FORAGING FRIDAY: USED COOKBOOKS

Foraging Friday documents Kitchen Toro's exploration of New York's diverse restaurants, neighborhoods, stores and their ingredients and flavors.

Anyone who has known me over the years knowws that I've always been a big reader. I used to read in the neighborhood of 120-200 books a year. Then I got a job working at The New York Times and for a long time, five years, my reading habits have been as ephemeral as the newsprint they were printed on. It's not that I don't read as much as I've been focused on news, NYT readers' concerns and blogs.

But I still have the love even if I haven't figured out the way to balance my time at work, on Kitchen Toro and at school to still allow for a heavy book-reading itinerary and that love recently lead me to a bookstore. If there's a type of book I'm interested in right now, it's...you guessed it, cookbooks. While I've yet to get to Kitchen Arts & Letters, you'll forgive me, because if there's a certain type of book I can better afford than others it's used cookbooks. This love recently lead me to a place named Bonnie Slotnick's Books.

It's a quiet store on West 10th Street, and outside there was, like most used bookstores there was a box of very cheap books for the taking. As I opened the door I came across Bonnie's dog and a small but pleasantly cramped enclave of shelf upon shelf of old and out of print cookbooks.

It's definitely a find, but not one that hasn't been discovered and rediscovered by other seekers of the culinary flame. Do a Google-search (a wandering into humanity's modern collective unconscious) and you'll find plenty of raconteurs describing their experiences, not to mention the press.

But it just so happened that on the day that I went, I was the first customer (at least that's what the guy sitting at the desk told Bonnie when she arrived that afternoon). As I perused the shelves I realized several things, that I needed more context and perspective for all the books in the store, and that I needed to prioritize my needs while visiting.

I came across Ronzoni's "Kitchen Guide." On first glance it might not seem to be the biggest find in the world but I was immediately attracted to it. For $9 I left the store with a little piece of quasi-Italian-Americana, rather, Americana.

Sure, inside were recipes for Baked Peppers, "Rich Italian Sauce with Meatballs," and Sicillian Anchovy Sauce, but there was also Turnips Newburg, Chicken Chow Mein and John's Delight. I'm sure there's something in there I can rescue from Ronzoni retrograde.