The Locavore’s Kitchen — 2011 ·

A Cook’s Guide to Seasonal Eating and Preserving

“A homey, chatty text seamlessly incorporates more than 200 recipes in this book promoting using the freshest locally available ingredients that are in season and preserving them by freezing and canning for use when they aren’t in season. . . . An even-handed guide to preparing and devouring what’s in season.”

Booklist

“I can’t think of a better recommendation for a cookbook.”

Cleveland Magazine

“Riding the crest of ever-evolving food trends takes some real ingenuity. This carefully configured cookbook manages to chart the course in an unexpectedly old-fashioned way. For those not in the know, locavore is a newly minted word used to loosely describe one who purchases and eats foodstuffs grown, raised and produced exclusively within a 100-mile radius of home. It’s a pretty tall order, one within the expertise of food-savvy Suszko. In her hands, it’s just a palate-pleasing turnaround from making do with supermarket food from anywhere to preparing, eating and preserving unadulterated local fare, season by season, as our ancestors did.”

Kirkus Reviews

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“Suszko’s words will inspire readers to realize the possibilities not only in their yards and markets, but in their kitchens… . Before you know it, the reader’s purchasing habits and kitchen creations will mirror the availability and abundance of the growing season.”

Ohioana Quarterly

“On the 40th anniversary of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters’ landmark restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., and epitome of the local foods movement, comes this thoughtfully organized and user-friendly new kitchen resource. I say ‘resource’ because it is much more than a cookbook. Along with many, many approachable recipes, there is a bounty of beautifully presented information.”

Ohio Today (forthcoming, in the Fall/Winter issue)

“A delightfully inspiring primer for anyone who may be curious about the local foods movement.”

Ohio Magazine

“With the increasing access to local food, consumers need ideas for selecting, storing and cooking the fare. . . . To the rescue: Marilou K. Suszko, a cookbook author and cooking instructor considered a guru of eating locally.”

The Columbus Dispatch

“(Suszko) comforts us by reminding us that leading a locavore-inspired life is not a new fad, picked up at the store, but an old rhythm we know in our bones and have returned to, one by one, as we each decide to harvest, cook and preserve foods grown locally, season by season.”

Edible Columbus

“More than a cookbook, The Locavore’s Kitchen spotlights seasonal favorites, such as asparagus, melons or fall greens, as well as local flavors, like maple syrup, grassfed beef or milk.”

Hobby Farm Home

“This delightfully unusual cookbook is tailored especially for food-preparers who want to make delicious meals from their own garden produce and from farmers and market gardeners in their neighborhood. It includes excellent information on not just local fruits and vegetables but grains, animal products of all kinds, mushrooms, and wines. The recipes are imaginative and inspired. For example, for that he-man in your family who thinks he doesn’t like asparagus, how about beer-battered asparagus spears? Or when is the last time you enjoyed rustic pear tart in cornmeal pastry? Suszko also includes essential information on preserving local foods for winter.”

Gene Logsdon — author of The Contrary Farmer

“Marilou Suszko’s celebration and demystification of sustainably grown agricultural products in The Locavore’s Kitchen is inspiring. The emphasis on simplicity, eating with purpose, and seasonal sensitivity should be applauded, and the book should be read and used by everyone. Remember, eat your veggies!”

Farmer Lee Jones — Chef’s Garden of Huron, Ohio

More and more Americans are becoming dedicated locavores, people who prefer to eat locally grown or produced foods and who enjoy the distinctive flavors only a local harvest can deliver. The Locavore’s Kitchen invites readers to savor homegrown foods that come from the garden, the farm stand down the road, or local farmers’ markets through cooking and preserving the freshest ingredients.

In more than 150 recipes that highlight seasonal flavors, Marilou K. Suszko inspires cooks to keep local flavors in the kitchen year round. From asparagus in the spring to pumpkins in the fall, Suszko helps readers learn what to look for when buying seasonal homegrown or locally grown foods as well as how to store fresh foods, and which cooking methods bring out fresh flavors and colors. Suszko shares tips and techniques for extending seasonal flavors with detailed instructions on canning, freezing, and dehydrating and which methods work best for preserving texture and flavor.

The Locavore’s Kitchen is an invaluable reference for discovering the delicious world of fresh, local, and seasonal foods.

Marilou K. Suszko is the author of Farms & Foods of Ohio: From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate. She is a food writer and local foods advocate whose work appears in numerous newspapers and magazines. She hosts From My Ohio Kitchen to Yours, which airs on all Ohio PBS stations.