. Her goal is to offer foolproof recipes that anyone can make but also give home cooks the confidence to riff on recipes to make them their own. She will talk about drafting and retesting recipes to suit the kitchen of a home cook. Join Jessica as she talks about the magic of writing a cookbook that distills her perspective, experience, trials and errors, into spectacular, foolproof recipes that home cooks can use as a roadmap to a great meal.

Bio: Jessica Battilana is a freelance food writer and recipe developer based in San Francisco. Her first solo cookbook, Repertoire: All The Recipes You Need, was published by Little, Brown in Spring 2017and she writes a bimonthly column for the The San Francisco Chronicle. Originally from Vermont, she has been a resident of California for more than a decade. She has worked as a private chef and at Chez Panisse, as well as writing. She has coauthored six cookbooks, including Home Grown: Cooking From My New England Roots (Artisan, 2017), with chef Matt Jennings, Vietnamese Home Food (Ten Speed Press, 2012), with Charles Phan, chef/owner of the Slanted Door, which won a 2013 IACP award in the Chef and Restaurant category; Tartine Book 3 (Chronicle, 2013), with Tartine owner Chad Robertson, Sausage Making (Chronicle 2014), with butcher Ryan Farr, and Home Cooked (Ten Speed Press, 2016), with Anya Fernald, and the author of Short Stack Editions Volume 10: Corn.

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