texasmesquite

Book by Paddleford a real find
By Joanna McQuillan Weeks
A Slice of Life
April 22, 2009 6:00 AM
Source: SouthCoasttoday.com (MA)

Just about a year ago, I spent a day trolling the bookstores of Greenwich Village on a tour organized by Alan and Helene Korolenko of Westport and sponsored by Baker Books.
My favorite among the stops was Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks at 163 W. Tenth St. This narrow little room is chockablock with out-of-print and antiquarian cookery books.
Not only a cookbook enthusiast, but a dog person to boot, Slotnick was gaining extra fans that day by handing around slices of the leftovers of a decadent wedding cake.
After hungrily scanning the shelves, I inquired about a book I'd been seeking for several years, Clementine Paddleford's "How America Eats," published in 1960 by Scribners. A champion of regional cooking, Paddleford was a food writer and editor who after her November 1967 death had fallen into obscurity until November 2002. That was when Saveur magazine published an article by Kelly Alexander that restored her to her rightful place in the pantheon beside Beard and Child.
Suddenly, legions of foodies — including me — knew about Paddleford, and wanted a copy of her book.
Oh, I could find one on the Internet, for a price. But what would be the fun of that? So, while my husband was scouring antique shops and jumble-sale barns for old kerosene lanterns, I was hopefully poking through shelves of books hoping to stumble upon "How America Eats."
Needless to say, I never found the needle in the haystack.
But last May, I chatted with Slotnick about my quest and she took down my contact information in case she came across a copy of Paddleford's book, containing tales of her travels across America and the recipes she collected in the 800,000 miles of travel she claimed.
I didn't hold out much hope for success, and promptly forgot about it.
Then, on Presidents' Day, I came into the office and found among the messages in my voice mail one from Bonnie Slotnick. A copy of "How America Eats" had come into her shop; was I still interested?
You bet! Somewhat amazed that she remembered my request so many months later, I called Slotnick back and arranged to buy the book, along with a copy of "Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate," by Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris, published last year by Gotham Books.
What's more, my Paddleford copy has an interesting provenance. The original book plate denotes Adrienne G. Webb of Berkeley, Calif., as the original owner, but Slotnick told me it came to the shop from the collection of award-winning cookbook writer Betty Fussell.
Now, like Alexander, I can revel in the rich stories of the food editor who "ranged from the lobster pots of Maine to the vineyards of California, from the sugar shanties of Vermont to the salmon canneries in Alaska," and recipes collected from "farm kitchens, apartment kitchenettes, governors' mansions, hamburger diners, tea rooms and from the finest restaurants with great chefs in charge," as Paddleford wrote in her book's foreword.
Thanks, Bonnie.
Joanna McQuillan Weeks is food editor of The Standard-Times. Contact her at foodedit@s-t.com