Allow me to steal the book spotlight from Gustavo (whose book on the history of Mexican food in the United States, Taco USA, comes out in April) for a moment.
For the last few months, I've been copyediting–stop laughing!–Nathan Lyon's first cookbook, Great Food Starts Fresh. Lyon is the host of “Growing a Greener World” and “A Lyon in the Kitchen” and was the runner-up to Guy Fieri on “The Next Food Network Star” in 2006.
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I met Nathan a year or two ago at a dinner in Hollywood arranged by mutual friend Bobby Bognar (of “Food Tech” and The Piper Downs
fame); we got to talking about farmers markets and all of a sudden
hours had passed and we were starting to get The Look from the
restaurant owners.
He approached me when it was time to publish his cookbook; he ran the publication all
himself, with help from Kickstarter.
I said yes, of course. Nathan's
great at simplifying cooking tasks that seem complex, whether it's
homemade barbecue sauce or chocolate soufflés, and uses whole
ingredients–things that are identifiable in their natural state, meaning
no high-fructose corn syrup or chemical mixes in any of the recipes.
It's a huge book–350 pages divided into five seasons (yes, Virginia, chocolate is its own season). Nathan's an incurable optimist, and believes that everybody can make
great food if they try. I challenge you to prove him right.
Copies are available from chefnathanlyon.com;
he'll be at the Hollywood farmers market the next couple of weeks
signing copies (Come down here to OC, Nathan! We have farmers markets
too!) if you've always wanted a signed copy.
