First, American Libraries Associate Editor and Call Number host Diana Panuncial speaks with Tim Tully, instruction and outreach librarian for San Diego State University’s Surf and Skate Studies Collaborative. He shares the origins of these local subcultures, how they have evolved, and where to go if you want to catch waves or hit a kickflip. … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Sunny San Diego
“Staff will come down and say, ‘What’s going on? Everything smells so good,’” says Sally Thurston, MPL’s adult programming coordinator and circulation assistant. Since January 2022, Thurston has run the library’s spice club, which offers patrons kits filled with a featured spice, recipes, and other information based on the selection. Patrons then prepare a dish … Continue reading The Spice of Life
First, American Libraries Associate Editor and Call Number host Diana Panuncial speaks with David Thomas and Tonya Thomas, both chefs and food historians. The husband-and-wife duo is behind Baltimore’s H3irloom Food Group, a culinary organization with a mission of uplifting the Black food narrative through catering and educational events. They discuss their cooking journeys and … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Good Morning, Baltimore!
In response, several public libraries around the country are now providing adults-only, sober-curious programming to educate attendees on making alcohol-free mixed drinks, often called mocktails or sober cocktails. “Coming out of COVID, there were a lot of people [who said], ‘I want to get healthier, I want to feel better,’ and they tried a sober … Continue reading Spirit-Free Spaces
“We know that if people don’t have enough food, every other need they have is going to seem secondary,” says Montgomery, associate director of community engagement at Charleston County (S.C.) Public Library (CCPL). The pandemic exacerbated food insecurity throughout the country, with an estimated 3 million more US residents facing food insecurity in 2020 than … Continue reading Fresh Ideas
In Episode 79, Call Number highlights two beloved aspects of New Orleans: its music and its food. First, American Libraries associate editor Megan Bennett speaks with library associate Joshua Smith about New Orleans Public Library’s new, free music streaming service, Crescent City Sounds. Then, members of the Call Number team and interviewees from this episode … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Back in the Big Easy
On Episode 68, Call Number with American Libraries looks at the wonderful world of food. First, American Libraries Managing Editor Terra Dankowski speaks with model, author, and Top Chef host and producer Padma Lakshmi about the intersection of cooking and family and the value of creating space for everyone’s food story. Next, American Libraries Editor … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Food, Glorious Food
You’ve authored two cookbooks, a food encyclopedia, and a memoir. What made you want to write the children’s book Tomatoes for Neela? This book is based on a story I would often tell my daughter, who is now 11, as I was putting her to sleep in earlier years. I think one of the best … Continue reading Newsmaker: Padma Lakshmi
350 Number of classes offered annually through Free Library of Philadelphia’s (FLP) Culinary Literacy Center. According to FLP, this kitchen classroom is the first of its kind created at a public library in the US. $9,000 Amount that Chattanooga (Tenn.) Public Library spent on a Charlie Cart—a mobile kitchen that includes a convection oven, an … Continue reading By the Numbers: Food
“We talked about how we could make things better in our neighborhood,” says Patricia Uttaro, director of RPL and Monroe County Library System. “We have been doing a lot of work with our library on social justice and conversations on race. We wanted to find a solution there.” RPL collaborated with Foodlink, a local nonprofit … Continue reading Cafés with a Conscience
Moderated by Karen Murgolo, editorial director of the Lifestyle and Culinary imprint at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and editor of Trisha’s Kitchen, Yearwood’s talk was brief but rich in details about her family’s influence on her cooking and her new book. When asked how food keeps family traditions alive, Yearwood said that the dinner table was where … Continue reading Food and Family Tradition
On its surface, Tomatoes for Neela (Penguin Young Readers, August), tells the story of a young Indian-American girl named Neela who collects “plump, juicy plum tomatoes” with her paati (grandmother) to make a sauce. But the picture book, illustrated by Peruvian-American mixed-media artist Juana Martinez-Neal (whose art earned her the 2020 Sibert Medal for Fry … Continue reading Food, Form, and Function
