Five years ago, Julia Blanter and her husband moved to Martha’s Vineyard year-round, but they have a long history of spending time here. Like so many of us, this Island and its community grabs a hold of your heart. Julia is originally from Australia – living in Amsterdam and London before moving to Brooklyn and now the Vineyard. It’s the Island life for her, and her passion for the Island is evident in her new cookbook. We take a look at Julia’s story in what we’re calling A Culinary Love Letter to Martha’s Vineyard – The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook By Julia Blanter
A Culinary Love Letter to Martha’s Vineyard – The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook By Julia Blanter – Her Island Inspiration
While Julia has always been a foodie, and has a professional foodie background, having worked with famous chefs in London and New York, ghostwriting recipes, and recipe testing for cookbooks for over 15 years, she truly fell in love with the food scene on Martha’s Vineyard. It started while dining at Seaweeds in Oak Bluffs (sadly now closed). There, she felt a connection to the food community with the restaurant’s hyper local menu that highlighted the farmers or fisherman, in addition to the food. She quickly learned that you can connect to the food purveyors here. You can meet the farmer, the fisherman and even the chef that creates the memorable dishes.
This connection, this closeness enables people to have a meaningful food experience on Martha’s Vineyard. The food scene here tends to move more at an Island pace, a chance to slowdown and enjoy all the senses involved in dining out or creating your own food. Julia also learned that the Vineyard — while small in size — is so diverse with its local food offerings all year, and it’s not just creamy New England Chowder and buttery lobster rolls, though we love those too.
Food here is seasonal, and each season has its own beautiful bounty. Chefs and foodies create incredible meals throughout the year, and know how to work with the seasonality of the Island. Julia also discovered that farmers, cooks and chefs like to talk about the food they make. There is a passion among those who love to make food on the Island.
A Culinary Love Letter to Martha’s Vineyard – The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook By Julia Blanter – Tapping Into the Local Menu Makers
When Julia went to restaurants or farm markets, she made it a point to connect with the chefs, the staff, the farmers, and the fisherman. She realized that everywhere she went, people’s passion about food grew when they talked about their favorite thing to make. Not necessarily the most popular menu item, but what the people working with the food truly enjoy.
She had an idea — why not highlight the dishes the makers love, at this moment in time. She began collecting recipes from people in the food industries from all over the Island, her “culinary love letter” to Martha’s Vineyard. These are the recipes that are loved, tried and true. She hopes that her journey of food discoveries will inspire other people.
You will find a range of recipes in this cookbook – Chef Conch Salad, Floaters Espresso Float, beloved ArtCliff Diner scones, a signature dish from l’etoile and so much more.
A Culinary Love Letter to Martha’s Vineyard – The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook By Julia Blanter – 100 Recipes From the Island’s Restaurants, Farmers, Fishermen & Food Artisans
The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook offers readers/food makers the chance to connect with others through a shared love of food. Many of the recipes featured you may recognize from restaurant or catering menus, like Clambulance’s Cracktino, Beau’s delicious take on Clams Casino. Some of the recipes chefs/farmers chose to share may surprise you. Along with these recipes, there are stories woven throughout the book that are just as captivating as the incredible photos taken by local photographer, Jocelyn Filley.
This cookbook is more than an inspiration for delicious food. It is a compilation of treasured recipes and stories that connect you not only to those featured in the book but also with other people who love Martha’s Vineyard like you do. This is a cookbook worthy of your book club — it is so beautiful and captivating.
The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook (Rizzoli) launches Tuesday, March 11. Available at Bunch of Grapes, Edgartown Books, Portobello Road and other local retailers as well as Amazon, B&N, and all online retailers ($45).
Join in the celebration of this memorable cookbook at its launch event at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum – “Explore the diverse flavors of Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday, March 15th from 5-7pm with The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook author Julia Blanter. Julia will dive into the island’s unique culinary gifts, from seafood and meat to cheese and honey, with a tasting of Island Bee Company’s six single-sourced honey led by owner Tricia Colon. To learn more or get tickets, click here.
In addition to one of the most lovely cookbooks highlighting Martha’s Vineyard, I thought it was important to share more about Julia and her dedication to the Island community. Last November, she organized The Great Martha’s Vineyard Bake Off. This event was created to raise awareness and money for some great Island charities, including Friends of Family Planning, MV Community Services, and Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands. I missed this one but hope to be able to support the next one in the Fall and of course blog about it! People do great things on this tiny Island of ours.
Thanks for reading On Point MV, a blog about Island happenings. If you have story ideas or questions, let me know. Email guinevere@pointbrealty.com
Source link
