“Most people are capable of feeding themselves without recipes, so if they are buying a book, they want to go deeper than that,” says Matt Sartwell, managing partner of the New York City bookstore Kitchen Arts & Letters. Since 1983, this beloved food and drink specialist has been satiating the appetites of the culinary curious from Julia Child to acclaimed chefs Massimo Bottura, Andrew Carmellini, and Marc Vetri to home cooks, students, food journalists, and authors.
Founder Nach Waxman, now semi-retired, had considered a sports theme for his single topic bookshop before settling on cooking. Sartwell joined Waxman in 1991, and together they’ve managed to grow their global clientele despite the massive presence of Amazon and Barnes & Noble. “One of the ways we adapted was by working harder to find books that were being published outside of the mainstream big houses.”
With more than 12,000 titles imported from all seven continents, plus a collection of 4,000 rare and out-of-print books, this is the place to find details about the far-flung cuisines of Antarctica or Guam and the Mariana Islands. Italian cookbooks are their largest segment, although Sartwell laments the lack of representation for specific regions like Naples. “It’s bizarre,” he says. “A lot of publishing is affected by where editors go on vacation and where tourists go.”
Matt Sartwell is Managing Partner at Kitchen Arts & Letters
Food scribes prefer going to this Upper East Side destination for a book signing once their manuscript hits the shelves. Among those who made the trek with a pen in hand is Bottura: Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef; Marcella Hazan: Marcella Says and Amarcord; and Katie Parla: Food of the Italian South. Sartwell shares that after Bottura finished signing almost 70 books, “he was practically bouncing off the walls he was so excited.” As for the late Hazan, “she was always an image of a sweetheart.”
Like most food-related businesses, Kitchen Arts & Letters was hit hard by the pandemic this past year. The store avoided shuttering for good through an outpouring of Go Fund Me generosity, raising nearly $106,000. Without the big purchases from restaurant chefs, they’ve amplified their focus on home cooks. The shop teamed up with neighboring arts institution 92Y, offering virtual classes, including cooking demos with well-known chefs and cookbook groups led by trained culinary instructors, all making the same recipe from a featured cookbook. Thankfully, a future still exists for an independent retailer feeding the gastronomic print interests of foodies worldwide.
Below are Kitchen Arts & Letters' five essential Italian cookbooks every home cook should own, with comments from Sartwell.
Cucina Fresca: Italian Food, Simply Prepared
By Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman
Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
"Contemporary Italian food all meant to be served cold or at room temperature. It's great for summers and dining al fresco, but it's also terrific for a party because you can make everything the day before and pull it out of the refrigerator 40 minutes before your friends show up. Very practical. I've had this book since it came out in 1985, and I've been cooking from it ever since."—Sartwell
The Italian ethos for cooking simply with the best ingredients is emphasized in the 225 recipes featured in this book. Although there are no photos, the clear-cut directions for quick meals with a great flavor more than compensate for the lack of visuals. Whether it's adding mint to elevate stuffed eggs or Parmigiano to a winter salad combination of lettuce, walnuts, and celery, the satisfying result never gets old. Also helpful for putting leftovers to good use as well as lunch ideas.
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
By Marcella Hazan
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
“This is that book you go to for answers to all questions about famous Italian dishes whether you are making lasagna, or a bolognese sauce, a frittata, a veal roast, or simple vegetables. Detailed careful recipes written by someone who spent a lot of time becoming a cooking teacher. If you’re stranded on a desert island, and you wanted a cookbook, this is the one you should have.”
Hazan was revered as the “doyenne” of Italian cuisine by professional chefs and food writers alike. She said she wrote this manual for cooks of all levels of experience, “who want an accessible and comprehensive guide to the products, the techniques, and the dishes that constitute imperishable Italian cooking.” This edition combines her previous two works, The Classic Italian Cookbook and More Classic Italian Cooking, into one expanded volume. It’s considered one of the best cookbooks of all time.
Popes, Peasants and Shepherds: Recipes and Lore from Rome and Lazio
By Oretta Zanini De Vita
Publisher: University of California Press
“Incredible sense of place and of all of the different overlapping styles of food in the city whether it’s the food from Versailles or the food from the papal court. Anybody who has traveled to Rome is likely to feel a sense of wanderlust again when they read it.”
Rome and Lazio's complex history enlightened through the food and flavors synonymous with modern-day Roman cuisine. Included are more than 250 recipes using familiar regional ingredients like ricotta, pork, and lamb and more unfamiliar delicacies like intestines. An entire chapter is devoted to fish and the Tiber River. Beginning with Rome's ancient fishing culture, Antony and Cleopatra and Caesar Augustus were among the passionate pole casters, through its transformation into a capital city up to the mid-twentieth century connecting these roots with the Roman seafood dishes enjoyed today.
Sicilian Food: Recipes from Italy’s Abundant Isle
By Mary Taylor Simeti
Publisher: Grub Street (UK)
“An intricately detailed book about the history of food in Sicily from the early Greek settlements through other influences from the Romans and the Normans and the Arabs and the Spanish and everybody else who laid claim to Sicily for a time. There are good, strong recipes as well. She’s always given you a sense why a dish is cooked a particular way. Why do they eat this food that isn’t eaten elsewhere in Italy? It’s because of the unusual history Sicily has.”
Born in the U.S., Simeti married a Sicilian and raised her family outside of Palermo. The former New York Times contributor culled these authentic recipes from friends, family, acquaintances, and various cookbooks. She tested each one, and the only adaptation made was converting measurements. The straightforward instructions are enhanced with text quoting historical figures like Plato and Aristotle. Dishes range from virgins’ breasts and chancellor’s buttocks to fava bean soup and ice cream, a Sicilian passion. Deemed the definitive book about the region’s culinary history and food culture.
The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food
By Lynne Rossetto Kasper
Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
“Amazing job connecting the food to the place and the history of place. It is a masterwork. There are lots of intricate discussions about how to shape things, how to put things together. It’s a book that assumes you’re serious, and it rewards your seriousness.”
The regional cuisine of Emilia-Romagna was unfamiliar to most Americans until this book landed in 1992. Since then, The Splendid Table morphed into a popular public radio show and an award-winning podcast. Parmigiano Reggiano, balsamic vinegar, Prosciutto di Parma are all produced in this slice of Northern Italy. Fittingly a “Guide to Ingredients” section offers valuable tips for shopping, cooking, and storing these and other indigenous delicacies. Dispersed between the recipes (56 just for pasta) and cooking tutorials are stories of beloved locals like the late, great tenor Luciano Pavarotti from Modena. A thorough exploration of a culinary paradise.