The Cookbook Company's Gail Norton recommends 2 titles Calgary foodies have been craving
This interview originally aired on April 6, 2019.
The Cookbook Company in Calgary has been in business since 1984 and Gail Norton has been there since day one.
That's more than 30 years of celebrating the best of Albertan cuisine and culinary writing. Today, The Cookbook Company boasts a cooking school, a catering department and more.
With all that expertise in mind, Shelagh Rogers checked in with Norton about some of the titles local foodies have been craving.
Food Artisans of Alberta by Karen Anderson and Matilde Sanchez-Turri
"It's a really cool book because you can have one at home and one in your car. And if you find yourself anywhere on the byways of Alberta — over 660,000 square kilometres they covered — you'll have a little snapshot of the food scene [there]. Karen and Matilde lay it out in this fun, readable way that makes discovering Alberta and all of its fantastic food producers, retailers, etc. easy in a handbook-form. It's been popular. Everyone is interested in food and wants to know about their local food community and this book fits that bill."
The Knifenerd Guide to Japanese Knives by Kevin Kent
"I love the title! Kevin Kent, who owns eight stores that specialize in selling knives, started selling knives on the back of his bike — going around to different chefs. One of the best quotes is that his plan was no different than the guy at college who sells weed so he can smoke some for free. He wanted to sell knives so he could have this fantastic knife collection [of his own]. It's a super fun read. It's got full-colour photographs of both the process of knife-making as well as portraits of the knife makers that are in the midst of bashing their knives and doing the hand forging. It's about something that we use practically every day, several times a day."
Gail Norton's comments have been edited for clarity and length.