Chances are good you aren’t a fan of Edible because of this blog.
True, if the New York Times went 100% online tomorrow and your subscription to the Economist soon required a tablet, nobody would be much surprised. But we believe, as we expect you do, that print has a place in modern society, especially when it comes to as sensual–as tactile–a thing as food.
In fact, one of the most common things we hear from readers is, believe it or not, how much they love our paper stock.
Nick Fauchald, a Brooklyn food writer, entrepreneur, editor and friend, feels so strongly about this subject that he’s launching a new cookbook project called Short Stack.
If you doubt his business sense, consider that after a stint as an editor at Food & Wine magazine, Fauchald was one of the folks that launched the email newsletter called Tasting Table, and then went on to help develop a company that makes pretty slick looking cookbook apps. (You can download chef Sara Jenkins’ New Italian Pantry app right here.)
Short Stack is a series of slim volumes on a single ingredient written by some passionate food people (like Susan Spungen; she covers strawberries). They are printed on heavy duty stock you’ll no doubt love, hand-bound — hand-bound! — and given single-color pop-art covers in tune with their subject matter. There are currently three: Strawberries, eggs and tomatoes. They are both old-fashioned and forward-thinking at the very same time. They are beautiful keepsakes. They are inspiring to cooks. Oh man, they’re just really cool!
So, you want them, right?
That’s why we’re writing. Short Stack is currently raising money on Kickstarter, with just four days left to donate. They’ve already reached their original goal and then some, but the more they can collect right now, the more writers they can hire, the more good recipes they can test, the more hand-bound books they can stitch…
We know there are certainly more pressing problems to be solved in the world, but keeping the good old printed recipe alive seems like a worthy thing to do.
And here’s an even better reason. If you donate at least $45 now, you not only fund the project, you get all three cookbooks this summer before they become the collector’s item you wish you’d collected when you had the chance.
