With Gratitude to My Community
Edible Plates
Profile: Mario Rodriguez
Profile: Jack Aghoian
Salads and Vegetables with Taste
Profile: Rumi Mahmood
Profile: Sumi Chang
The Search for Great Ingredients
Sunday morning at the Porch Market in Altadena. Steve Hofvendahl and Lily Knight host an occasional market of beautiful fruits, baked goods, live music, and fellowship. The schedule changes, based on their time and the orchard’s yield. Email Steve at [email protected] for market-day notification.
Thanks to the Inspiring Cooks in My Life Who Have Contributed to This Cookbook
RECIPE TESTERS:
Bill Anawalt, friend
John Callow, Eric’s son; my stepson
Juno Chimera, friend
Betsy Clancy, Anna Ganahl’s sister
Noriko Gamblin, friend
Anna Ganahl, friend
Elisa Hamed, cousin
Doris Hausmann, friend
Esther Kang, friend
Kaitlin Corunelle Krusoe, friend
Richard Ramos, David Spiro’s husband
Liana Soifer, friend
David Spiro, friend
With Gratitude to My Community
A DEFINITION:
ur·ban adj.
In, relating to, or characteristic of a city or town. “The urban population.”
Synonyms: town, city, municipal, civic, metropolitan, built-up, downtown.
for·age v.
1. The act of looking or searching for food or provisions.
2. To wander in search of food or provisions.
3. To conduct a search; rummage.
4. Informal: To obtain by foraging: “foraged a snack from the refrigerator.”
urban forager
1. Searchers for provisions in towns and cities.
2. Those who uncover the rare and wonderful.
I created this book with novice and adventurous cooks in mind, in the hope that it teaches, inspires, and leads to a new trove of food memories. There is no better place than L.A.’s eastside to begin a cooking journey. In my mind, its food culture is one of the most interesting and exciting anywhere—a culture jump-started and sustained by a growing corps of fearless chefs whose techniques, ingredients, and tastes are challenged and refreshed by our increasingly diverse community.
While many cookbooks drop the reader into the middle of intensely complex and arcane recipes, I designed this one as a bridge to the unfamiliar—beginning with basic techniques and building-block recipes, some of which reappear in subsequent chapters as key ingredients. The Urban Forager sets forth recipes from my own kitchen along with beloved recipes from great cooks, friends, and family; provides a carefully curated list of our region’s one-of-a-kind neighborhood food shops offering quality ingredients and inviting culinary exploration; and suggests ways to expand your own cooking repertoire.
With the exception of baking and its exacting requirements, I see recipes as open-ended guides. The more you cook, the more secure you become in trying something new. Variations come from both imagination and desperation—and may also be inspired by an emerging commitment to use food wisely and without waste. I call similar ingredients from familiar or different cooking cultures “flavor cousins,” and identify ways that an item in your refrigerator or pantry or an experience with a new taste or cuisine can find its way into your cooking. Think the sweet Chinese sausage
